New End of Watch stills and Jake Gyllenhaal back on someone else's set

As the release of End of Watch draws ever nearer, we have new stills from the movie. That is most definitely a hairdo I want to polish...

While he waits for If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet to consume every waking hour of the day, almost, Jake Gyllenhaal continues to put his weekends to good use by visiting his mother Naomi Foner on the NYC set of Very Good Girls.

And finally...

Normally, when there are rumours of a new work project for Jake I get very excited. Even if it comes to naught, it's fun to debate what it might indicate about Jake's choices. IMDb is linking Jake to Mobster: A Call for the New Order - intriguingly we are not only given a full cast, we are also given a release date and a running time. This might be the one project that I'll take with an extra big pinch of salt.

Thanks to IHJ for the pics!

Jake Gyllenhaal catch up and a WDW Cream Tea Interlude

Back from a few days camping in the wilds of Dorset in flaming heat, I've come home to a flood of news involving Jake Gyllenhaal. And so, without further ado, here's a bit of a catch up with the sand barely out of my socks and the last cream tea scarcely digested. You'll note that there are are elements from a previous post which ended up totally scuppered. I blame the heat. Just as well the rain's coming back...

End of Watch has a new release date in the USA. The date has shifted to 21 September, a week earlier than the last release date. This is no doubt associated with the decision to premiere End of Watch at the Toronto International Film Festival this September. However, the film is being shown as a 'Special Presentation' and not as a gala and so it's quite possible that Jake will not be making the trip, instead focusing on the play and on the US premiere.

Talking of the play, promotion images of the cast of If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet have been released. Thanks to IHJ for the images. There are more here.

Jake is definitely starting to get more attention in the media as all these projects converge. As well as being the cover boy for the September issue of Details, the New York Times fashion column has picked Jake as Man of the Moment and is holding him personally responsible for bringing back Bermuda Shorts.

WDW Cream Tea Interlude

After the wettest drought on record, last week we had a few days when it wasn't only very hot, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. This meant a hastily-arranged and spontaneous camping trip to the beautiful Dorset and Devon coast - an idea that also occurred to three fifths of the entire British population. Never have so many cream teas been consumed by so many people. I even saw a man on a beach with a hankie on his head. And so a few pictures from Corfe Castle, Exmouth, Lulworth Cove and Lyme Regis.

On the way back we stopped at the splendid city of Bath, including its brilliantly presented Roman baths and the Georgian pump rooms. I did taste the waters and managed not to spit it out. Result.

Back to the Olympics! What a great job Danny Boyle did with the opening ceremony - spellbinding.

Jake Gyllenhaal biking on the Very Good Girls NYC set

Well, who'd have thought it? It turns out that there was a perfectly rational explanation for Jake Gyllenhaal's rolled-up trouser leg that didn't involve strange cults or bathing preferences - it was a bicycle after all. Jake either cycled along to watch his mother filming Very Good Girls in NYC or he's got a bit part as Cyclist 3. No doubt he did it very well. The tongue will no doubt get him a little extra screen time too.

And how appropriate on this glorious day for cycling - congratulations to Bradley Wiggins for being the first Brit to ever win the Tour de France! What are you going to do with all those lions...

Thanks to IHJ for the pics.

My non-spoilery review of The Dark Knight Rises is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal with Dakota Fanning on the NYC set of his mother's Very Good Girls

Jake Gyllenhaal had such a good time on the NYC set of his mother Naomi's movie Very Good Girls, he was back again the next day. In the new photos from 19 July, there is an especially stunning image of Jake with Very Good Girls star Dakota Fanning.

The photos also highlight that Jake's membership of a certain historic esoteric society is in fine fettle. Please see earlier picture from the previous decade for comparison. Please note that the rolled up trouser leg has moved from left leg to right leg - obviously significant. Thanks to IHJ for all the pictures.

Jake was also photographed in NYC this morning with a friend. You can see that photo here. Be warned: it's a No Hat Pic.

Jake Gyllenhaal visits his mum on her Very Good Girls' set and End of Watch premiere details

Not content with spending time on his own filmset, Jake Gyllenhaal took off to New York City this week to spend time on his mother's. Naomi Foner is director and writer of Very Good Girls which stars Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen and Demi Moore. Both Dakota and Elizabeth were on hand as Jake took a tour and helped drink the coffees. Interesting to see how some media sites couldn't accept that Jake would be visiting his mother at her place of work and instead insisted that she was visiting him. You can see a video of Jake's visit here.

The photo below is crying out for a caption...

End of Watch has a premiere date! A competition has been announced in which you (if you're American and nor from Alaska and Rhode Island) can win a trip to the LA premiere on either 23 or 24 September. Interestingly, I'm reliably informed that If There Is I haven't Found It Yet, Jake's play, isn't  playing on Sunday 23 September. (sorry it was my mistake earlier with the dates.)

