Anne Hathaway praises Jake Gyllenhaal and a WDW Coastal Interlude

Anne Hathaway's been talking about Jake Gyllenhaal and I'm sure it'll come as a surprise to no-one - or at least to those who've witnessed just a moment or two of that Love and Other Drugs chemistry - Anne has nothing but praise for her twotimes co-star: 'I know actors always say this about each other but he really is lovely. I worked with him on 'Brokeback Mountain' and then five years later on 'Love and Other Drugs'; he was a great guy then and still is. He's a real person.'



Talking of movies, my non-spoilery review of Super 8 is now published at Bleeding Cool.

A WDW Coastal Interlude

For the next part of the post, I beg your indulgence because it's Interlude Time. The promise of those rarest of summer gifts - sunshine and heat - persuaded Mr WDW and I to take off for the most beautiful south western reaches of England. We set off for Lime Regis (I have a real weakness for The French Lieutenant's Woman and Persuasion) but in the end we went a couple of counties further on to northern Cornwall. I am now back, complete with a fetchingly erratic sunburn pattern, an empty wallet, and a full camera.

Lyme Regis, possibly the most beautiful and historic seaside town imaginable - unfortunately I didn't discover a new species of dinosaur.






Branscombe in Devon is one of the most beautiful villages I've ever seen. Over the years we've visited it several times, paying respects to its stunning Norman Church and its Fountain Head pub. And then there's Beer (I cannot resist a town called Beer - even one that serves the most revolting coffee known to man - clearly I should have stuck to its ale).



From there it was Padstow - home of Rick Stein, the famous fish chef (his cafe was locked to stop more people getting in - an unusual move for a cafe), and the pasty capital of the universe.



Port Isaac is the home of the favourite UK tv show Doc Martin but it's far better than that.





I used to think of Tintagel as being the extremely tacky home of the Arthur legend - you can barely move without tripping over Ye Olde Merlin Post Office or Ye Olde Arthur Car Park but now I know it's much more than that - the castle was built on an island at the end of the promontory and there is nothing for it but steps and steep climbs to reach it and its heights. At the top, I fell down and had to eat a banana...





Other places I'd like to show you are Boscastle, ravaged in the flash flood of 2004 and now recovered and beautiful, the gorgeous inn of St Kews, hidden away, and the stunning St Swithin Church at Launcells, the 'least worst spoilt church in Cornwall' according to Betjeman.




If you can get to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall do! Even if it's in a tent...

Photos from the LA Times and WDW.

I have a guest reviewer on For Winter Nights - a review of Napoleon's Pyramids to mark the launch of the new Ethan Gage website. Very exciting!

Jake Gyllenhaal on the gun range for End of Watch and taking it easy in Hawaii

I'm back! I have survived four nights in a tent no bigger than a postage stamp, in terrain so treacherous that at one point I heard a mouse rustle. Summer days were hot but one night I sat on my camp chair (new and with a beer bottle holder), shivering despite the weight of four jumpers. Fortunately, the beauty of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall (not to mention its cream teas and ice creams) was enough to sustain even the most fearsome of campers. Now I'm back, I see I have quite a bit to catch up on. While I do so, here are a few of my favourite photos from the last few days, thanks to IHJ.


On 25 July, Jake was seen at a private gun range in LA along with End of Watch co-star Michael Pena.






This followed a brief but no doubt packed weekend in Hawaii for father Stephen's wedding. It wasn't all formal though. There was a chance for Jake and Maggie to unwind together in those beautiful warm seas.



Back shortly and, I fear, there will be an Interlude...

The GyllenHaal of Fame

Inspired by Jake Gyllenhaal's intrepid experience with Bear Grylls, I am currently embarked on a camping trip of my own in the wilds of south west England. It doesn't get much rougher than this - you can't take a step without tripping over cream teas, fish and chips, giant cakes, clifftops with views, blue sea, sunny skies and that most formidable of all beasts - the seagull. Bear would be proud (and running for the hills). But Gyllendom continues and I'm grateful to BBMISwear for this wonderful review of Jake's career from this week's Entertainment Weekly.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie in Hawaii for dad's wedding, Peter Sarsgaard in Madrid, Source Code out in the US tomorrow

This last weekend Jake Gyllenhaal had a break from his police training and filming schedules to pop over to that most beautiful of places Hawaii. The occasion was the marriage of his father Stephen to film maker Kathleen Mann. Maggie was there too, looking stunning in a summer dress that conjures up all sorts of images of flowers, sunshine and holidays. Jake, however, was put in brown. There's a full account here with pictures. Here are a few. There are many others here, do take a look.

I would like to implore all friends and relatives who are getting married to do so in Hawaii and fly me over. I'll take the Maldives at a push.

Peter Sarsgaard was unable to be there because his publicity tour for The Green Lantern continues - and seems to have gone on forever. At the end of last week he was in Madrid.

