Jake Gyllenhaal undercover in LA

Now that Jake Gyllenhaal is back on home territory he's being seen across the town, sometimes undercover... Yesterday (27 March), Jake was seen at Gelson's Supermarket, which has branches across LA. See if you can spot him.

Earlier in the day, he was spotted buying gas - no doubt in sympathy for those people panic buying fuel in the UK at the moment.

This is an Emergency Post and so brief. There may be more...

Pictures thanks to IHJ and JustJared.

My review of Wrath of the Titans is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal surfaces! Heading out for a cuppa in LA. So is he in town for the Advocate bash?

Jake Gyllenhaal has surfaced! He was seen back in LA yesterday (26 March) at what is arguably the home of the best cuppa in the city: Urth Cafe in Beverly Hills. I can also personally vouch for their oatmeal and fruit. This is necessarily a brief visit due to the Paul Newman tribute in NY on Monday 2 April but it does mean that a little bean of possibility may take root and grow into the distinct chance that Jake may appear at the Advocate's 45th birthday celebrations after all! They take place this Thursday, which leaves enough time for Jake to have words with the Face Pet.

Many thanks to IHJ for the very welcome new pictures!

Jake Gyllenhaal catch up! Appearances and Big Easy Express

All is quiet on the Jake front. Last seen eating out in NYC, the Jake Gyllenhaal trail has now cooled and a reward has been offered for any verified sightings of the actor. This may not actually be true. However, a bit part of me hopes that this absence has a lot to do with Jake dotting 'i's and crossing 't's on his contract for An Enemy. Director Denis Villeneuve's next project, Prisoners, is due to being production in early 2013 and so if he wants to have An Enemy finished and dusted by then, presumably work will begin soon. Maybe Jake's getting measured for his double suits as we speak.

The next sighting that is certain is Jake's appearance at the Celebration of Paul Newman's Dream in NYC on 2 April. Advocate magazine celebrates its 45th birthday next week in Beverly Hills but, despite a little confusion in some of the announcements with the inclusion of Jake's name, it doesn't look as if he's to attend. Which is a shame. Advocate gave Jake and Heath one of their most memorable covers.

Earlier this month, the SXSW Film Festival featured the premiere of the documentary Big Easy Express, which follows Mumford and Sons along their Railroad Revival Tour last March. What memorable days those were, not least because among the crew and band was none other than Jake Gyllenhaal. Without having intended to accompany the tour, Jake became their most famous stowaway. We must wait and see to learn if Jake is featured in this musical documentary, but, in the meantime, here's the trailer to bring back some memories.

   

Thanks to BBMISwear for links!

My review of The Hunger Games is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal to be dark, edgy and double in Villeneuve's Enemy?

Hot on the heels of the movie news that turned out to be no movie news we have some more of it. But this time, let us hope that everything works out and Jake Gyllenhaal will indeed star in Denis Villeneuve's 'Enemy'. There are several reasons for wanting this one to turn out, not least the intriguing plot, but chief among them is the news that Jake would play not just one of the leading roles but the other one too. Yes. After years of talk of cloning Jake, Denis Villeneuve may be about to actually pull it off and give us multiple Jakes.

Here is the news according to Variety:

'Before directing Hugh Jackman in "Prisoners," Denis Villeneuve will helm the indie "An Enemy" with Jake Gyllenhaal in negotiations to star. Javier Gullón is penning the adaptation based on the novel "The Double" by Jose Saramago. The story revolves around a dysfunctional history teacher who accidentally discovers his exact double on a rented DVD, seeks him out and ends up turning both of their lives upside down.

Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media will produce along with Miguel Angel Faura of Roxbury Pictures, in association with Mecanismo Films in Madrid. Alliance Films will distribute in Canada and Pathé in the U.K. and France. Pathé will also handle international sales.

Villeneuve will likely shoot "Enemy" before "Prisoners" as Jackman is now busy filming Universal's "Les Miserables." Gyllenhaal would play two roles in the film, described by sources as "dark and edgy."'

Reading between the lines, this would suggest an early filming date, supported by Jake not being able to fit in Motor City.

We may have had fewer films of late but at least there's a good chance that they'll have more Jakes in them. I really like the sound of this one.

Picture of 'dark and edgy' Jake thanks to IHJ.

My review of John Carter is now up at MovieBrit

Jake Gyllenhaal bares his arms in Manhattan and the WDW Floridian Interlude continues

On Wednesday 14 March, Jake Gyllenhaal was seen out and about in Manhattan, NYC, taking advantage of the warm spring weather (I'm aware of these things as I've been watching the Weather Channel an awful lot during my US visit) to show his arms for possibly the first time this year. The warm weather is also, no doubt, contributing to the flourishing state of the Face Pet, which is clearly alive and well as we head into the new season. Source: Just Jared.

