We've had a little bit of an update on Jake Gyllenhaal's Off Broadway debut this Autumn. It turns out that Jake is quite a fan of young British playwright Nick Payne who penned If There Is I haven't Found It Yet. After having seen Nick's last play at the Royal Court in London back in February - presumably when the photo below was taken - it sounds like Jake was keen to sign on - even though he doesn't know what an Asda is (your loss, Jake). Other points to note are that Jake will be back in his English accent! Will he be going Estuary, that is the question. And hoopla at the stage door is expected. Surely not... The report below is from The Indie.
'Gyllenhaal will play Terry, a foul-mouthed drifter who strikes up an odd friendship with his obese teenage niece. "He likes the humour and anger of the character and the tone of the play," says Payne. The actor was sent the script and liked it so much he came to see Payne's last play, Constellations, at the Royal Court in February. After a reading of If There Is... with Roundabout Theatre in New York, he signed on for a full run, opening in August. Gyllenhaal will adopt an English accent for the role but will Payne tailor his script for American audiences? "No. Although at the read-through I asked, 'does everyone know what Asda is?' and they said, 'not really.'" Is he ready for Jake's starstruck fans at the stage-door? "I'm sure there will be a bit of hoopla but I'm quite happy to stay anonymous." Not for too much longer, I'd guess.'
Jake Gyllenhaal is back in NYC after having experienced England's wettest drought on record by popping over last weekend for a wedding in wellies on a Somerset farm. Maybe he picked up some vegetable growing tips while scraping the muck out of his boots. So, as England continues to sink into the ever-rising deluge of 'much needed' rain, Jake put it all behind him and popped out for dinner with a bunch of friends, including Beyonce, her husband Jay-Z and Sarah Jessica Parker. Shockingly, it was revealed that Beyonce wore the same outfit that she was seen wearing earlier the same day. I'm surprised the restaurant let her in. As for Jake, he continues to work on his Captain Nemo Furry look.
Many thanks to IHJ for these photos which were taken on 25 April. The next night, Jake was seen on stage with David Ayer introducing a screening of End of Watch a full five months before it's due to be released. This isn't the only screening either. There are others in NYC and LA at the beginning of May. There are more details of the 2 May NYC screening here.
So what was the verdict on the film last night? As one would expect, it appears as if the audience signed away their souls in pledging their silence. However, in one twitter exchange, a tweeter said that Jake talked for five minutes and the film was 'Really good! Intense...I was balling'. Another tweeter grabbed a pic.
One wonders if David Ayers is just getting feedback from audiences or if he has some changes in mind. Time will tell and hopefully we'll hear something from one of these screenings... Thanks to BBMISwear for help with the links.
Today is a very special day for me - WDW is five years old - no longer toddling around like a nipper, nappies long forgotten and letters now forming into words longer than 'feed me'! It's been an incredible five years and it's been precious because those years have given me the opportunity to watch Jake Gyllenhaal's career develop, his interests outside film making flourish and his beard and hair levels run amok. These years have also given me some of my closest friends, leading to some of the best times of my life - not least re-enacting Moonlight Mile across Massachusetts and Martha's Vineyard with BBMISwear!
I've been fortunate to see Jake a ridiculously wonderful number of times in five countries and through it all I've had the fun of sharing it all here. And not only my own adventures, it's been great hearing the Jake stories shared by readers here. Hopefully, as Jake's filming - and stage - career step up a gear in 2012, there'll be lots more to come.
The best way to see the highlights of these five years is through the archives, but here is a brief look at just a few of the memorable times...
2007
2007 was a year I'll never forget for it was spent in a whirlwind of film releases. I saw Jake in London, Cannes, Toronto and Rome with a near miss in LA at the Zodiac Premiere that wasn't. I can do no better here than point you in the direction of a post I did for Jake's birthday in 2007. This remains one of my favourite posts from an exceptional year - so good a year in fact that it was the perfect time to start a blog.
