The countdown is now on until Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway head down under to walk the red carpet in Sydney, Australia, on 6 December. That should take care of this weekend. Of course that does mean that the London premiere, originally projected to share that night, is now a little less fixed. One thing is for sure, Jake and Anne will be a lot warmer in Sydney on Monday than they would be in London that night as The Great Freeze continues.
No doubt enjoying the lull in publicity for Love and Other Drugs, Jake has been seen again today in Nashville, at another coffee shop, this time at The Frothy Monkey.
A little bit more has been released about the film as it prepares to leave American shores for the rest of us. At this site you can listen to an interview in which Jake talks about the lives that we lead - how lives can be long and they can be short and so you live what you have to the full.
When Jake and Anne and Ed Zwick were in Pittsburgh filming Love and Other Drugs, and as we noted at the time, many of the local populace were called in to be extras (notably in the macarena scene). In this article we hear what it was like when a whole class was involved and when Jake and Ed went to them.
This post contains the most wonderful photos from a shoot with Maggie recorded by hair stylist Mark Townsend. This shoot takes Maggie back to the Thirties and presents 'the coolest, most stylish lady in Hollywood'. I urge you to read the feature and enjoy these glorious photographs.
There are some stunning new stills from Love and Other Drugs today. These pictures not only display the charisma, chemistry and charm of stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, they also make me feel less bad about the state of my flat. In this instance, I'm even prepared to overlook the feet.
Love and Other Drugs features in the January issue of Empire. While Total Film focused on Jake, Empire puts the spotlight on Anne. This coincides nicely with the announcement of Anne and James Franco as the presenters for next year's Oscars (27 February).
While I'm about it, here's Empire's review:
And finally...
There was no way I could leave out these wonderful additions to the NYC press conference set of portraits.
Thanks to Eyeprime and IHJ for the pics and to Karmentxu and Mermon for the heads up. Scans by WDW.
With Love and Other Drugs in the American cinemas and while Jake Gyllenhaal's busy maintaining his caffeine levels over the holidays - liking the hat - I now have a chance to catch up a bit and post a treat.
Back in May this year, Jake put in an inordinate amount of airmiles to promote Prince of Persia around the world and in so doing came face to face with quite a few of the people here, myself included. BBMISwear saw Jake in Toronto when he was up there to appear on eTalk on 25 May. We've seen here the videos that she took of those off camera moments when Lisa and Ted reminded Jake of their South Caroline meeting and his allegiance to Boston (something to do with sports...), but we've seen little from the show itself. But now, thanks to BBMISwear, here are six tastey morsels. And that's not including Jake, Lisa and Ted, all of whom get quite a look in here. And as Jake says himself: 'She's from Boston' (that'll be clip no. 6).
Clip no 1: C'mon Canada!
Clip no 2: Jake loves to clap and some details on his Prince of Persia co-star (and they don't mean Gemma...).
Clip no 3: a swordfighting lesson. Don't try this at home.
Clip no 4: Jake Gyllenhaal the 'French Fry dude' and American Jake and Canadian Jim. Some thoughts on Damn Yankees.
Clip no 5: 'I dance wherever I go' and filming Source Code in Montreal.
Clip no. 6: The sports one.... 'We're going to make you wear green!' (that's those Boston people).
Many thanks to Ted and Lisa and to IHJ for the wonderful picture from the Love and Other Drugs NYC press conference. There are lots more there.
A short post this evening due to the fact that I've been sitting freezing on the back of a motorcycle and I can safely say that swimming with walruses in the Arctic winter would be a much warmer thing to do. But, as I wait for my core body temperature to rise, there is an opportunity to post another couple of interviews with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway and they include a goodie.
In this interview, Jake and Anne talk about how nudity in a movie does not mean that the acting stops. Jake says: 'We tell stories and sometimes those stories mean you don't wear any clothes'. And there is also talk of Brokeback, a 'magical' experience, and Jake describes how he and Anne had 'taken that and thrown sunlight on it to make it grow.'