WDW Floridian Interlude continues

I'm delighted to say that I've been enjoying some hot and sunny Spring weather myself here in Florida. Here are a few more pictures from the last couple of days at the Magic Kingdom and Sea World.

Unfortunately, walruses are too large for my camera...

Behind the scenes with the Time to Dance video and WDW's Harry Potter Interlude

Daniel Wolfe, director of the video for The Shoes' Time To Dance, has been talking about the reason for its inclusion of a very familiar face, that of Jake Gyllenhaal.: 'Jake Gyllenhaal and I had been talking about working together on something, and I got sent 'Time To Dance' by the Shoes, who are my favorite band, so I wanted to bring Jake in on that . . . I pitched the idea to him, and he liked it, which was great... My brother and I had been chatting about doing a British take on the slasher genre for a while, but as a music video, and instead of seeing it from the victim's perspectives, we wanted to be with the killer, spend some downtime with him."

Meanwhile, The Shoes themselves have been talking about the experience: 'When we released the 'Stay The Same' music video last year with Daniel Wolfe, we were so blown away by his work that we had to bring him back for the 'Time To Dance' video. No other director understood our music like he did. We gave him our track, and today, he gives us the best music video, starring one of our favorite actors, Jake Gyllenhaal. We still can't believe it!"

WDW Harry Potter Interlude

I took a trip to Hogsmeade today (along with a good 33% of the entire world's population), which is a little ironic considering that some of Harry Potter is filmed in my own hometown of Oxford and one of its stars (Hermione) is a local and a familiar face.But Universal Studios has done a fantastic job of recreating some of the most well known places of the books and films in its sun-kissed park. Hogwarts is right there, next to Jurassic Park... The only thing more incredible than the recreation of Hogwarts and its village is the line for its ride - three and a half hours!

 

 

Yesterday, I took a trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom:

 Photos by IHJ and WDW (in WDW).

Updated with Jake out and about in NYC. It's 'Time to Dance' - Watch The Shoes' video featuring Jake Gyllenhaal

Update: Jake Gyllenhaal was seen out and about with a friend in NYC on 11 March. Many thanks to IHJ for the new pictures!

Today, The Shoes released their video for Time to Dance featuring Jake Gyllenhaal. Watch it here and let me know what you think.

A WDW WDW and Floridian Interlude

It may be all quiet on the Jake front at the moment but that's probably just as well because I'm a good few thousand miles away from my internet connection, on a mini netbook that isn't happy unless it can scramble words and sentences beyond recognition. You can rest assured that I've had to retype this opening paragraph at least three times. This is an interlude post, explaining my temporary absence while giving me the excuse to post a photo of myself next to a sealion. This doesn't happen very often. I am in Florida and, having fed an entire bucket of fish to a bunch of hungry flippered critters, I may be smelling of fish for the foreseeable future. Definitely worth it. These photos were taken at Sea World and EPCOT.

With apologies for being off topic as well as thanks for your indulgence, normal bloggage will  resume shortly!

Jake Gyllenhaal's 'silent revenge movie' and first image of Jake from The Shoes video

Hot on the heels that Jake Gyllenhaal may be replacing Dominic Cooper in Motor City, comes the revelation that it may be following in the illustrious footsteps of The Artist. The rumour has it that Motor City has only one line of dialogue in the entire film. Obviously, one imagines that it must be an extremely significant sentence, but it appears that Jake may not be up all night learning his lines. The way movies are going, we may look back with affection on the long lost days of the Talkie.

For more information on the script, here is a link to an interview with its author Chad St John. Apparently, there is another version of this ''silent' revenge movie' with some dialogue so we'll have to see which we get. If you're interested you can download the 2009 version of the script here (with thanks to BBMISwear for the link).

This post contains the first image of Jake from the video Time to Dance by The Shoes. The good news is that the video is released on Monday!

Posting will be intermittent over the next few days for the most excellent reason that I am off on my hols in the wee small hours tomorrow for a week in Florida - WDW is off to WDW!

Jake Gyllenhaal to star in Motor City opposite Gary Oldman?

At long last there is possible news of a potential future role in the works for Jake Gyllenhaal.

Dominic Cooper was set to star in Motor City as a criminal out to seek revenge on the man (Gary Oldman) who framed him and sent him to jail. Cooper has now fallen out of the film thanks to scheduling conflicts and Variety is reporting that Jake is in negotiations to star opposite Oldman and Amber Heard instead of Dominic. Albert Hughes is the director. The film is due to begin shooting in Berlin in April. More details from Deadline.

Watch this space!