2008
2008 was a difficult year for a number of reasons. The loss of Heath Ledger doesn't get easier. Jake spent much of the year filming and being well away from paparazzi cameras while he did it. Jake filmed Brothers in a snowy cold New Mexico before moving to South Carolina in the spring for Nailed. More than one reader here was an extra on the movie and BBMISwear visited the set and gave us the most incredible account following her lunch with Jake and our friend Ted. If you haven't read this account then you really must! Here is a photo of two of my very favourite people... courtesy of BBMISwear.
Another friend Nicole shared her experiences of the filming of Nailed with us too - you can read some of her adventures here and here. Quite incredible. Thanks to Nicole for sharing her pictures. There are little videos on WDW too.
One reader, Lisa, told us all about her experiences on the night time set of Nailed - her daughter was one of the extras. You can read that here and here.
In April, I had an adventure of my own, when An Education filmed in Oxford. This led to the rather unbelievable occasion of bumping in to Peter Sarsgaard on the way home from work. I was very fortunate, thanks to Winterbird, to also attend the premiere in London in 2009.
Also in 2008, friends and I took the trip to London to the premiere of The Dark Night, not least to pay our respects to Heath. A very memorable day and lovely to see Maggie.
As for Jake, for much of the rest of the year barely a peep was heard from him. He had been whisked off to Morocco to film Prince of Persia.
2009
In the spring of 2009 we were granted with our first glimpse of Prince Dastan, giving me the chance to take an archaeological look at its early medieval authenticity - a post that turned out to be one of the most popular in WDW's history.
In the summer, I was off to Boston for my Moonlight Mile journey with BBMISwear. This was quite a trip - seeing BBMISwear trying to launch herself over the post office counter ala Jake was extremely entertaining. Everywhere we went, people were keen to talk about their memories of when Jake and Dustin Hoffman came to town. One of the posts is here, while here we are on our quest for That Bench.
2009 was the year of expectations! We had trailers for Brothers - this film had been put back another year leading to a very miserable WDW for a while. We had glimpses from Prince of Persia and then we had the filming of Love and Other Drugs. Jake now and again emerge from PoP secluded busyness for trips to Europe and much excitement at WonderCon in San Francisco earlier in the year - an event that was attended by a good friend.
As the Noughties drew to a close, I did a recap of some of my favourite photos of the decade. You might want to take a look, if only to see Jake with cute animals.
2010
As 2009 ended and 2010 began, Brothers at last came out after a ridiculously long wait for a film that had been finished long before.
But there were two big highlights for me in 2010. Firstly, the premiere of Prince of Persia in London. An absolutely fantastic event despite the ridiculous setting for it. Again, I was lucky to share the day with good friends and I am very proud that my dear friend Ruby took the best photo of Jake I ever saw from that day. One of the reports here.
The other highlight was in November when I was able to attend the London press conference for Love and Other Drugs thanks to Bleeding Cool! And this meant that finally Love and Other Drugs was out!
2011
2011 was the year of Source Code! After its success at the SXSW festival, it was released around the world to a great reception. I had a great time in Berlin when the film screened there, giving me the opportunity to meet more of Jake's fans while watching Jake from the comfort of a cinema seat with a footstool!
Eureka was one of my friends who was able to see - and meet - Jake elsewhere on the tour - this time in Madrid. She got some brilliant photos!
Jake's hair was a source of fascination in 2011 with Jake at times doing a fine impression of Sasquatch. And then along came End of Watch and all of that changed. Baldy Jake in Uniform emerged.
But without doubt one of the highlights of 2011 - and indeed of the last five years - was Jake's appearance with Brit Bear Grylls on Man vs Wild. This set new standards in the torture of celebrities on television and earned Jake enormous kudos across the media.
And so...
After a quiet period, excitement looms! Jake is about to begin filming An Enemy and will soon be making his debut on the NYC stage. I have no doubt that there will be stories to tell from that! And of course End of Watch will finally reach the big screen. With new management and a new haircut, the future looks rosy! I look forward to following it with all of you. Many thanks to everyone who has shared the last five years with me - Cheers!