We also can see the TV Guide Channel interview with Jake and Anne from last week and it includes a couple of quick behind the scenes moments from Brokeback.
Tonight there was a Festival of Light in Oxford, with the streets closed to traffic and the museums, galleries and historic buildings of the city opened to all.
The lights were turned on by two TV stars synonymous with Oxford and murder mysteries, Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whateley) and Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox) who star in Lewis, the spinoff from Morse. I've lost count how many times I've seen this film here over the years - always a pleasure. I thought I'd share some pics.
This photo below was taken inside Divinity Hall in the Bodleian Library as Laurence Fox and the rest of us, including an awful lot of dignitaries, listened to the choir.
Jake Gyllenhaal is interviewed (in a metaphysical career corridor) in the newly-published January 2011 issue of Total Film. It was conducted during Jake's 'man-mountain fuzz' period. You can read the interview below - just click on the scans and they shall be embiggened - but it's worth pulling out a couple of moments from the interview. Not least a perfect piece of GyllenSpeak about what it's like to live your life in the public eye.
'I don't think ignoring it is a bad thing!... You've got to plug your ears up and tie yourself to the mast and beg the people you love not to untie you. But I don't think anyone is immune to the oddities of those type of things.'
Nailed gets a mention and it's not good. 'It's been a really frustrating process with people who have somewhat dishonest in the process of creativity... It's just frozen. Right now, it's in the hands of people who are not letting it be seen.'
On the similarity and contrast between Donnie Darko and Source Code: 'I think Darko posed more questions than it answered. And this poses questions and answers them'.
On where Jake is in his career: 'But I am accumulating experience... I'm starting to turn green into some other colour... a little less green! Before I was searching and not I'm becoming clear about what I want to be involved in and who I want to be involved with.'
Jake, Anne Hathaway and Ed Zwick appeared on the rather formal and, at least on the surface, intimidating Charlie Rose last night. You can watch it in full here.
More interviews have been released to coincide with the film. Here are a few below. The first is from E-Block.
Of course for some today is Thanksgiving (for many of the rest of us it's just a bloody cold Thursday that brought the first snow of the winter). At the end of this link is a CBS video in which Jake and Anne talk about their holiday plans and how 'super excited' Jake is about today. I hope he and all of you who celebrate are having a lovely day. I hope the rest of us aren't having it too bad either.
This emergency post - brought to you on the day in which Love and Other Drugs finally opens somewhere if not everywhere - has been necessitated by that most irresistible of photo opportunities: Jake Gyllenhaal cuddling a rather oddlooking but cute dog.
We also can see that Jake took our shaving suggestions far too much to heart, resorting to shears.
These photographs are outtakes from Esquire UK and show that they did have some great photos all the time, they just decided not to use them. Thanks to IHJ for the pictures. Please note how I'm not mentioning the feet.
With further thanks to IHJ, here is Jake on this morning's Early Show, demonstrating that Jake is back on his feet.
To all those who are able to see Love and Other Drugs today ENJOY! I know you will.
Before we get going, it is possible that we need to get going on whipping up our finest quorn chicken soup for Jake. Twitter suggests that Jake Gyllenhaal was supposed to be interviewed by satellite for an LA breakfast show this morning. One suggestion for Jake's cancellation was that he's unwell. If that's the case, then put your feet up, Jake, and feel better quickly. I usually recommend beer and ice cream in such instances and everyone tells me what a bad idea this is.
This post is adorned with some stunning photographs from a shoot for the LA Times (via IHJ). To go with them we have some fine words to match - an interview with Jake for the Huffington Post. Jake talks about the interpretation of Love and Other Drugs and how it relates to that most fearsome of genres - The RomCom.
'I think filmmakers in particular feel like they have to carve some perfect sculpture with their movie and everything has to stay within one tone - as if life is like one tone all the time. People have to classify a movie, like, "It's a drama, it's a comedy, it's a romantic comedy." The truth is (I'll speak for myself here), the day is filled with a million emotions probably very similar to the things that happen in this movie. You believe Oliver Platt [who plays my boss] when he's funny and you're moved by him, too. The nature of the actors in this movie, you know, we all love to walk that line. I think that's really where great movies exist.'
