[Updated] Jake Gyllenhaal in London, two scenes from PoP, more from the Ninjas, even some UMP, someone pinch me!

I'm working myself up to this post - done a run round the block, eaten a banana, drunk a Power Drink - almost there. So before we start, I suggest you eat something sugary and maybe do a few laps of your local pool. Flex those GyllenMuscles because there's so much going on, this post may take me until the premiere of Source Code to finish. However, without any more - or too much - ado, I will proceed. First off, can I just say, how great it is to see Jake in London! We love to see you here, Jake! (sorry about the weather and the cost of cabs...)


At the risk of being accused of going off at a tangent before I even start, I just want to draw attention to PoPSugar posting that Jake Gyllenhaal had a pub lunch in London today. Whether this is true or not, reading the words Jake and Pub in the same sentence makes me feel as toasty as an old English inn on a winter's evening with a fire roaring and real ale flowing freely through the pumps, to be served in pint glasses with handles, while everything I eat is served with pickle or custard. I must say that if I do go off on a tangent, it's not my fault. It's the pushmepullyou of being a Jake fan.

So, while fearing that this post may need updating before it's even finished, here is a bit of what we got today.


We've had featurettes and we've had trailers, but today we got not one but two real, proper, unclipped clips from Prince of Persia. The first one puts us right in the middle of a chase scene in which Jake shows us just why he was so well cast for this role - agile, fit, dextrous and nimble. And that's just for starters. Whoever said that walls and chasms are barriers? Not a bit of it.



In the second, we have a tent scene, in which Dastan and his brothers discuss the battle ahead (with Dastan clearly at odds) - We attack at Dawn. Thanks to Sweetpea for the heads up.




The Ninjas are back! Today we have part two of their interview with Jake and it is full of goodies, not least some info on the film that I am so keen to see made - that film with the most memorable of titles, UMP (that's Unnamed Moon Project to those who don't know). Here are some snippets, surrounded by some wonderful pictures of Jake from last night and today around our fair city of London, courtesy of IHJ. Love that jacket!


Jake talks about the mistakes that made it into the movie - acting on the edge like this, with stunts just a step or inch away from dangerous reality: 'I remember this one scene where I got pulled from first unit to second unit really, really quickly, and we had this big fight scene with Toby Kebbell, who plays my brother in the movie. We had it choreographed, and he had worked on it a lot, but I had had very little time to work on it. But my character was sort of, you know, up against the wall at that point. And so I was literally just defending myself from his entire choreographed fight. I would remember it piece by piece kind of, but not really the whole thing, and the whole thing has the feeling of me going like, “Holy Shit!” The whole thing is me just being like, “Got it! Made that! OK, back over here, OK, we’re here, holy fuck! Wow, I punched him! Wow! Okay!” You know? It’s all real. There was one moment, too, where my stunt guy — I had practiced with him a lot of the time, and then I come in and when I was doing it there’s one wipe across my face where I’m supposed to duck, and he has an ax, and the ax comes at my face –'


'JULINA: Oh my God! JAKE: – and, like, literally with two hand-held cameras, [second Unit Director]Alexander Witt got the best angle: With nothing enhanced in it, you see he actually almost cut my face off. It’s great.' I need to have a brandy and regain my composure...

If anyone were ever to ask me why it is that I have followed Jake Gyllenhaal for years, I could give them 1000 answers. And one of them would be this paragraph from Jake encased in gold with diamond knobbly bits on it. 'It all feels like that, and I was game for that, and that’s what’s fun. [Laughs] I think I even remember, we did the big wide shot of it, and by the end I had made so many mistakes every time I would do it that I would just, I just ended up laughing at the end. You know, it was ridiculous, but all those things had that feeling. I would get to set and they would be like, “Okay, so, um, follow me up to the top of this building,” and I’d be like, “What are we doing?” and they’re like, “You’re jumping off of it!” and I’d be like, “What?” [Laughs] So then I had to [jump]. And then here come the guys on the opposite side, and I’m — this is the second time I’ve tried this jump, and I’m just gonna do it. And that’s the feeling of the movie. It’s not, “I know exactly what I’m doing all the time.” Not at all. Not in any way. And I think that’s why it’s superfun. I took a photograph of myself after I did my first huge jump. Because I didn’t know on that day that we were gonna do the jump, and I was ecstatic that I had done it, and I was like, “I got it, I got it.” I just took my phone and took a picture of just, like, this massive smile on my face.'