Jake Gyllenhaal is back in England! As we'd suspected, Jake didn't attend the LA Conservation Corps awards on Friday after all, due to its clash with the wedding of his good friends Marcus Mumford and Carey Mulligan. It's not often you spot a Hollywood movie star walking down the street in the West Country but this weekend Jake has been spotted in Boots chemist in the lovely town of Taunton, Somerset, and in the local pub. Mind you, after I saw Kate Winslett in one of my local country pubs the other week, I now kind of expect it.
According to US Weekly, Jake is not the only star to attend the glittery but lowkey event at a farm. Colin Firth and Sienna Miller were also there to throw confetti. Somerset is a beautiful and very historic part of England and I hope Jake enjoys it. Many congratulations to Marcus and Carey! Very sorry about the weather...
In the absence of wedding pics, I thought I'd use the opportunity to repost a couple of pictures I took of Carey when I saw her (and Peter) filming An Education in Oxford back in April 2008. Of course, in those days, very few people knew the name of Carey Mulligan.
WDW Interlude
Today, we went out on the motorbike to dodge the hail and the torrential rain to venture into the countryside. We took a peek at the windmill used in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and went inside the church in the beautiful village of Ewelme where the granddaughter of Chaucer is buried in an unusual alabaster tomb. Other highlights included a lot of goats.
We have news from Variety and it's corking! So find those opera glasses, dig out some posh togs and book those tickets! And I quote...
Jake Gyllenhaal will make his U.S. stage debut later this year in an Off Broadway staging of Nick Payne's play "If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet."
Show will be produced as part of the 2012-13 season at the Gotham nonprofit Roundabout Theater Company, which also has added the world preem of "Bad Jews" to its Roundabout Underground season of smaller-scale productions of new works.
Payne's comic family drama bowed at London's Bush Theater in 2009. The Stateside preem will be helmed by Michael Longhurst, director of Payne's "Constellations," which earlier this year won Brit plaudits in a run at the Royal Court.
Gyllenhaal, who starred in Kenneth Lonergan's "This is Our Youth" on the West End, will play the estranged uncle who arrives for an unannounced visit with a family whose members include an overweight and bullied teen girl, a mother trying to protect her daughter and an environmentalist dad.
"If There Is" begins previews Aug. 24 ahead of a Sept. 20 opening at the Roundabout's Laura Pels Theater.
More details at Variety and no doubt much more to come! Watch this space.
This Friday, Jake Gyllenhaal is presenting some of the scholarships at the LA Conservation Corps ceremony in LA. This weekend, though, an event takes place which may well influence what Jake is up to for the few days after that.Obviously I am purely speculating but I don't think it's beyond the realms of all possibility that Jake may attend this weekend's nuptials of good friends Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford in the English countryside.
As is my wont, this is the perfect excuse to go off tangent and post links to a couple of audio interviews Jake did for Edible Schoolyard a year ago which relate to the conservation and food growing theme and, in the second audio clip, to Jake's love of Britain and London:
'Consciously, or unconsciously, I love that country, and particularly love London itself. I just find it to be - now the food is extraordinary to be there - and I just love the people there. Most of my friends are British strangely too and I find them to be loyal, intelligent and caring people, not unlike most people around the world, but in particular I just love that town. And I love I think most of all their idea of supporting potential. Particularly in the arts. They see somebody that they see in the spirit of growing. When they see a sprout that they think might be a nice plant, they fertilise it and they support it... it doesn't have to be a full-grown plant, amazing from the outset, it's all about supporting potential and I really respect that about that culture and them and I felt greatly supported by them in so many ways. London was the first city that really supported Donnie Darko, a movie that I did. I feel a great love for them.'
Remember this video of Mumford and Sons performing in a small room of people including Jake and Carey?
This post includes a new picture from IHJ from 5 April of Jake and Maggie in NYC. Of course, Peter may well have been the one to introduce Jake and Carey following their appearance together in An Education and then on stage in NYC in the Seagull. Thanks to BBMISwear for the link.
