Thursday 18 July 2013

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!

14 comments:

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi everyone! Good to be back! And to such news too... I like the sound of Everest but I'm far less keen on another dark movie with Nightcrawler. I think Into the Woods would have made a pleasant break from Jake and for us. But Everest sounds good.

Please pardon the Roman pics. I took hundreds and it's taken me a while to whittle them down. Do ignore them.

Have a lovely evening! Don't melt away. Eat lots of ice cream.

Susan said...

Hi, Kate. Sorry, impossible to ignore those amazing Roman pics.

Too bad we won't get Jake as a singing prince, but I'm not all that disappointed. I think I'd rather see him carrying an entire film, even a dark one like Nightcrawler. Hopefully I won't be disappointed in that one and hopefully we will eventually get something lighter and funnier from Mr. Gyllenhaal.

There won't be anything light or funny about Everest as Jake's character - once again - dies in the movie, a real-life tragedy.

mermon said...

Kate, Rome looks beautiful through your lenses! Thank you for sharing with us!
What the news we have today! I am among those who regret that Jake dropped "Into The Wood". Seems that mostly because of the "Nightcrawler" movie. Schedules's conflict. We knew about two films since long time ago. Too bad it couldn't work out somehow.
About "Everest" I'm not excited so far, though thank you Kate for the news about movie set on Iceland. In our timezone and reminds us about fantastic, famous Bear Grylls' adventure with Jake. I wouldn't count too much on seeing Jake's face though. Probably mostly beard and icicles hanging from his nose. All wrapped in thick hood. Eh... I'm happy that he won't go on real Himalaya!
Could be too dangerous to him!
On Wikipedia some informations about Scott Fischer
Thank you for a great post, Kate!

Sonja said...

I've read Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air"! It was haunting to read.
I really look forward to seeing Jake in that, I must say! *happy*
Although Mermon might be right... mostly beard - ah well, I enjoyed Man vs. Wild, so I'm sure it'll be good!

Anonymous said...

What a brave man to turn down Disney! I'm actually quite glad about it, I like dark movies! And am SO excited about the Everest film, but it's gonna be hard if Jake's character dies. Love mountains! Speaking of which, of to Switzerland in nine days :-)

Love the Rome pics Kate, one place I'd love to go to :-)

Amanda

BBMISwear said...

Welcome back, Kate, and thanks for sharing your lovely photos!

I'm loving all the movie news for Jake. I am one of those that was not very excited about Into the Woods (it seems like Jake's fan base was pretty split on that one) so am happy about Jake skipping that for a project that is much more meatier for him. I just think the whole movie sounds stupid and Jake's role would have been so small. The great part about it was him singing...we would all love to see that for sure and hope (and I truly do believe) we will see him in a musical eventually one day (and when we do I would prefer it to be a much bigger role than as a prince with only 2 songs). Just my opinion.

As for Nightcrawlers and Everest...as much as I would prefer a less intense movie for him at some point soon (boy he's had quite a lot of those lately) I would rather see him in these bigger roles with more meat to them and more involvement for him over the opposite. So I guess you could say I'm happy with his all this news - ha ha!

Still looking forward to some concrete news about Venice and Toronto for the two fall releases...lots of speculation still but we have to wait a bit more for the festivals to make their official announcements.

In the meantime it's been great to see Jake out and about enjoying the summer in NYC these days...Lookin' Good! :-)

Sorry for the long comment...lots to catch up on...thanks for the post, Kate!

Maria said...

Great news on the upcoming movies. Everest sounds really good. I am not so keen on Jake as a prince on Cinderella. Prefer Nightcrawler.

Sonja said...

Yes, me too, Maria.

I even think "Prince of Persia" is one of Jake's weaker movies
*hides*

mermon said...

Hm, hm... I don't agree! Prince Of Persia is a fantastic movie! I watched it yesterday. It has many admirers here. But I know POP divided Jake's fans.

Anonymous said...

I love PoP for sheer escapism. Disney let Jake down though, I have to say. He is gorgeous in it, and if it wasn't for PoP I'd probably still not know who Jake Gyllenhaal was!! ;-)
Amanda

Maria said...

More photos on IHJ. Jake's beard is becoming more and more grey. Time to shave? Rome is great, just saw the old fellini movie with the famous scène at the trevi fountain.

Sonja said...

LOL at the 'Time to shave' comment! ;-)

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hello everyone! Good to see you all. Sorry for the absence - I've been very offline due to The Great Heat. There's some news so a new post tomorrow.

Loving the Prince of Persia chat. I love PoP. What a fun time that was. Roll on festival season... Have a good evening :)

Anonymous said...

WDW, can you please explain the very first image in your Rome Interlude series. I am a fan of historical artifacts and I am very curious.

Thank you so much.

I love the discussion of PoP but also the Interlude.