'Relaxed and loose and free' - Jake Gyllenhaal in the words of Sir Ben. Donnie critiqued and WDW gets some signage

The eagle-eyed amongst you - well, all of you - may have noticed that I've been knocking together some signage. You'll now find a series of links across the top which will take you to the posts for particular films of Jake Gyllenhaal. It's my WDW Tubemap - it's designed to take you through the last 1400 posts or so to the key movie stops but without the delays and Sunday engineering works. It's a work in progress and other signs will be added in order to direct you to key and/or hot and/or gratuitous Jake posts.


I'm sure many of you are far too busy watching Prince of Persia on the TV to be here, but I do want to give a shout out to Stephanie at IHJ who has spemt many hours doing at least 1850 screencaps for us all, enabling us to savour some favourite moments. I must admit to being intrigued by the hair in this picture from the Making of extra on the DVD. You can also see some clips from the Blu-ray here, including some of the exclusive extras.


To mark the release of the DVD, Sir Ben Kingsley has also been talking about his experience of Prince of Persia and how he approached it in a Shakespearean manner. This modest and generous actor also has this to say about his young co-stars and how he could learn from them: 'I recently read a book that I was asked to do the introduction for. It is a book aimed at the young actor. Over and over again, and I realize how right this is, it says you have to be relaxed in order to act. You cannot act, or paint, or write music if you bring tension to the task. Not that I am a tense person but I found that what I had to do with Jake Gyllenhaal was relax even more because Jake is a wonderful mixture of relaxed confidence. He knows that the best take will be when he is at his most relaxed. Sometimes you think that he is not doing anything but it is all happening. It is lovely to act with him because I have to be as relaxed and loose and free as he is.'



'There is a purity, a kind of religiosity to Gemma Arterton. I know she will hate me for saying this but there is something pure and almost saintly about her - which she kicks against ferociously. The thing about the cinema is that it forces you to be essential and Jake Gyllenhaal's essential quality is the relaxed work. Mine is the struggle between envy and regret and these ideas I have about my character. Gemma Arterton's is this saintly, religious adherence to telling the story. Her concentration is phenomenal; she is uninterruptible on the set. It's wonderful to watch.' There is plenty more here.


Less serious and certainly amusing if you take it with a big pinch of sand, is this 'rewriting' of Jake and Sir Ben by the Guardian. But 'coloured contact lenses'??? Shame on you, Guardian. 'Is that a mystical dagger in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?'...





Donnie Darko revisited

It was very good to see this video appraisal of Donnie Darko by New York Times Critic, A.O. Scott. It is well worth a watch - not least because it does help to explain the different levels for which this unique film can be appreciated and enjoyed, not to mention puzzled over.



Pictures thanks to IHJ. Sneezes and spluttering from WDW.