A brief post this evening to bring the confirmation that Jake Gyllenhaal is all aboard An Enemy. In fact, as he's playing both of the film's lead roles, he's signed on twice. Whether he'll need two trailers and two Retouchers (remember the Brothers' Retoucher discussion?) is another matter. Mr Will W of Toronto reports that My Enemy's director Denis Villeneuve is in town to do prep for the movie. Filming, we hear, starts in late May and will wrap in mid July. Fingers crossed that with that speed it won't be too long before we can see both Jakes for ourselves. This seems like as good a time as any to repost one of my own pictures that I took of Jake in Toronto back in 2007.
It's a good day when we have some news and a little bit of speculation to throw in with it. Today, a tweet/FB snippet appeared which suggests that Jake may well have plans for later in the year - in the Autumn if you read the comments further down that link:
It is official! My good friend from London is coming to direct Jake Gyllenhaal on Broadway! Mmmmmmmmm... Guess who's going to enjoy rehearsals?
You don't need me to tell you how one stone does not make a wall and nor does a wall make a palace. You also don't need me to remind you how many times over the years we've had stories that Jake was about to act or sing on or off Broadway. Sometimes we've come close - readings/singings have taken place or the theatre has even been booked. There's barely a time when Jake's in London without him saying that he'd like to reappear on the West End stage. I still can't hear the words 'Farragut' and 'North' without a palpitation or two. So, as we do so well, we must wait and see.
More certain is the news that Jake is to make a third appearance at the LA Conservation Corps awards, taking part in the presentation of almost 200 scholarships. The event takes place at the LA State Historic Park at lunchtime on 20 April. In just a week. Previous appearances by Jake were in April 2009 (see above picture) and - on crutches - in March 2008 (see below).
And finally...
Jake and other actors are frequently snapped for the mags being given parking tickets in LA. In fact, it's quite possible that many actors could paper their mansions with the things. Jake is fighting back. He was seen in LA topping up the parking meters of several cars in full view of the traffic wardens. It's not known how they will retaliate. If Jake would like to pop over and top up my car with diesel, I would be most grateful.
Thanks to IHJ for photos from previous Conservation Corps ceremonies.
Jake Gyllenhaal is in Toronto! And speaking as someone who has been in Toronto when Jake is in the city, this is a lovely place to be. Great restaurants, shops, architecture and a wonderful atmosphere. It looks like Jake has already been doing the rounds of some of the restaurants. He was seen at one at the weekend by a tweeter who also posted a picture. The restaurant is Canoe, which apparently is very Canadian while also being very NYC. So none the wiser... But it does look very good.
According to Pop Goes the News, filming on An Enemy begins in Toronto on 22 May, and so it's likely Jake is in the city for some pre-production. Here's hoping that involves a quick shaved and haircut. It will be interesting to learn who the other cast members will be although, obviously, Jake's co-star in this film is Jake Gyllenhaal. Let's hope they get along.
And finally...
Jake has been putting his time in NYC to good use. It turns out that Jake has taught at least one Soul Cycle spin class in Union Square. According to the New York Post:
The “Source Code” star cycled on a stage next to an instructor Monday in full view of an afternoon spin class. He even mouthed the words to a Jay-Z song playing on the soundtrack while wearing “a black tank top, shorts and full beard dripping in sweat,” a spy said, adding Jake even lip-synced, “I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one.”
Apparently, spin has never been so popular. Can't imagine why.
This post includes rather lovely past Toronto pictures :)
Updated to add new photos from 6 April of Jake taking the subway in NYC. Looks like Jake gets his voice command on his iPod to work. When I try it I always get Abba... Thanks to IHJ for the pics, there are more there.
As the rather wet and drizzly Easter weekend continues, I thought I'd distract you from a pile of chocolate eggs and a heap of hot cross buns with an update. Jake Gyllenhaal is in NYC, where the hair and Face Pet continue to flourish, where he was seen on Thursday taking a walk with sister Maggie. Many thanks to IHJ for the new pics! Great to see Maggie looking so well.
