Jake Gyllenhaal: 'There is no one I would rather have movie sex with than Annie'

This post comes with a health warning attached - if you can look at a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway holding a 'Wollongong bub' (aka little baby) and not melt a little then you're safe. Otherwise, you might want to skip at least the beginning of this post. Jake and Anne visited Sydney's Children's Hospital during their brief visit to Australia and gave little Payton Gilmour a hug. You can read the details here.


A couple of Australian interviews with Jake have been published and so too, I'm really pleased to say as there haven't been many, has a new set of Love and Other Drugs stills. On to the first interview: "I think something in me was touched by the script, something in there that says we do all have trouble somewhere... This movie says, 'If you are in love, keep it; but if you know it's not there, go and look for it'. That's what I got. It's about old-fashioned love — and perhaps that's modern."'


'In rehearsal he practised using everyone's name constantly, prefacing almost every sentence with "honestly" and countering every objection in improvised sales with a friendly, "Really?" "It's extraordinary — sick, a little bit, but extraordinary to see, in the world of selling, where that gets you," Gyllenhaal says... "Jamie is such a storyteller and has such a rhythm that became a huge part of who this guy was"... When he read the script, Gyllenhaal says he was excited within the first 10 pages. When Hathaway joined the team, however, she wanted changes to the way her character was written. Although neither she nor Gyllenhaal will say so straight out, it was a chick part: the woman who is a catalyst for change in a man's life.'



'"She was kind of this shell of what she is now, the quirky girl who comes in and takes control," Gyllenhaal says. "When Annie came on board, she said, 'This needs to be a love story; it needs to be two people being changed by each other as opposed to this guy's journey'. And I agreed. That is our relationship, I think. You'll find actors vying for attention and I don't think she and I really do."'


'Gyllenhaal and Hathaway had already worked together on Brokeback Mountain, where they played husband and wife. "It did help that we had been sort of naked together in Brokeback Mountain," Gyllenhaal says. "So we had been cinematically devirginised to each other."'


'They also were able to agree with the director, Edward Zwick, that nothing they shot would be under contract — "you know, where you can only see this part of his butt and her breast for so many seconds" — and that, in return, they could veto any shot that made them uncomfortable. "In terms of getting intimate, I didn't think about it," Gyllenhaal says. "I mean, I really didn't. And I don't. The thought that was on our minds was telling a good love story."'


'Gyllenhaal is 30 years old next week. He feels at a point of transition. "I don't know if it's to do with turning 30 but I do feel like there's a big sea change with who I am and what I want to do, what I care about," he says. "I do feel that." In one respect, at least, he feels something in common with his character — a kind of tranquillity. "When I was younger I always wanted to be ahead of where I was," he says. "Whereas now I feel that this is where I am. And I feel good about that."'


The second interview has such a great start to it: '"Even though this is a very serious interview, I am not a very serious person," Gyllenhaal jokes. On the eve of his 30th birthday, the actor who will be forever associated with the cult hit Donnie Darko is actively embracing his lighter side. "Bill Murray is the brooding hero," he laughs.'


'"I feel like this movie, in particular, is the beginning of who I really want to be. I am sure some of that is about turning 30 and feeling like, 'All right, I've been doing this for long enough, I have made choices, tried things out, now I know who I am and what I want to do'."...'


'After toning up his six-pack to play a swashbuckling hero in the action fantasy Prince of Persia, Gyllenhaal has finally graduated to fully-fledged romantic lead. "I'm getting old enough now that that needs to happen," he laughs... "I loved the idea of this guy being the ultimate womaniser and using that to become a great salesman," he says. But after being stopped in his tracks by Hathaway's free-spirited artist, Jamie is finally forced to confront his commitment issues - which are complicated by the fact that the woman of his dreams has early on-set Parkinson's disease. "I feel like what we have done is put a mind to it (the rom-com) without any fear," says Gyllenhaal. "It's more in the vein of much older comedies. In the '40s, there was always something else going on, it wasn't just slapstick. I guess there was just more at stake."'



And going back to Jake's long career: '"I felt always supported in whatever I wanted to do. I think whatever pressures were put on me were put on me by me," says the actor, who made his movie debut at the age of 11 in City Slickers. Love and Other Drugs might be the first film to cast Gyllenhaal as a ladies' man, but the actor had no doubts about his ability to play an incorrigible flirt. "It just comes naturally. If you put a charming, beautiful young woman in front of me, it's hard not to try and flirt."'


'He was similarly confident about his character's comedic rhythm, even though Zwick took a little bit of persuading. "He wasn't convinced at first. He said to me, 'I've seen you vulnerable but I have never seen you not vulnerable'. But after I sold him my character in the movie, he was down." When it came to casting Hathaway, who had previously played Gyllenhaal's wife in Brokeback Mountain, neither actor nor director had a moment's hesitation. "I have wanted to work with Annie again ever since we did Brokeback, because even though we didn't have much together in it, we just really connected as actors," says Gyllenhaal. "We have a really similar sense of rhythm, a similar style. It made everything a lot easier because we already had a relationship."'


'"It's always a bit awkward, but there is no one I would rather have movie sex with than Annie," says Gyllenhaal. "Because of the nature of our relationship - we had already had a sex scene in Brokeback - we were familiar with all that." As one might suspect for a movie that takes its inspiration from films of the '40s, Love and Other Drugs is deeply romantic at its core. "When people get married, the vows say 'in sickness and in health', and these are the questions that a real relationship needs to ask," says Gyllenhaal, suddenly becoming serious. "You need to have the courage to ask them."'


'"Would I describe myself as a romantic? Yes, yes I would. What else is anyone supposed to be? How can you be in a relationship and not be a romantic?"'


And finally...

Jessica Biel has signed up to New Year's Eve, the follow up to Valentine's Day. Jake is still attached, as is Taylor Swift and half of Hollywood. With the beginning of filming imminent, one hopes we will get confirmation of whether Jake is involved or not very soon.


Pictures from links and Fox via IHJ.