Thanks to BBMISwear for the link :-)

Catching up with Jake Gyllenhaal in NYC - drawing with Jake and Star Distraction

Jake Gyllenhaal continues to set aflame the hearts of his fellow Soul Cyclists in NYC, and making me hungry by eating delectable seafood - possibly with good friends Susan Sarandon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin - at BLT Fish, he has also been upping his cultural quota. On Friday (2 March) Jake was seen amongst a most glittery audience at Seminar, comedy on Broadway featuring Alan Rickman. One lucky tweeter, who nabbed a quick pic of Jake leaving with his mum, also spotted Michael J Fox and James Wood amongst the audience. You'd think you'd want your money back for Star Distraction...

Elsewhere, we have little added news on the release of End of Watch later in the year, but a review of the script has been uncovered. It's non-spoilery and brief so take a look. Focusing on the characters' police work as well as their private lives, the reviewer concludes about the script: 'I don't want to give away the whole story, but let me just say after it was over, I appreciated David Ayer's writing even more than I had before. He is very clever, and the home-video device works extremely well here. Given the modest budget needed and the star power of Gyllenhaal, fresh off the critically and commerically well-received Source Code, I expect End Of Watch to do well at the box office, as it deserves to do based on this smart, character-focused screenplay'. Thanks to Mermon for the link:

And finally...

Should you want to brush up your drawing technique, you could do much, much worse than consult this 'How to Draw' class, which takes as its subject  a face you might find familiar...

[Updated] Breaking News! End of Watch to be released in the US 28 September 2012 (as is Maggie's new film!)

End of Watch has a date! At least an American date - 28 September 2012. Rather coincidentally, one of the other movies released the same day is Maggie Gyllenhaal's Won't Back Down. Nothing like a little opening date rivalry between silblings... Here is the news courtesy of Variety (the photo is from Open Road via The Playlist):

Open Road Films has set Sept. 28 for the release of police drama "End of Watch" starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, Frank Grillo and America Ferrera. "Watch" written and directed by David Ayer. It employs footage from handheld cameras of police officers, gang members, surveillance cameras and citizens. Pic's produced by Ayer's Crave Films, John Lesher under his Le Grisbi Productions, and Nigel Sinclair and Matt Jackson of Exclusive Media who also financed the film, in association with Emmett/Furla Films. Exclusive Media holds worldwide distribution rights.

"End of Watch" will open against Warner's Clint Eastwood baseball drama "Trouble with the Curve," Fox's drama "Won't Back Down," starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis," and a pair of entries from Sony -- the animated "Hotel Transylvania" and sci-fier "Looper."

But, if you're fortunate enough to be in the States that weekend, I think there's only one move to see, and it features Baldie Jake. Hopefully, we'll get news of some release dates in other parts of the world soon.

Thanks to IHJ for the pic!

My review of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal joins the 'Celebration of Paul Newman's Dream' and some bits and pieces on World Book Day

Jake Gyllenhaal has frequently had kind warm words to say about his honorary Celebrity Godfather Paul Newman as past posts here show: 'I don't think I've met a more decent human being' is one statement that shouts out. But one area in which Jake has been particularly proud of Paul is in his charity work: 'That salad dressing, to me, was a sense of who he was, and how he did so much incredible good around the world. Yes, the movies stay with us, but more than that, we remember the person, the man he was. So the movie stuff, whether it goes away tomorrow, I have the things that matter to me in my life.'

So how appropriate and wonderful, then, that on 2 April Jake will be one of the many to take part in 'A Celebration of Paul Newman's Dream' at the Lincoln Center in NYC. The event will benefit Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall foundation which 'will benefit Paul Newman’s family of camps and programs supporting children facing serious illnesses from around the world'. His widow Joanne Woodward announced: 'This is the legacy of my husband, Paul, and he considered it to be his most important one... It is for that very reason that I find this delicate way, in my best manners, to ask friends and supporters to come together to help raise money – it’s about helping the children who need it.'

There are also details here on how you can buy a ticket, including the $1500 post-performance supper tickets...

Meanwhile, tweets suggest that Jake is still enjoying a quiet and relatively anonymous life in NYC.

Mountain Man

Jake's Facial Pet has been getting some more media attention:

Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal's mountain man beard might be long and bushy, but he keeps it combed, expertly trimmed and healthy-looking. When dealing with facial hair at this length, maintenance is key to avoiding an overgrown and unkempt nest full of woodland creatures. But inspite of that the actor carried it on well at this year's award functions like Golden Globe.

Buy more stationery, marry Jake Gyllenhaal

This article in the Guardian on why we love stationery caught my attention, as you might see when you give it a read.

Thanks to IHJ for the pictures on World Book Day!