'We don't like to call this film a romantic comedy, we're calling it an emotional comedy, which I think is more appropriate. You have to be invested. How many bullshit love stories are there out there? There are real stakes in this one. In order for the humor to land, in order for people to care about the love story, the stakes have to be raised. I think people are tired of romantic comedies. Because we love the genre, we wanted to give it more respect than people have in the last little while.'
Q: You play Jamie Randall, who sells Viagra for Pfizer. Could you buy into the mythology of being the typical pharmaceutical sales rep? JG: 'I definitely could buy into that. Part of my job is a little bit of that. I've gotta be a salesman. There's a nature to the act -- there's a real performance -- and there's a real performance to sales, so I think as an actor, it's natural. I think the only other role I could play really well would be a politician (laughs); there's an element of sales to that, too.'
'What I loved about [playing Jamie] is I don't think this guy knows what's at stake. I don't think he knows what he's selling completely. I think that's part of the pharmaceutical world. I would say about half the people I talked to [while doing research for the character] were aware of the effect of what they were doing. It isn't just about driving sales, it's about people's health, too. What I love about Jamie is his sense of performance, and I don't mean performance in the Viagra sense (laughs). A real sense of being able to walk into a room and have so much confidence that people would trust whatever he said. That was really wonderful to play, because I haven't played anything like that before.'
'I don't mean to sound like an old veteran because I'm without a doubt not one. But I've been doing this for 15 years now. Working with Anne, we did Brokeback and we did this -- it was magical. I hate to sound like an actor when I say that, but Ed and Anne and I had an incredible experience on this movie. In an odd way, it's the first movie I've made where I'm desperate for an audience to see it, because all we did was think about how much we care about our audience and how much we respect them. But I also know what an experience it was for me as an actor and I don't really mind what they think, which is a first for me. And I feel totally comfortable with Anne. She's ballsy, she's just a ballsy actor. For a woman her age to be that way with the scrutiny that she's under as an actress, is badass. You don't find that. She's pretty amazing.'
I particularly liked this tribute to Josh Gad: 'Josh Gad [who plays Jamie's brother] is the engine in this film. Josh Gad will be and is becoming a force to be reckoned with. He brought all the humor and energy to the movie, and was a huge influence on me, and an inspiration in terms of comedy. He's a great actor. Working with Oliver Platt and Hank Azaria, they're comedic geniuses but also really great actors.'
Q: What was it like to work with real Parkinson's patients in the film? JG: 'That was a hard day. It was moving in so many ways, but also really funny. Two of the women who helped Anne were at the [LA premiere] the other night and they're wonderful women, so funny and lighthearted. And with the passing of Jill Clayburgh [who played my mother in the film], I was just thinking, some people live healthy long lives and don't really ever live. And some people's lives are shorter and they live it to the fullest extent possible, in sickness and in health. Those are the people I admire and would love to mimic my life after. You can be some slick ol' pharmaceutical salesman who's #2 in the country and financially stable and got it all together, or, you know, you can have love. Which would you pick?'
When Anne Hathaway was interviewed by Chelsea Handler, she not only revelaed that she pinched her Brokeback Mountain underwear but also gave us a glimpse - as it were - of what exactly there was between herself and Jake during the shooting of Love and Other Drugs: 'Pretty much “a thong with a lot of tape, and the sides were cut off,” is all that separated both actors private areas while filming their new Edward Zwick film. “I spent weeks and weeks naked with Jake Gyllenhaal…and they paid me!”
Fox has released this video, which has one of those real Jakisms about himself and Anne: '"I have more and more belief in like the cosmic nature of things and fate," said Gyllenhaal. "And there is without a doubt something that she and I have that is that way."
As for Anne's character, Maggie, you can see some more of her incredible loft apartment at this site.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway appear to have their eyes on Glee, which, apparently, is not a delicious cocktail concocted from vodka and cranberry juice. 'Says Jake, "She's probably gonna be on 'Glee' first, she's hugely musical and totally out there—" "But all those things apply to you," Anne interrupts. "But it terrifies me," Jake continues, "and she's so confident in this way. So I'm gonna give that to her first."'
