Kung fu expert Jake Gyllenhaal talks PoP stunts and goofs, and some hints from SC Stunt Day

Are you up to anything exciting today? I know Jake Gyllenhaal is... Director Duncan Jones has just tweeted that Jake's spending the day jumping out of a moving train for Stunt Day on the Source Code set in Montreal. Puts my trip out to the shop to buy a Cadburys Flake Easter Egg into perspective. One must also hope that when Jake is jumping out of a moving train, he has a comfy landing...


We know that Jake enjoys all this high action stuff, not least because he says so in a new interview out today to publicise Prince of Persia. 'I wanted to do everything' he says. We also learn that his armour had to be adapted to make way for those spectacular shoulder and arm muscles. This was during the filming of a famous PoP game move - the Climbing Up the Wall on Arrows move.


'“I look pretty cool doing that,” says the soft-spoken Californian actor when interviewed in Santa Monica. “But what you don’t know is the behind-the-scenes goofs. My arm and shoulder muscles were so big that the chest plate I wore prevented me from reaching up to grab the arrows,” he says. “There were many funny takes of me doing that and in the end, they literally had to cut wider arm holes in the chest plate,” he says with a laugh.'


Time to insert a plea to Disney to please include these behind-the-scenes goofs on their five-disc Prince of Persia Director's Gyllenhaalic Special DVD.


'“I’ve always loved watching action-adventure films and dreamt of being one of those characters as a kid. You know, like Indiana Jones and the cool, swashbuckling Errol Flynn flicks,” he says. “When I read Prince, I saw a clear role for me. This guy is wry, gets to do lots of fun stuff and best of all, is ‘bad’ and funny,” says the 29-year-old actor, who was once considered for the roles of Spiderman and Batman. Gyllenhaal now has his own action figure line. “Yeah, it’s crazy,” he says, with a laugh. “It’s interesting to note that although the film is inspired by the popular video game of the 1980s, the platform game itself was inspired by action films like Raiders Of The Lost Ark.”'


'Looking casual in a pair of black jeans, sneakers and a Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop T-shirt [sound familiar?], the six-footer looks fit as a fiddle. “I’m a physical person by nature, I love being active,” says Gyllenhaal, who is an avid cyclist and kung fu exponent. For the film he learned parkour, which sees the environment as a jungle gym obstacle course. It was founded by David Belle. “The role was incredibly acrobatic,” says Gyllenhaal... “There is a scene where my character runs along a wall, which seems impossible, but Belle made it happen. It’s one of my favourite scenes from the film,” says Gyllenhaal of the film which was shot in Morocco and at Pinewood Studios in Britain.' [I wonder if Jake means this scene below]


'He says he does many of the stunts himself, including a 10.6-metre jump with wire work. “I wanted to do everything,” he says. “Why sign up for a film like this if you’re not game for some real action?”' Source.

Absolutely. But Kung Fu??? And all this time we thought he was doing yoga...

I think it won't hurt to repeat this:



And finally...

Several tweets also put Jake at Montreal's Velvet club last night - sounds like a cool place.


Pictures with thanks from IHJ.