Talking of If There Is, thanks to a reader for letting me know that there's a Q&A with the cast before or after the performance on 20 October. See the comments for a code for booking tickets.

Thanks to IHJ for the pictures!

San Diego Comic-Con End of Watch update

As we'd suspected, Jake Gyllenhaal didn't join co-star Michael Pena and director David Ayer for the End of Watch panel at Comic-Con in San Diego yesterday. It would seem that An Enemy kept him in Toronto. However, that didn't stop Jake from introducing the film to the SDCC crowd via video and this included three clips. One of them is available for us to watch over at hula. Interesting use of beeps, especially if they make it into the movie itself.

ScreenCrave, amongst its other coverage, has great descriptions of the other two scenes. The first:

It’s POV shot from the front of a police car accompanied by a voiceover. The narrator is Officer Taylor (Gyllenhaal) and he’s giving a monologue about his devotion to the law. “A thin blue line protects the prey from predator, the good from the bad. We are the police.” The car is in a high speed chase with a black vehicle in a residential area.

The police car catches up to the rogue vehicle, forcing it to crash into a yard. The driver and its passenger immediately hop out with guns blazing. At this point, we’re still watching from the point of view of an anonymous the car. There’s a quick cut and we see Taylor and Zavala standing in front of the windshield aiming their guns at the assailants. They let off several rounds killing both men. Zavala walks over to their lifeless bodies, turns them over and handcuffs them. America Ferrera‘s character (Officer Orozco) appears in frame and looks at the damage. She exclaims, “Holy shit!”

The second:

Taylor and Zavala arrive on the scene of a house fire. A woman runs off her porch and screams that her two-year old daughter’s inside. Taylor immediately runs in to save her, with Zavala screaming, “No.” Cut to a scene filled with red lighting and puffs of smoke. Both men are shown crawling on the floor where they find the little girl.

Taylor grabs the child and covers her face with a blanket. Zavala tries to lead them out of the home but they’re stuck. They lose contact with one another because of the smoke. Luckily, they latch on to each other again and escape. The next thing we see is a group of firemen approaching the scene. Taylor and Zavala are on the ground shaking, sweating and struggling for breath. The firemen try to help them up, but Taylor yanks his arm and asks where were they.

According to MySpace: 

The unconventional camera coverage was chosen because David has the philosophy that with YouTube and video games the audience has learned to view footage and come to expect a certain level of reality in ways big studios don’t show. They built cameras to show the POV of the actors. Michael had to spend a lot of time running with one of these cameras strapped to his chest, which was hard because when he started he was out of shape and Jake loves to run.

You can read a full round up of the panel at Collidor, whose editor moderated the panel. Ayer doesn't spare Michael Pena's blushes, calling him fat compared to Jake at the beginning of filming. As time went on, Michael felt more like the 'Mexican RoboCop'. The whole experience, including the training, made Jake and Michael very close and so, no doubt, this charisma between the pair will be something to watch when the film is released. In fact, David Ayer wanted Jake and Michael to appreciate and feel the bond that police officers feel for their partners, a bond that is 'closer than marriage'.

Jake's voiceover to a car chase scene (source): 

“I’m the unpaid bill. I am fate with a badge and gun. Behind my badge is a heart like yours. I bleed, I think, I love. I can be killed. We stand watch together. A thin blue line, protecting the prey from the predators. We are the police.”

You can watch a video interview with Michael and David here at Shockya. 

All in all, End of Watch suddenly got a lot more exciting and it can't come soon enough - 28 September for the US, 23 November for the UK.

An Enemy in the can? Comic-Con still on? A shaven Jake Gyllenhaal in NYC and Annie Funke cast in If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet

Jake the Sasquatch is no more! Again! Proving true the ancient adage: 'You can always tell when Jake Gyllenhaal has finished filming because he shaves' - an adage that can be reversed: 'You can always tell when Jake Gyllenhaal has started filming because he shaves' - Jake was espied in a restaurant in NYC without the beard. Jake will now have to store excess food in his napkin like most other people.

There are further new images of Jake not only shorn on his face but also on his head. While we'll have to wait for tomorrow (or Sunday UK time) to learn if Jake does make it to San Diego's Comic-Con as the programme lists, we can still enjoy the images. Incidentally, the media has been a little surprised at the inclusion of End of Watch at this Comic-Con Superhero/Sparkly Antihero/Alien fest. There's this from E! and more from Hollywood.com. The verdict seems to be that Jake puts bums on seats - reason enough! Let's hope the absence of his name in this tweet was an oversight.

UPDATE: Jake didn't attend Comic-Con. Instead his message was presented as a video. Details to come in the next post.

Meanwhile, the actress to play Anna, the teenager in Jake's imminent play If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet has been cast. She is conveniently called Annie (Funke).