Jake is featured in USA Today er today and it comes accompanied by a new clip from Love and Other Drugs. You can watch that here. As for the interview itself 'The first thing (Zwick) said to me was, 'I've seen you be vulnerable in movies, but can you not be vulnerable?' I was like, 'Yeah! I can not be vulnerable!' That was a big thing," Gyllenhaal says. "Real actors respond to someone saying, 'Trust your instinct.'"
'"It's sexy, but in a really good way," Gyllenhaal says. "When two people are in love, they're comfortable with each other — naked physically, literally and figuratively — and we wanted to portray that." Hathaway says that figuring out how they were going to do "this nudity thing" was one of the first conversations they had with Zwick. "We've pretty much seen each other partially naked before. It removed any kind of shyness and modesty about it. It made it very practical, like, 'Oh, we've done this!' There are no surprises there, nothing to be embarrassed about, so I think we were able to launch into it with confidence."'
'Mapping Jamie and Maggie's sexual relationship was a particularly big part of the movie as they became closer and more intimate, according to Gyllenhaal. "The sex they literally have is primal, the positions and everything. That's Annie's idea." He laughs. "It's funny that I never think about these things. When you make a movie, it's just this thing you're doing among a very small group of people, and then you're talking to people about how you were naked." Hathaway says that Gyllenhaal went out of his way to make sure she always felt comfortable on the set. "He's a very strong person, so he likes to give a lot to people, and sometimes I do worry about him giving too much. I want to say, 'I'm good, dude. Take care of yourself. Don't worry about it.' That protective instinct is really, really strong within him."'
Jake and Anne appeared on NYC ABC TV this morning and you can watch their appearance below.
Proving that there is nothing more unsure than a rumour associated with Jake Gyllenhaal's future movie roles, today he is back associated with New Year's Eve. Clearly, uncertainty remains and we are advised not to hold our breath - but rolling eyes is permitted.
This post includes scans from BBMISwear from USA Weekend - with many thanks to her as always for connecting me across the pond.
[Update] It seems like Jake must have heard about our less than redhot feelings at his association with the movie New Year's Eve. Today Jake's name is gone from IMDb, as is Taylor Swift's, and both have been replaced by Zac Efron, Reese Witherspoon and Halle Berry!
On with the Arctic post...
We've heard Jake Gyllenhaal talk about turning 30, we've heard Jake talk about walruses, but now we get to have the two put together because Jake has revealed to the NY Daily News his plans for the big 3-0 celebrations: 'To commemorate the date, he's taking the family on a trip to the Arctic Circle to scuba-dive with walruses. "The only reason I'm doing it is I wanted to do something that absolutely terrified me — killer whales and walruses and freezing cold water? That seems absolutely terrifying."'
[The picture above is from LATimes - the interview featured in the River Nile post]
Clearly Jake is enough past his horror of ostriches to be able to take to the icy depths with walruses and orca during the dark Arctic Circle winter. As someone who's been fortunate enough to have travelled big chunks of the world for some incredible wildlife adventures [I have an outstanding ambition to see whales off Norway], I am thrilled by Jake's choice of birthday challenge. I have, however, been doing some research - here is the scale of what's in store for Jake.
This interview is a goodie. It includes another accout of 16-year-old Jake's streak through the Beverley Center in speedoes for a bet and further hints to his rapacious eating habits: 'Gyllenhaal still loves returning to New York, if only for his regular black-and-white cookie fix. "I'm a connoisseur," he laughs. "And I love the one at Nussbaum & Wu — that's one of my favorite black-and-white cookies in the city."' Read more here.
There is another fine interview with Jake in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This was of course the place where Love and Other Drugs was filmed and it's clear that Jake has some fond memories of the city although, not surprisingly, most of this has to do with food. As Jake says here: '"Oh, gosh. Let's see, I went to so many places. I like to eat. I ate my way around. I ate everywhere. I wish I could remember the names of everything." Without any prompting, he recalls, "I loved Dish -- the restaurant Dish. I did love the pancakes at Pamela's, I'd have to say, which is probably the go-to. 21st Street Coffee. There was a Greek place that was right where I lived [in Squirrel Hill], I don't remember the name."'
