Monday 29 August 2011

End of Watch is about to wrap - in Las Vegas - and a trip down that Gyllenhaal memory lane

We have big news tonight, my friends. Many of us have been waiting to hear this for quite some time. It will very soon be time for Jake Gyllenhaal to put away the hair shavers and rescue that Face Pet from wherever the poor beastie has been locked away. Today comes news that principal photography on End of Watch will end this coming Tuesday - ie, tomorrow! - in LA. However, there is a minor blip in Jake's hair regeneration - Jake will be filming briefly in Vegas. He'll be there alone, without Michael Pena, and so, one could construe from this that it'll be a brief excursion.


As we all know, Jake had some long and tiring nights filming in Vegas all those years ago for Bubble Boy (above with Danny Trejo). Do have a listen to the commentary for this because it contains some very funny memories from Jake of the Vegas shoot, and a little bit of singing from what I recall. Also some tickling.

And finally

With thanks to BBMISwear for the link, here is a trip down memory lane. I hope you enjoy this half as much as I did. Some wonderful clips - I could look at young Jakewith his BAFTA over and over.

Sunday 28 August 2011

Grandissimo Jake Gyllenhaal! Flashbacks to Prince of Persia's world premiere

What with storms blasting across the NE seaboard of the US and across the NE corner of Scotland, one almost expects to see a wolf chasing Jake Gyllenhaal across New York while a tidal wave crashes aside skyscrapers and Russian ships. Therefore, I think it's time to remember that this is, at least in this hemisphere, still summer. For me, as far as Gyllenhaalism goes, summer movies don't get much more summery than Prince of Persia.


With thanks to Monica, this is a great video newly uncovered from the world premiere of Prince of Persia at Westfield, London, back in May last year. I love it. Jake's exuberance, friendliness and openness are a true delight. He is indeed grandissimo!

Friday 26 August 2011

Meet Anna Kendrick, Jake Gyllenhaal's dancing End of Watch co-star plus more Edible Schoolyard

I'm back! It might have taken a nine-hour drive today but at least I got home without breaking down this time. That's a bonus. I have catching up to do but, in the meantime, here is another E News video from the End of Watch filming, thanks to Monica. Finally, we get to see Jake Gyllenhaal with the lovely Anna Kendrick. There is dancing...



Here's a closer look:


I'm also delighted to post some photos of Jake with the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco (via IHJ), who featured with Jake in his appearance on Today this week for Edible Schoolyard. Interestingly, a good friend from San Francisco emailed me earlier in the month to say that Jake had been spotted in the city on 2 August.




And finally...

Thanks to Leslie, here are some details about the bracelet that we've noticed on the wrist of Jake's Officer Taylor. Apparently, it will get you out of any and every scrape as well as cook you breakfast.

Includes pictures from IHJ.

My review of Final Destination 5 in 3D is now at MovieBrit.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal and David Ayer talk End of Watch, Edible Schoolyard on Today and a WDW Cornish Interlude

You know what it's like, you go away for a few days and what happens? Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't appear on TV just the once, he makes two TV appearances in the time it takes me to drink a pint of Spingo* (*local Cornish ale). Most Jake and director David Ayer spoke to E! about the rigours of training for End of Watch. This provides us of our first glimpse of Jake with Ayer, a figure with whom we will no doubt become familiar over the coming year.



A few days ago, Jake continued to show his support for a charity close to his heart, Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard, which encourages youngsters in cities to grow the food they'll eat. There are full details here and you can watch the video from the Today show below.



With many thanks to IHJ, we have some screencaps from the two shows, a few of which are below but you can enjoy many more there.





WDW Cornish Interlude

Meanwhile, I'm having a fine time in that most beautiful of places, Cornwall. I'd like to do my bit for the English tourism board and post a few pictures of some of the places that have made me stop and stare this week. These include Clovelli (the village of a million steps) on the north coast of Cornwall, Charlestown on the south, Kynance on the southwestern tip and Mullion Cove on the Lizard, one of my favourite places that I keep returning to.