Meanwhile, two more videos have come to light. In the first, we can see all of Jake's time on stage during the Paul Newman Dreams event last Monday. In the second, The Shoes themselves discuss the making of their controversial Time to Dance video and what is was like working with an actor as professional and as good as Jake.Thanks to Mermon for providing that second link.
And finally, Mumford and Sons has released an image of Mumford and Jake taken during the Railroad Revival tour last year. It's a cracker and you can see it here.
WDW Interlude - roadtrip
Yesterday, taking advantage of the one sunny day of the Easter hols, we set off for the south coast, stopping off on the way at Stonehenge and Salisbury. The church is St Mary's Church in Salisbury, the interior of which is covered in paintings from the 1470s and thereabouts. The final destination was Lyme Regis and an ice cream on the beach. The photo of Stonehenge (clickable below to embiggen) shows the historic and modern setting of the ancient monument when half of the nation decides to head for the coast.
A day on and there is more coming out of Monday's Paul Newman Dreams celebration in NYC, including a video which features more of Jake Gyllenhaal's onstage speech as well as further interviews behind the scenes. As always, I do admire how Jake thinks on his feet and responds so well to interviewers in this conveyor belt type of arrangement.
Meanwhile, Daniel Wolfe, the director of The Shoes' Time to Dance video has been talking a little about his ideas behind this rather gory video, as well as the reason for its inclusion of Jake, giving Jake his first psychotic serial killer role. 'Jake and I had been discussing a script with a mutual friend, producer Lynette Howell. I knew he was into music videos, so when we wrote up the treatment, I sent it to them. They both responded well to it. And then we just had to sort out dates.'
'The atmosphere on set changed from scene to scene. In the party scenes there was no real distinction between shooting and not shooting, it was just a party so the atmosphere was a party. Then we’d just walk Jake in. We were shooting in the snow quite a bit which was testing. Sally Campbell cooked up Irish stew and turned up on set with that which lifted spirits considerably.' Nothing like a spot of stew in between murderous takes...
And finally...
Every so often, Ellen Pompeo likes to remind us that Jake Gyllenhaal once called her the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. I gave a full account of this back in 2009 but the subject has come up again at a press conference with Ellen, which also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the most wonderful Moonlight Mile. The report's mention of Jake being 12 is clearly not that accurate...
'Before auditioning for the film, "I was... in the waiting room and the director and this guy, Jake Gyllenhaal, who I had never heard of — no one had ever heard of him at that point — walked past me," Pompeo shared. "I [had] my head down... so I didn't get a look at Jake." But when she walked in to read, the 42-year-old actress got the shock of her life. "I had met Jake a couple of weeks prior on the sidewalk," Pomep explained. "I walked into the room and I saw Jake and I said, 'Oh my God, it's you!' We sort of bumped into each other. He told me I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen."'
Moonlight Mile was such an incredible film, for Jake and Ellen, with the strongest chemistry between Joe and Bertie, and I'm not surprised that these memories have stayed with Ellen. This also gives me the perfect excuse to post here a video of what must be in my top three most favourite moments from any Jake film.
Last night Jake Gyllenhaal took part in celebrating his 'Hollywood Godfather' Paul Newman's Dream at the Lincoln Center in NYC. This gives us the first glimpse of Jake in movie star mode since the successful Berlinale a couple of months ago. We even have video. Hopefully, shortly there will be more.
This is an emergency post and so I will be doing a proper post later but I just could not wait... Many thanks to IHJ for the pics, there are many more there!
Update:
We have some more video from Jake's appearance last night at the gala fundraiser for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall charity, now known as Serious Fun. If you click on this link, you'll see footage of Jake that you can also download. Here is another montage - Jake features more than once.
[Updated again - thanks to Mermon for the link!]
The fact that Jake has been getting a little bit more Sasquatchy did not matter to some media commentators.
There are some fabulous photos of Jake from inside and outside the event. We must savour them as it might be a while... An so, in the interests of science, here are some of my favourites from the pictures.
I'm keeping my eyes peeled, this is a developing story, so watch this space!!