And, at last, we hear something about UMP, the project that we've been listening out for - is it decades? And with it, Jake talks about when he likes his commitment to a project to begin. For anyone who's been interested in how Jake is motivated as a career, this is fascinating stuff: 'I think, ideally, I do like to be with the material for a long time. And I liken it to rehearsing fight choreography or trying to figure out an accent. I’m definitely not an actor that picks it up immediately and can roll with it. I need to go over it over and over and over again, and that’s something I’ve learned [about myself] over time. I like to be there for a few drafts before it becomes the final shooting version because, particularly if you’re in a majority of the scenes of the movie, you’re part of the steering of the ship, so you just need to know that ship really well and where it’s going. I get off on that too — that’s what I enjoy. That’s why it’s been fun working with Doug, and with Simon [Kinberg] on [the Untitled Moon Project] developing this movie together, because they’re really collaborative and we’ve been through different versions discussing things all the time, and all of that discussion goes into whatever the final version is. Even if the scenes you’ve discussed for years don’t end up in the final version of the movie, somehow they’re there, you know? So I like to be a part of it, and I also think it’s really bonding to be doing that with all the filmmakers. You’re with your director and you’re with your writers — you’re listening to how they work, and how they change things, and what makes them nervous, and how you can make them feel comfortable, on the day. You know, with some directors — most directors — I like to know what they have to have the day before [we shoot a given scene], so that they can start their day. I like to know how you can give them what they want.'


When it comes to PoP, you sense that Jake had a helluva lot of fun making this movie and his feeling for it is so hard to resist, it's catching. 'One of my favorite things in the movie was when we were shooting a lot of rooftop chase sequences between the real rooftops in Morocco, in different casbahs [North African fortresses] and on stages in London, and there was this sequence where I did a jump, without any wires, on stage. I had four or five different guards chasing after me, and one of the guards was supposed to miss — jump just short — and I was supposed to make it and the other three or four guards were supposed to make it. So I jumped and I made it. Everyone was freaked out that I had no wires on, and I had way too much fun. Then the guy who was following me jumped, and he hit his face on the casbah and his hat flew off and went flying 30 feet in the air. He hurt his jaw, but it’s in the movie, and it looks amazing! He’s OK — he’s actually fine, but it looks really not fun when you see it. Those types of things happen, and you flirt with that type of danger, and there are times when — particularly jumping all those big jumps — in order to make it look really cool, it has to be a little bit dangerous.'


The two swords across the back were the Prince's weapons of choice but 'There were a couple of missed opportunities with that, where I was supposed to coolly pull them out of my back and I couldn’t reach them. I’m like, “I’m gonna kick your ass … in one second … when I can grab both of these … give me another second … hold on one more second …” [laughs]. But that was it, just two swords. That’s my style — and I can run away from anybody.'


And finally

You don't need me to tell you that I have accidentally or intentionally bought every bit of PoP merchandise going. We didn't have this for Zodiac....(that's my excuse). Today, my Beneath the Sands book arrived and, in addition to all sorts of surprises in its pages, there was a sting in the tail. Fortunately I had my Ostrich Dastan and my Aksh (bless you) Dastan to help me out. For anyone (ie Mr WDW) who can't tell, this is a snake!


Pictures courtesy of IHJ plus a particularly spectacular one from WDW.

I knew this post would be updated! And so it is. Jake is recording the Jonathan Ross show this evening and we have our first glance of the green room, with Adam Lambert. Thanks Rubes!