Sunday 21 August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena on set, Brokeback in EW and a WDW Interlude

Continuing the trend of alternating posts of Jake Gyllenhaal with hair and Jake Gyllenhaal without hair, in tonight's post Jake's head gets an airing. That means more photos from the End of Watch location. These pictures date from 16 August. Looks like Pena's character does the driving - does that make him the 'good' cop?




BBM voted amongst the saddest of all movies

In a change of tone, thanks to BBMISwear for this scan from EW's Fall Movie Double issue. It includes a feature on the saddest movies. Not surprisingly, Brokeback Mountain gets a look in and 10% of the votes. That's an awful lot of tears spilt in dark theatres and living rooms.


WDW Interlude

I'm off on holiday for a few days - back to Cornwall but this time right to the end of it. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been. To get in the mood, I've had a full day out today, with the Brompton World Championships at Blenheim Palace (Mr WDW has a thing about Brompton bikes), for which everyone had to wear the normal daily uniform for this bike so beloved by city commuters - suits. Some did play loose with the theme (looking at you, Rupert the Bear), including all those who opted for the kilt.


After that, we cycled off to the Oxford Airshow, Fly to the Past. We found ourselves in the midst of an unexpectedly hot sunny day and so I'm sure it won't just be me suffering with the sunburn tonight! I couldn't get many photos of the flying planes they wouldn't stay still long enough. But I did get a shot of the tardis...



Pictures from IHJ, BBMISwear and WDW.

Saturday 20 August 2011

Source Code's 'river of time' and SC screens in Japan

Source Code isn't released in Japan until 28 October but a couple of nights ago the film received its first premiere screening in the country. It sounds like Source Code was very well received and Duncan Jones has tweeted that he will be in Japan soon - for the opening? Many thanks to Rintaro Watanabe for the photo from the screening.


As is the way with film releases, as a movie opens in one country, it can already be released on DVD elsewhere. To mark the release of Source Code on DVD and blu ray in the UK, In Style has released a video which contains snippets in which Jake Gyllenhaal, writer Ben Ripley, producer Jordan Wynne and an astrophysicist explain the meaning of the source code. Watch closely - there may be a test later.



Thursday 18 August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal's back on set, Duncan Jones talks making movies and meeting Roland Emmerich (sort of)

While risking the possibility that this post may look just the same as yesterday's, here are some photos of Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena on location on the streets of LA for End of Watch. I may be getting little shivers of deja vu but these pictures were taken on set yesterday (17 August) and feature a very smiley if baldy Jake. In this video, Michael Pena talks a little about the filming.





LoveFilm is giving the new DVD and Blu ray of Source Code a big push in the UK. As part of that, it features a great interview with Duncan Jones, in which the director talks about making Source Code and Moon and makes some hints about his next project. He also mentions again how Source Code was obedient to the will of Prince of Persia.

'The whole shoot hinged around that – Jake had just finished Prince Of Persia and would be travelling the world for goodness knows how long to do press for that movie. So it really was all hands on deck to find a way to do it in that time-frame and within the budget that we had.'

On this page you can tell LoveFilm all about your favourite Jake movie.


Talking of Jake's directors, last weekend I attended the huge Empire Big Screen event at the O2 in London. One of the biggest directors to make an appearance was Roland Emmerich who, of course, did a great job of directing Jake in The Day After Tomorrow, one of my favourite Gyllenmovies. I was delighted to see the long line of people waiting to get an autograph from Roland and I was very fortunate to see him in the more intimate setting of the press room. He did talk about how lucky he's been to work with such good Hollywood actors, including Jake.



Pictures from IHJ and WDW.

My review of Cowboys and Aliens is now up on MovieBrit!

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal back on location filming End of Watch while Maggie's off to TIFF!

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena were back on location in LA filming End of Watch yesterday (16 August). At the end of filming there'll be a test to see if you can identify on which day certain pictures were taken. It does of course make the choice of what to wear in the morning that much easier...




Many thanks to IHJ for the new photos.

