Thursday 30 August 2012

Jake Gyllenhaal Backstage and On stage

What a week! Jake Gyllenhaal has been making the NYC stage his own during this week of previews for If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet. I do recommend you look back over the comments for the last couple of posts. A number of WDW readers have been lucky enough to see the play and they have been filling in some of the details for those of us an ocean or more away.

Jake also appeared on the Late Night with Letterman Show - the video can be seen in the last post - and so we have some photos from that as well as a stunning portrait of Jake to go with the play.


Jake graces quite spectacularly the cover of the Fall issue of Backstage. In the magazine he talks about the importance of doing something for five months which would have his full attention. He also reaffirms his long broken promise to himself to do a play for every three movies. Hopefully, this time, this will happen and in more cities too.



“To feel like you’re a part of a family that is truly relying on each other to stay afloat—that idea is what drew me in,” he says. “I had no real explanation for not doing a play for essentially a decade, but I intend not to make that mistake again. Hopefully, ideally, it will be three plays for every movie.” 


Jake also explains to Backstage about how and why he moved from LA to NYC: '“Somebody was trying to get an angle on why I moved to New York, and I was like, ‘Because my family is here and I love them. And I want to be with them and they mean everything to me.’ This is the best possible place for me to be, to be near my family, doing a show about the mess of a family, and then maybe having my family come watch it.”'

Many thanks to WDW reader Adele for her thorough and brilliant account of seeing If There Is this week. If you're going to see the play yourself then you might want to wait until afterwards before reading it, but for the rest of us it's packed full of the details we want to read - about the set, this water that we keep hearing about and the humour. Here's a quote from the review but I urge you to read it in full. I love the references to Wetherspoons - I heartily approve of their megacheap veggie breakfasts (served with beer if you want it) and I'm delighted to hear its fame is spreading!

'Jake Gyllenhaal plays Terry, who returns from his vague and mysterious travels, presumably attempting to outrun his somewhat troubled past, and lopes into the family home in Adidas shell-suit, slicked back hair and baggy jeans, all rangy physicality and blackly comic one-liners. (His very convincing English accent, if triangulated, places Terry somewhere between Shoreditch High Street, Super Hans, and Ricky Gervais. It’s flawless and hilarious.) His body language swings between self-protective and endearingly casual as he breaks apart the tightly-strung lives of a pre-occupied family and forces them to re-evaluate what is important. Jake masters the comic timing and Terry’s endearing likeability and undermines it with flashes of anger, drunkenness and helplessness as George accuses him of being just a “scared little boy”.'

'Terry’s presence is a final catalyst for troubled, bullied, overweight niece Anna, and their slightly uneasy, sometimes awkward, yet affectionate relationship provides the heart of the play. Anna’s dramatic breakdown after a disastrous date (at the local Wetherspoon’s, no less – a reference to a ubiquitous chain of British pubs which I wondered if anyone who hadn’t been subjected to them in the UK would truly appreciate) ends up throwing all the tensions between George, Terry and Fiona into sharp relief, and leaves Anna drowning in plain sight. Fiona, distracted by struggles with her elderly mother and George’s manic preoccupation, loses sight of how to help her daughter. “She means the world to me,” Fiona laments, and this is where we see Terry’s point that “saving the world” might not be so far removed from saving the family.'
Thanks so much Adele!



Finally, do watch through to the end of this video with Anna Kendrick talking about filming End of Watch with Jake. Thanks to BBMISwear for the links! Thanks to IHJ for the pictures!

11 comments:

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hello everyone! So much stuff to look through - good days! Thanks so much to Adele for such a wonderful report. I really enjoyed reading it.

I hope you all had a good day!

mermon said...

Multiply Jake's fans greeting and door entering - very funny!
Fine to hear what Anna has to say about EoW. So far she didn't say too much. I wonder if she will promote the film with Jake as Michael and Natalie did lately. I doubt, cause Jake has no time. I still count on some common interviews like with Anne Hathaway.
Jake is busy and we are busy with reading about him. It's so much!
Thank you Kate for being able to catch it up and sharing with us.

BBMISwear said...

What a week is right WDW! It's been a whirlwind but so enjoyable to read all there is to read! Thanks for the update!

Thank you Adele for the great review! I was happy to read it because I've seen the play twice but have been trying not to give too many details on line because of so many people who are seeing it in future weeks. I guess announcing the spoiler alerts, which people have been doing, is very key with this one!!

An answer to Mermon who asked a question of me in the last post...nope, no getting wet for those of us in the front row but it sure does look that way and everyone in front tends to pull back a bit (and you hear chuckles and/or gasps) when the splashing starts! We all pull our feet back thinking they'll get wet but it doesn't happen. I talked to an usher about it and he said that they tested it A LOT to make sure no one would get splashed. It could happen in error I suppose but only a little sprinkle I think. Fun stuff! Oh, and re: eye contact - I didn't have any eye contact with him until outside the theater when I said Hi to him - nothing while he was on stage. As far as I could see he did not look out to the audience much at all - very focused and eyes on the other cast members or looking down (as they all do) when off to the side of the stage when not "in" a scene. I will add that he is very, very animated (as theater actors tend to be) in many of his scenes - especially when talking loudly and swearing - a lot of body movement and so much going on with his hands. It's wonderful to watch him!

That's it for now I think! Here's to more great stuff coming our way!! :-)

Di said...

Thank you everyone for the great STUFF for those of us who are not able to be there!
It sure feels like I'm there, though.
Lisa, I loved reading about the eye contact! He is such a professional. Go Jake!

BBMISwear said...

Yay Di! So good to keep seeing you here! I have a feeling you will enjoy visiting here - lots and lots of Jake!! :-)

mermon said...

Thank you @ BBMISwear for answering my questions and adding Jake's body language description. Very interesting.

Anonymous said...

I've watched the show twice this past week and all I can say is that jake is such a treat! He does a phenomenal job of the role, his comic timing is brilliant, energy contagious and accent very impressive. He's wonderful post show as well. Very humble and accommodating of the throngs if fans waiting

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hello everyone!

It's interesting the eye contact thing - I watched a play years ago in London during which I was convinced Ian McKellern was staring directly at me throughout. An extremely odd experience!

That's good to hear 16:46!

I know there's a new video clip from End of Watch out on MTV but I don't want to post it until I can find a version everyone can see (only works in the US)

BBMISwear said...

The clip from EoW is very entertaining, WDW - I hope it's available to all real soon. (I just don't understand why some things are still unavailable in certain areas when posted on line - it's called the WORLD WIDE web after all)!!

Good description Anon 16:46 - I agree completely! It's good to see that he is spending more time outside the theater with fans now. The first two shows he didn't look like it was something he wanted to do at all (hence he only stopped for a small number and the negative comments started). The second show he was very nice but walked as if with blinders on. Some people have been commenting that they "expect" him to stop and sign/pose - I'm not sure if he is giving that some thought or just saw that the fans are out there after every single show so if he can't beat 'em he'll join 'em - LOL! Whatever the case, to me, he still looks like he is just going through the motions out there - a bit robotic. It's not my scene at all - all that swarming him and sticking playbills and cameras in his face - but he is always nice to look at!!

Happy weekend all - here's to more Jake stuff coming our way! :-)

Wet Dark and Wild said...

It is rubbish, BBMISwear :-( but I've posted it anyway as sounds like most people can still see it. Jake does sound like he's relaxing a little :)

Adele said...

Oh thanks so much WDW for the huge shout out! I really loved the play and I figured those of us not in the country might like to hear more about it (I am going to see it again this week while I'm still a New Yorker....sigh). xx