My review of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is now on MovieBrit.

Catch up with Jake Gyllenhaal and a WDW Torchy Interlude

End of Watch has a website! And just as well considering that the film is released in the US in just over a couple of months. This goes hand in hand with the film's Facebook site. The last post gave details of when the tickets for If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet will be available (23 July) but now we have a price for those tickets. It's the rather nicely rounded figure of $100 although for an added donation of $2000 you're offered one of the best seats in the orchestra. There is also confirmation that the run is restricted to end on 25 November.

Jake Gyllenhaal himself has been very quiet of late, no doubt trying to get everything he has to do for An Enemy finished before he heads down to San Diego for his appearance at Comic-Con. There was still time however for Jake to pop out for some ice cream with his An Enemy co-star Sarah Gadon down Toronto's wonderful Yonge Street. You can see more photos here. New shoes, Jake! Good to see the smiles.

WDW Torch interlude

You might not have noticed but there's an Olympics on the way. It's all been very low-key... The Torch has taken the most circuitous route possible - clearly not carried by the best of mapreaders - and yesterday and today it went through Oxford. Yesterday afternoon, it even passed through my village and the crowds came out and they were bigger than I've ever seen them here. Even more people than you get in Sainsburys on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm. There was a carnival atmosphere with the police thoroughly enjoying themselves. This may be the only time I've ever hi-fived a policeman while he rode passed me on a motorbike.

Why Jake Gyllenhaal appeared in the Time to Dance video and news on tickets for If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet

So, what should an actor do, when he or she doesn't want to make a full length feature film but they still want to remind all of us out here that they're still about while also impressing directors and earning points for looking cool? Music videos! Just as directors like Zodiac's David Fincher have honed their craft with music videos, actors too like to dabble, especially Jake Gyllenhaal.

(As it's Wimbledon time it seems fitting to lead with Giving up the Gun:)



Jake is no novice to music videos having featured in more than his fair share over the last few years (think The Shoes, Vampire Weekend and Jamie Foxx, not to mention appearances in SNL videos and Rufus Wainwright stage performances). The media is noticing that Jake is not alone and Jake was interested enough in an article appearing in Reuters and Chicago Tribune today that he chipped in with an email about why he appeared in Time to Dance. Of course, this particular video was a little different than most - it was extended and gave Jake plenty of scope to explore, without words, a character and a story.

'"I did the video because it exists alone, by itself. Like a question mark at the end of a sentence," Gyllenhaal wrote. In the video, directed by British filmmaker Daniel Wolfe, Gyllenhaal, 31, plays a homicidal fencer who stabs and beats people to death. The Shoes dreamed up the concept with Wolfe, who then called in Gyllenhaal. "We needed a great actor to do it as we didn't want (gratuitous) violence in our video. We wanted this as a piece of art and not a buzz video," band member Guillame Briere told Reuters. Briere said that for Gyllenhaal, the video was a "really different experience from what he is doing normally" and a chance for him to show people "how good he is" as an actor.'

Not bad for a product lasting a little over 8 minutes.

If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet - ticket information

All is quiet with Jake as he spends the final days on An Enemy before heading to Comic-Con in San Diego to publicise End of Watch. However, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, Jake's NYC stage debut, is getting closer. 

I'm grateful to a source and reader who has informed me that you'll be able to buy tickets from the Roundabout Theatre website and Audience Services number: 212-719-1300 from (and including) 23 July.

My review of The Five Year Engagement is now on MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal in NYC and a WDW London Interlude

You've got to love the summer, especially when it means that Jake Gyllenhaal gets out the white t-shirt and shorts. If he were in the UK he'd be in wellies with a brolly. On 30 June Jake continued his pattern of spending weekends in NYC, taking his regular breaks from filming An Enemy in Toronto. On this particular Saturday in the Big Apple, Jake was seen sharing a very animated discussion with a friend.

Many thanks to IHJ for the wonderful pics, of which this is my favourite.

WDW London Interlude

Yesterday, taking full advantage of some warm sunshine, we headed off to London to spend a few hours walking along the busy Thames, which is a river transformed from its stretch that flows through Oxford and is known as the Isis. While there were clues to the upcoming Olympics, we also had a look at the Golden Hind, the alarmingly small vessel on which Sir Francis sailed around the globe in the 1570s before being knighted on its decks by Gloriana, Elizabeth I herself.

In 1921, Shackleton's ship The dock where Shackleton's ship The Quest was fitted out at Hay's Wharf before its great journey south. This dock is now preserved as the striking and elegant Hay's Galleria (tasty bagels).

Other landmarks old and new stood proud and round or tall or taller.

Finally, thanks to Borough Market, there was cake... (thanks to Mr WDW for the final shot!).

My review of Ice Age 4: Continental Drift is now up at MovieBrit.