'Mr. Gyllenhaal, who shot the Ed Zwick film from mid-September to late November 2009, says, "I was surprised at how much I loved all the food and actually how much I loved Pittsburgh. ... I loved the change of seasons there, and I loved the people there and I had a great time. I would love to make another movie in Pittsburgh."'
Jake talks about what he learned from Jamie Randall (the 'real' viagra rep) and what the role taught him about the pharmaceutical industry. He also recalls his jitters before the first day on set: 'I hardly ever sleep the first night before shooting. It's like, I never believe I'm making a movie. I think I'm going to forget all the things I've rehearsed and prepared.'
And on his relationship with Anne after Brokeback: 'We weren't friends like we are now. ... We shared a great bond from that movie; everybody involved in it did.' [Anne's opening skit from SNL below shows some alternative EW covers...]
Jake also talks about how he is able to get on with his private life, getting coffee like everyone else, even if he's spotted. 'I think we live in a world where people who are in the public eye have to know that what they do is going to be documented. There is definitely an ability for privacy, but most of the time, you just have to accept that that's what it is. And I think you have to be who you are and do what you love, and I think most of the time, people are pretty respectful and when they're not, they're not.'
'He says he loves his fans and making movies and the attention that comes with it. When it's suggested that 99 percent of the population can run out for coffee or stop for gas without checking in the mirror, he says, "So can I. It just depends on what you believe. If you want everybody to see you looking a certain way, then if that makes your life happy, then that's great. That would make me miserable. If you're aware of it all the time, I think you're not living. People are going to make mistakes, they're going to have amazing times, hard times, just like everybody, and people might document that and say whatever they're going to say, but ultimately it's just life. You can take a picture of it or not, but you gotta live it."'
Updated to add these little moments from Jake Gyllenhaal's appearance on Fallon last night that I missed in my Emergency Breakfast Post post this morning.
The release of the trailer for Source Code today, arriving in the midst of the publicity for Love and Other Drugs, highlighted the fact that we have little information about what may be next for Jake Gyllenhaal. However, today, there is a rumour that is strong enough to make IMDb and ProIMDb - that Jake may be about to star in New Year's Eve, the sequel to Valentine's Day. I also cannot how tickled I am that Jake should appear in a movie inspired by my birthday...
If we take a look at the other cast, both real and rumoured, it throws up another surprise: Robert de Niro, Lea Michele, Ashton Kutcher, Abigail Breslin, Taylor Swift, Hilary Swank and Michelle Pfeiffer. According to an earlier report by the Hollywood Reporter, filming is set to begin in NYC in mid-December and the movie is set to open on 11 December 2011. 'The movie tells intertwining stories of a group of New Yorkers as they navigate their way through romance over the course of New Year's Eve.'
If filming is due to start that soon, then we will certainly know one way or the other very soon (one can only hope it's an improvement on Valentine's Day).
Usually, trailers for Jake Gyllenhaal's movies really take their time about making an appearance, as if they can sense how much we want to see them and want to draw out our agonies of expectation. But Source Code? No way! Completely out of the blue and fantastically early the trailer roared onto the internet last night (thanks for bringing it out while I was asleep though...). This trailer roars along with all the energy and power of a train set to blow up every eight minutes, with Captain Stevens forced into the body of one of its victims, set with the task of discovering the reasons why as the clock ticks through the minutes. And then matters become more complicated...
While Source Code will not do too much to popularise train travel (particularly in Chicago), it's certainly doing its bit to raise my blood pressure.
And if all that excitement wasn't enough, here is Jake on the Jimmy Fallon Show last night.
Thanks to IHJ for the caps. This emergency breakfast post was brought to you courtesy of scrambled egg, toast and a cuppa.
Please remember to visit last night's post to read the EW interview in full.