Maggie's off to TIFF

Maggie Gyllenhaal is off to TIFF. This week it's been announced that her new film, Hysteria, will premiere at Toronto International Film Festival next month. To mark the announcement, a trailer has been released and it is indeed hysterical. Maggie is also once again putting that English accent to good use (while throwing the odd punch or two).



My review of Sarah's Key is now up at MovieBrit.

Monday 15 August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal in OK! magazine

A bit of a stop press kind of post because I've just managed to get hold of the OK! magazine that I posted extracts from yesterday. So here below is the interview with Jake Gyllenhaal in full. It's a rather odd size, hence a few words at the top clipped on the right hand side, but the interview is all there.

Once you've read it, if you're in the UK, go out and grab hold of your own copy of Source Code which is out today!


Sunday 14 August 2011

As Source Code is released on DVD in the UK, Jake Gyllenhaal talks about making movies (and George Clooney)

Source Code is out on DVD and Blu ray tomorrow in the UK! In other words, not every Monday is horrible. The good reviews are coming in plus more press from both Duncan Jones and Jake Gyllenhaal. There is a whopper of an article about Duncan and his film in The Mail this weekend, while Jake pops up in the UK OK! magazine.


Via Digital Spy: "'I'm in the business of playing characters. That's what I'm in," he explained. "That's what I want to try and do. The ability to tell stories that you care about, it does give you a great opportunity to do that... I didn't grow up in a Hollywood way. I grew up in a family of people who made movies - and continue to do so to this day.'"


Via Music Rooms: “Being on a movie set, there’s just no way you won’t end up a rounded kind of person as everybody gives each other sh*t all the time. That’s what makes movies... If you surround yourself with the people who actually believe in the work that you do then it’s impossible to lose a sense of yourself... I admire somebody like George Clooney, who has people around him who are actually working in the field.”


For a report on the release of Source Code, please check out Man Made Movies (and I'm not just saying that because I wrote it!).

Pictures from WDW and IHJ.

My report from the Troll Hunter screening and Q&A is up at MovieBrit.

Saturday 13 August 2011

Duncan Jones on working with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jake's back on the streets filming End of Watch

I'm in London this weekend at Empire Magazine's Big Screen (my report of meeting Harrison Ford is here) and so time online is short but here is a catch up with Jake Gyllenhaal. It's topped by an interview that my friend Becky did for DIY Films with Duncan Jones for the UK release of Source Code in the UK. It's interesting to hear more aboout Duncan's campaign to have the film released in China. There was a question about working with Jake:


'We had a great time. Jake is a real joy for me to work with. Some people have found him difficult - I don't know why - but I found him absolutely lovely. He's incredibly smart and very funny - sometimes too funny. [laughs] He's a lovely guy - always throwing ideas at me, and always getting me to experiment and try stuff out, and go beyond where he thought the role was on the page. There are a lot of really great moments in the film when the audience is getting a good laugh, because Jake is going a little too far! It also helped that we had Michelle Monaghan with him, because the chemistry really helped.' Do read the rest of the interview, it's a goodie.


Meanwhile, Jake was back out filming End of Watch with Michael Pena on 9 August. More guns were involved. Long ones this time. I'm detecting a theme. Yesterday - 12 August - Jake was back at The Other Place, the Medical Center in LA. Thanks to IHJ for the photos, there are many more there.



You can read my review of the wonderful Troll Hunter plus a report on the Empire Big Screen Q&A at MovieBrit.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal, changing his life with movies

Update: My first report from the UK premiere of Cowboys and ALiens is here.

The release of Source Code on DVD has led to more interviews with Jake Gyllenhaal. I particularly like this one with Digital Journal. In it, Jake talks about far more than Source Code, mentioning politics, love and sex. Here are some extracts accompanied by photographs of Jake and Michael Pena on the End of Watch set on 8 August, courtesy of IHJ. Many thanks to Mermon for the heads up!


'Well, the making of any movie is always full of its own odd moments. When you do a serious scene where no one can't stop laughing or there is an intense moment and you are supposed to break tables and chairs, and can't get it right and you have to go and put everything back in -- that's what I love about making movies. So that's just the great fun and irony of movies -- that people are made to look like idiots! But who are extraordinary at their jobs? And you have like, these two actors in this movie, who are taking themselves way too seriously. I just wanted to give a great performance.'


