Festivals! Prisoners for Toronto and An Enemy for San Sebastian

As we get closer to the releases this autumn of Jake Gyllenhaal's next films - Prisoners (starring with Hugh Jackman) and An Enemy or Enemy (starring with Jake Gyllenhaal), the line up for the season's Film Festivals emerge. Although one or both were pondered as possibles for Venice, neither was to be. However, Prisoners is among the line up for the Toronto International Film Festival and An Enemy for the San Sebastian Film festival. Appropriately, we have a new Prisoners poster to celebrate. This time the poster features both Hugh Jackman and Jake (via IHJ).

Toronto (5-15 September) - Prisoners has been listed as a Special Presentation. The schedule will be released on 20 August. The inclusion of another doppelgangar movie in the schedule, The Double, made the appearance of An Enemy less than likely.

San Sebastian (20-28 September) - An Enemy (a Canada and Spain co-production) will appear at the Spanish Festival instead where it will compete as part of the official selection. I'll be crossing all my fingers for Jake and Jake (image via the festival website).

Time to dust off that tux and give the red carpet a sweep. Fabulous.

Jake Gyllenhaal - Out of the Woods and Into the Mountains - and a WDW Roman Interlude

Today came the news that Jake Gyllenhaal will not be heading Into the Woods after all. Despite the undoubted appeal - at least to many of his fans - of frolicking in the woods with a Disney princess while singing with the birds, Jake has put an axe into this film's hopes and instead plans to don his crampons, grab his grappling hooks and ascend Everest instead. And why? Because it's there.

The news of Everest came from Deadline:Featuring Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jason Clarke aim to start shooting Everest in November, directed by Baltasar Komakur.  The film is 'based on the 1996 disastrous expedition to scale Mount Everest. Three different expeditions were hit by a sudden blinding storm and by the time it was all over, eight climbers died. The tale was first made famous by Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, his first-person account of being among the lucky ones to make it back down the mountain. This film will be sourced from various books and interviews with survivors.' Whether this means that Jake has to eat someone is as yet unknown. 

More details come from the Guardian: Clarke is being sought to play New Zealand climber Rob Hall, leader of one of the teams, while Gyllenhaal is set to play Scott Fischer, his opposite number with the other expedition. Brolin is in line to play a doctor named Beck Weathers, who is forced to spend a night on Everest, while Hawkes (The Sessions) will be cast as a slow climber who causes his team to be late setting out on their journey up the peak. The project was previously in play with Christian Bale as Hall, but the British-born actor no longer seems to be involved. Kormákur hopes to shoot the film in Iceland in October.'

So back to Iceland! Clearly, Jake's efforts with Bear Grylls for Man vs Wild has given Jake a taste for extreme adventure and one can bet that Everest will not be all CGI.

Confirmation that Jake was leaving Into the Woods came from The Wrap which reported that the filming schedule of Nightcrawler in early October meant that Jake would have no time to romp in the woods. Instead, Jake will play a' small-time Los Angeles criminal who gets a little too swept up in the nocturnal world of the city's crime journalism community'. I think I prefer the singing in the woods... 

As for Everest, let's just hope we get a glimpse behind the goggles... Thanks to IHJ for the pics!

A WDW Roman Interlude

Last weekend I returned from Rome having had a fantastic time, leaving no Roman ruin unexplored and no wine unsampled. As well as photos, I also brought back with me the longest and hottest English heatwave in several years. So, here are a few images from my week among the ruins in the Eternal City and Ostia, Rome's ancient port.

Until the next time!

Jake Gyllenhaal celebrates Independence Day in the Kitchen, Prisoners gets a UK release date and a WDW Interlude

In the US it is, of course,the Independence Day holiday weekend. This does not mean that aliens invade the country's cities while cigar-smoking heroes blast them to smithereens under the direction of Roland Emmerich. But it does mean a chance to celebrate freedom from British rule while shedding tears over having to call chips fries and crisps chips. It appears that Jake Gyllenhaal is spending the holiday (or at least part of it) in one of his very favourite places - Martha's Vineyard. We know how Jake spent his summer holidays as a teen helping out in restaurants on the islandd, it looks as though he's doing the same thing now. Every penny helps. It's possible that my eyes deceive me, but isn't that Jake's old friend, Chris? Photo thanks to IHJ.

With thanks to Mermon for the heads up, we have release dates for Prisoners and it looks like some of us won't have to wait as long as normal. The film is out in the US on 20 September but now has the release date in the UK of 4 October - just a fortnight later. Good news! Although, as we know, these things have a habit of changing.

Incidentally, if you're in the UK and have LoveFilm Instant, I believe that Prince of Persia is now available to watch.

WDW Interlude

The weather has been hot and muggy this week which doesn't just mean that Wimbledon can behave itself and get the games played but that events don't get rained off for a change. Last weekend we attended the Chalke Valley History Festival in deepest Wiltshire, although most of our day visit was spent queuing up in a very hot car waiting to get in while catching glimpses of a WW1 dog fight being fought above our heads, through the tree canopy... When we eventually got it, there were historical experts to see, London mayors to laugh at, bubbles to drink and cakes to eat.

Below are the very familiar faces of Tom Holland and Dan Snow.

Mayor of London Boris got the chair.

On the way home we passed a small church I had to stop an photograph.

I'm off to Rome for a few days on Monday so it's a near certainty that photos will follow of a bunch of old stones...