Jake Gyllenhaal and a Molina PoPfest (I got to 'speak' to Alfred today!) - and no TIFFin for LAOD

This morning local time, the organisers of the Toronto International Film Festival announced a lineup of 51 galas, premieres and special screenings. Despite expectations, which were quite raised, there wasn't a sign of Love and Other Drugs in the lineup. While it is possible that additions may be made to the list through August, it's now not looking likely that we'll have a repeat of 2007. However, there are other film festivals to come, notably Venice and London. At the risk of sounding just like myself when we were waiting for Brothers, there is still a chance of some Festival Jake Gyllenhaal. A full list can be seen here.



On a brighter note, I had some fun today when I joined in a LoveFilm live chat with Alfred Molina and was able to tell him - laptop to laptop - that I enjoyed Prince of Persia and An Education. I asked him if he preferred to play fantasy or real life figures, to which he replied: 'Oooh... They're both interesting to do... Fantasy character are much freer'. I did make a brief mention of ostriches. It was a real thrill to be able to engage with a much-admired actor (I did the same with Maggie years ago) and it certainly added a touch of flavour to my porridge and water lunch. This is LoveFilm's picture of the occasion:


Therefore, it's only fitting that this post is a bit of a Fred Molina post, or a Fred Molina and Jake Gyllenhaal post, with some Peter Sarsgaard happily added to the mix. There's a bit of a PoP lovefest going on too...

Alfred on Jake: ''"Jake brings all the qualities the part needs: he’s goodlooking and talented, has a very attractive personality and is very bright," said Molina. "I’m also really impressed by his willingness to just jump in. It can be very easy for an actor in his position to sit back a little bit and play the star and let someone else carry the weight. He has never done that."'


'Molina’s own role is that of a vicious villain, who controls huge parts of the deadly desert. "(Sheik Amar), he's a lovable rogue I’d say! Or at least he’s a baddie who ends up as a reluctant ally of the hero," said Molina. "He starts off and he’s venal and self-centred and he describes himself as an entrepreneur and businessman, but he’s really a con-man and a small-time gangster with a capacity for violence. So he’s not sweet and cuddly, but he’s cheeky and a good talker and has a bit of an edge and some charm to him, and there’s also a part of him that deep down wants to do the right thing."'



Mike Newell: 'What I do think is, I think that most people don't know how to talk and certainly most people don't know how to talk to actors. There may be a slight difference. Above everything else, people don't listen. They don't listen to you. So you get a sense of an actor's potential, what he can do and what he can't do, and sometimes what you want to do is to nudge him into what he can do. Other times you want to say, "You know what? You do that really, really well. Let's do that again, but slightly differently." Fred Molina who played Sheik Amar whom I'd worked with before. He played a very straight-laced London lawyer for me, but very very funny. Now he's playing this loose disreputable stinky desert... We were talking about it and he said, "What do you think he's like?" I said, "Well, I think he's like Arthur Daley." Arthur Daley is a very famous character in this country. He comes from a TV series. He's a guy who sells dodgy cars, and I said, "I think Sheik Amar sells dodgy cars." So you start to have fun talking to them. I don't know why it is. I've always like them. I just like them. I wanted to be one. I was desperate to be one, but I was so bad. I was hopeless.'



'Just like I don't get the chance to make movies like this every day, because they just don't make 'em anymore, these guys don't get to act in them because they don't make them anymore. The opportunities in it are absolutely great. I mean, again, it's a story about Fred Molina, but when do you ever get the opportunity to raise your arms to the heavens and shout at the top of your voice, "Behold the mighty ostrich!" which is a God-given comedy line. It's wonderful. When do you get to actually kiss an ostrich?'



Jake in USA Today: '"The scariest scene in the movie is when Alfred Molina kisses an ostrich," he says. "They are terrifying animals. Anything with a brain the size of a pea and claws that can tear your face apart is really scary." The ostriches left a big impression on the animal-loving Gyllenhaal. "I've worked with wolves in movies (on The Day After Tomorrow), and on this set they treated ostriches like wolves," he says. "They literally told us they've been known to rip off people's faces. So when Fred kisses the ostrich, to me that performance is braver than Robert De Niro in Raging Bull."'



Jake spoke to Cineplex of his fear of speaking in an English accent to the English: 'When I finally got it, which was, uh a few months down the line, which I had done a lot of work to get to - it felt great. I mean, I remember sitting there with the actors for the first day I really felt like I nailed it, because at the beginning of the rehearsal period, Mike Newell, who was our director, would say to me: [adopts grandiose British accent] 'Don't worry my boy, just say the accent. Be confident!' So I'd walk in and be like you know, doing this horrible accent...I think the first time I did it, Ben Kingsley like puked into a trash can... Alfred Molina [who plays Sheik Amar in the film] was like calling his agent, 'Can, uh...is there any way you can get me out of this?' [laughs]'



In this interview with Aint it Cool, Jake and interviewer Quint admit to a shared appreciation of Alfred and regret that he doesn't feature in the footage showed at WonderCon.

Molina also, of course, played Jenny's increasingly sympathetic father Jack in An Education, giving him a chance to play opposite Peter Sarsgaard in some of the most satisfying and enjoyable scenes in the film. There's a report from the set here. 'I don’t think the Brits have got a monopoly on dysfunctionality', Alfred says - that's a relief.



To finish with Prince of Persia, Alfred Molina told the writers of the Destiny book: 'I think it's rather presumptuous of us to imagine that audiences are going to come out of watching Prince of Persua and be better people for it... If an audience walks out thinking that their ten bucks have been really well spent, then we've done our job. If they come out entertained and uplifted in some way... if it makes them curious about wanting to find out more about history... that's even better.'


Alfred: 'I don't think we've seen a member of the human species being quite so emotionally linked with an ostrich... I think we're breaking new ground here.' Alfred had thought that the ostrich he kissed was an Anita but it turned out to be an Alan. 'So I think we did the first sort of gay, interspecies kiss on film. Hopefully, they'll create an MTC Award for that category.'

Jake: 'There's not a single person on this movie who can find a bad thing to say about Fred Molina... He's just great, an actor's actor who adds light and life to the movie. Fred raised the bar, and he's just a lovely man.'



I know that a couple of these clips don't feature Alfred, but they're amongst my favourite PoP clips and I can't resist them! Pictures from Disney (via IHJ) and LoveFilm.

Just posted my enthusiastic thoughts on Toy Story 3 at MovieBrit.