'I think romance coincides with effort, so you can fall flat on your face as long as you’re making great effort in romance. Effort always comes off as romantic. If you’re someone who doesn’t cook, you make a meal. You can do anything that has a bit of vulnerability about it... Well, I’m a little bit of a workaholic, so there was a time when I was working hard in another country with just one day off. I flew back from that country to see someone for just an hour and then I flew back. I thought it was a really romantic gesture and I ended up with a whole bunch of frequent flier miles for my show of love.'


'Like if you see a man in uniform, then the movie is about war, And the movie is about a man getting to get back to the things he loves, in my opinion. I've made movies about war. So I feel like I can say that. And I've answered many, many questions about that before, you know? And how do I feel about what's happening? I still have great faith in our president. And I believe that he'll make the right choices. Look, it's complicated. We are human beings. And soldiers are human beings. They have lives. And for me, I didn't approach it like that. Because I didn't play that part. I played a guy who's in jail at the beginning of the movie. And to me, that's an interesting aspect, politically. Which is actually a domestic issue. And I didn't know that much about it, until I did research for the movie [Brothers]. I went to jails all around California, and juvenile halls. And I got involved in a writing program, as a result of doing research for this movie, with these young juveniles who write. I have relationships with some of them, and some of them have actually gone on to serve life sentences in some cases, And all of them, strangely, regardless of what has happened to them and their fate, are incredible kids. And to me, that's also an important aspect of this movie. That here's this guy who comes out of jail after he holds up a bank. And then he ultimately turns his life around. To care for two children, and to love, you know? And so it is with the thing about war, is that it outshines everything else. But to meet these kids that were in this system, where it seems impossible to redeem themselves -- my life changed, making this movie, Because of that, because of meeting those kids.'


'I mean, you make movies, and so much is about this process now. You know, selling a movie. Or making it look good for an audience, or whatever. And the special moments that happen in movies, are the lessons that every movie has. Like for everybody involved in it. And I went through a journey in the prison system. But look, I don't know how it can't change your life when you meet a kid, who the day before was sentenced to life. And whose girlfriend had to testify against him. So I don't know how you could be breathing, and not have something like that change your life. Like they get one hour outside a week, and they're fourteen years old. It's now changed to an hour a day, but it was an hour a week when I got there. That is not to say that they've done perfect things. But it is to say that it can't not change my life. And another kid with the LA Conservation Corps started telling us all these stories, And they were unreal. To me. Like hiding meth in the back of a lamp of a four wheel drive vehicle, driving over the border. And he was sixteen years old. And he told these stories like he was Homer. They were literally like tales. But he's changed his life. He's actually working now in the governor's office in Sacramento. So it's those things. It's like you look at a movie and go, yeah. It's a movie. But that's the stuff that I care about. So anyway. that's all!'


There is much more at Digital Journal.

And finally...

I'm off to London tomorrow for the start of a few days of movie glory, beginning with Cowboys and Aliens and its press conference and premiere. We're talking Harrison Ford here! I'm then going on to the Empire Big Screen event at the O2 venue. I will have internet along the way and so I'll keep in touch! There are wonders on the way...

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Officer Taylor reporting for duty - Jake Gyllenhaal on the End of Watch set and a WDW Interlude

These are difficult hours and days in old Blighty. However, on the one hand we have mindless thugs robbing and burning their own communities, but on the other we have hundreds of volunteers marching into the town centres armed with brooms, bin bags and hope to tidy up after them. Good will defeat bad. And so it seems fitting that we have some new photos of Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of End of Watch or as he very much looks here - Officer Taylor. No messing. Photos from IHJ and PoPSugar.






My review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes - or at least most of it - from an eventful and dark night in London.

WDW Interlude

At the weekend, I took off to Romsey in Hampshire to a living history festival called Blasts from the Past. It gave me some excellent ideas for Jake's next movie which must, of course, be a historical drama. Some periods may suit better than others. Others seem down right drafty.