Blockbuster's early release of Source Code in the UK

As previously mentioned, Source Code is in the shops in the US tomorrow but, while we have to wait over here, Blockbuster will be getting it into its shops early on 29 July. There are details about that and a competition to win a copy - over at Blockbuster and at ManMadeMovies.

And finally...

I'm off for a few days holiday with bucket and spade and a daft hat. I am not, unfortunately, Hawaii bound. The southern coast is the goal. Because I'm going to be camping (shudders), I may have internet, not to mention electricity, issues at times, but I will do my best! Please all do a sun dance for me...

Pictures from links.

Jake Gyllenhaal covers Australia's GQ and Jake talks Source Code for the DVD US release this week

Jake Gyllenhaal is on the cover of the Australian GQ issue for August and September. Hardly a surprise because this issue celebrates Big Style and if there's one star with more than enough style to go around, it's Jake. It's not a new photoshoot - this one features hair - but it's good to see Jake on the cover. When Jake visited Australia with Anne Hathaway back in those Love and Other Drugs days, I think he left his mark.

This coming week sees the release in the US of the Source Code DVD and blu-ray. We still have three weeks to wait here in the UK but the good news is that Blockbusters will have advance copies of it in their shops on 29 July.

To mark the release, there have been some features on the disc, although not much has been said about the extras. But Home Media Magazine has an interview with Jake, no doubt recorded during the initial publicity for Source Code, and it's a pleasure to 'hear' Jake talking about this wonderful film again.

'“There were a couple alternate versions of the end that everyone was talking about [using],” Gyllenhaal says. “I loved that I didn’t know when I watched the screening how the movie was going to totally end. And also the voiceover and things toward the end, we varied a lot so there was a lot of discussion.”'

'“We shot one day in Chicago, that last scene with The Bean where the camera pulls in. I had all these weird ideas that somebody could appear, something could happen and [director] Duncan [Jones] would always go with these weird ideas I had,” he says. “I’d be like, ‘What if some weird agent showed up?’ He’d be like, ‘Get somebody in a suit. Can we get somebody in a suit? Pull that guy off the street.’ We would do a take like that.”'

'“Every Source Code has an alternate version, and every Source Code initially has a different choice made by me because I get to come in that way,” Gyllenhaal says. “I would give him some humor. He’d want something funny, and then I’d give him the serious version, and he’d be like, ‘Okay, maybe something in between.’ Then he’d ask Michelle [Monaghan] to say something different. He asked me to totally improv it and put the film together after that.”'

'“If we pay attention to our interactions with people, we can see that there’s a cycle to things,” Gyllenhaal says. “This movie seems like, at least philosophically, that idea to me. Every time I would come back into the Source Code, and as an actor, and I think every time the character goes, it’s another chance. Another chance. And it’s about even as you believe things die, they are reborn.”'

A little on the extras: 'Extras on the Blu-ray include commentary with Gyllenhaal, Ripley and director Duncan Jones, and “Access: Source Code,” a viewing mode with scene-specific featurettes. The DVD includes the commentary, a trivia track, cast interviews and science focal points.'

And finally... a WDW Interlude

Today on what was, rather surprisingly, a hot summer's day I took myself off to Blenheim Palace for the annual Game Fair which has nothing to do with the games I like to play and a lot to do with games that I don't -'country sports'. As a veggie, this isn't exactly my kind of thing, but I followed the other 140,000 people who visited the show this weekend to park so far away it wasn't even in the same village as the event. Such was the walk to the fair that nearby residents had left out water for the dogs while vendors helped the walkers on their way with coffees and ice cream. Finally, I made it in and realised that I was going to need a second pair of legs.

I did manage to sit by the lake to read for a little but I seemed to be in the way of the fly fishing judges so, fearing my sandwich might get hooked, I wandered off. There was a pond in which one could practice coarse fishing but this had been adopted by a lot of very hot and soon to be wet and smelly dogs.

Talking of smelly animals.

Fortunately, there were plenty of real ale tents to make up for the lack of veggie nosh, and I made it back home with only a few blisters. Needless to say, I do now look like a big ripe red pepper, such is my sunburn and the rubbishness of my suntan lotion. Luckily, I could spot my car in the massive field because it was the only non 4 wheel drive.

Includes pictures from IHJ, WDW and Australian GQ.

Jake Gyllenhaal goes head to head with Matt Damon while Pattinson looks on

You know what they say about men with bald heads? Big feet. Proving this ancient adage true, Jake Gyllenhaal visited a police training centre yesterday in LA, 21 July. Please note how I'm not mentioning how shiny Jake's shoes are (police training rubbing off?) or, indeed, how shiny the back of Jake's head is.

As always, Jake is a trendsetter and no sooner had Jake's new look received its first airing than Matt Damon shaved all of his off as well. People is even asking readers to vote between the appeal of Matt's head vs Jake's. At the moment they're head to head.

There were rumours today that The Pale One also made an attempt to follow the new GyllenTrend but he couldn't quite go through with it.

Includes pictures from IHJ, Celebuzz and MTV.

My review of Tree of Life is now on MovieBrit.