Finding a home for Jake Gyllenhaal, and more tips from Jake on how to beat the summer heat (and run fast)

These days it seems like movies are made anywhere but Los Angeles. Which may be a nusiance for movie stars because that's where many of them live. But, take a film out of a studio set, and it makes for all sorts of exciting adventures for fans (as we've seen on WDW more than once over the last few years) while also giving Jake Gyllenhaal a deep insight into tagines and fish 'n' chips. For a long shoot, hotels won't do. Stars want to feel more at home and that often means being given someone else's home.



In this article, a real estate agent from Pittsburgh talks about how they go about creating a home from home for the stars who visit the city, including Jake Gyllenhaal who filmed Love and Other Drugs in Pittsburgh last year.


And while some stars may want luxuriant splendour, access to main roads and airports, Jake is somewhat different: '"He wanted to be where he could walk around, be close to stores," she said. "He wanted to be where he could go to Whole Foods." Ms. Neiman found a private home in Shadyside -- she lives close by and volunteered to walk his dog every day -- but the homeowner got cold feet about relocating. So Mr. Gyllenhaal ended up staying in a vacant unit at the Beechwood Commons townhouse development in Squirrel Hill.'


'Vacant unit' conjures up images of Jake having to sleep on a mattress on the floor of a bare apartment with paint still drying on the walls, while Atticus could run and play on a square piece of newly-seeded grass with tree saplings in cages every few feet.


Obviously, next time Jake is filming in Oxford I would be more than happy to let him and Atticus have full use of my flat. We may not have a Whole Foods but we do have a Tesco and a coffee shop. I'd have to spend some time explaining how to operate the washing machine and the microwave is dysfunctional but apart from that it'd be ideal. However, it may be better if Jake moves into my neighbour's flat instead.


And finally...

So far it's been a hot summer for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere (although admittedly it's a little more sporadic over here in southern England), which means that we can empathise with those hot medieval Persian warriors and Hassansins having to do battle and fight wrongs and do wrongs in very high temperatures. I think that the Hassansins must have had a particularly hard time due to all those elaborate head wrappings and studs. And then there's the ostrich that had to wear a woolly hat.


In one of Jake's Prince of Persia interviews, Jake had some fine advice when asked what's the best way to keep cool in the desert (you may want to get a notebook and pen ready): 'Water, water, water!' And wear lots of layers (although if the layers include padded jackets and goretex, this might not be so effective).

'I learned a great trick: like the Berber I wore a lot of layers - and I wasn't as hot as the people who ran around in shorts and T-shirts!' Not as hot? I will beg to differ with Jake on that one...


To continue the clothes talk: 'As a boy I dreamed of slipping into the shoes of Indiana Jones and Robin Hood.' I'm trying to imagine Robin Hood wearing shoes and not little felt boots with feathers at the top.

'A couple of my crazy stunts did happen, which were incorporated into the film. I was very proud - until I was hanging upside down two hours later on a wire.'


'I was in the gym every day for months before we started filming. Later, I trained to do the stunts and fights in particular. That was like a boot camp. I really went to my limits!'

More on those poor innocent ostriches: 'They are really nasty! They can kill you with their beaks, and, because they're so huge, they can trample you easily. In one scene, I stumble into a race and ! was pursued by eight animals. No kidding: I ran because I literally ran for my life.' More here.


So, we end on another handy tip from Jake: If you want to run fast you can do worse than be chased by 8 ostriches.


Includes pictures from IHJ and JJ.