New interview - Jake Gyllenhaal on making big, small and tricky movies: 'I take all my roles very seriously, always.'

Another great interview with Jake Gyllenhaal from Germany today. I particularly liked this one because it includes some questions I would love to ask myself, not least of which is whether Jake knows about the Amy Macdonald song LA which is dedicated to him. It always puts a smile on my face when it shuffles on to my iPod. Thee are other gems here. Forgive the bad translation, that's from me and Google. The good bits are thanks to Mrs JG, for whom we have to thank for the link. I have a few things to post from Germany to mark the release on 2 June and so I'm spreading them around.


'Do you like the song, Amy MacDonald dedicated to you? JG: I don't know anything about that, it sounds very nice anyway. I just hope she pronounced my name correctly!' [She got round that by calling him J.] 'It certainly isn't the easiest name to pronounce, I'm looking forward to when people make the effort with it. In school, I was fortunately spared these problems because my sister was a class above me - and with Maggie lies down to no-one.(Laughs)'

Working with a director on his first film: 'This first film, "Moon" was just so extraordinary and magnificent that I really wanted to work with director Duncan Jones. What they offer visually with relatively little money, I found very fascinating... I told my agent that I would like to meet Duncan. We understood each other well and he said that I could definitely try to play in one of his films. Then I said that I already had a screenplay I was considering that could come to him. I sent it to him and he committed four days later.'



An unusually complex film: 'It was great fun to tell my friends the first ten minutes of "Source Code". Everyone asked, "What, the train exploded?" And "He no longer recognises his own face?". Then I calmed them down and explained that the story is much more exciting. (Laughs)'

Tricky films seem your passion?: 'I find such material very attractive. At that time in "Donnie Darko" every day of filming began with questions: "What are we doing today?", "What happened yesterday?", "Have I already this guy?". Such questions lead to the ongoing development of a story, I like that a lot.'


With Jake's last eight minutes: 'I would call my family and talk with them. I would love to find something that I could laugh about - I've always found very intriguing the picture of smiling Buddhas.'

And if you could travel in time, what would you change in the past? 'If I could dive, like in the movie, into the body of another person, then I would warn John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King about the attacks on them. Most recently, I would warn Japan of the disaster - the list is endless.'


How easy is it for you to find such projects? 'Strangely, it has become very difficult to produce short films. A cheap project with a budget of under five million dollars is far more difficult to realise than a movie that is twice as expensive. That sounds pretty crazy, but that's the reality in Hollywood.'

You were a candidate for "Spider-Man, " "Batman" and "Superman" - are you happy in retrospect that the commercial popcorn heroes passed you by? 'I have absolutely nothing against these movies. They have huge success, which is certainly due to the quality of the directors. For me the difference is always whether someone simply makes a very expensive film or a film that has a premonition. Entertainment also has an obligation: it must tell intelligent stories. Therefore, Duncan was the perfect director for the perfect big budget film.'



How important is the balancing act between art and commerce to you? 'To me that's not important. (laughs) In the end it doesn't matter how big a project - as long as the story is right, a film also finds its audience. I had this experience with "Brokeback Mountain" as well as with "Donnie Darko" - which at the start broke no records, but in the long run, was highly successful.'

If the success of complex films such as "Winter's Bone" and "Black Swan" just coincidence or has the image of America changed in Hollywood? 'It has certainly been a change that I think is wonderful. "Pulp Fiction" and Robert Redford's Sundance independent productions have given it a boom, and the mood has returned. For actors, this is a great development.'


Does Jake take a film like Prince of Persia as seriously as Source Code? 'Absolutely! I take all my roles very seriously, always. When I play a character, then it means everything to me - otherwise I could not work at all.'

Wouldn't you like to act once again with Maggie? 'Why not? However, we've never talked about it much, we talk about family matters. But it would certainly be tempting to act together again in the theater.'


Thanks to Mrs JG for the scans from SKIP. Berlin photos from friends Christina and Sandra.

The Prince of Persia gets a sidekick and Maggie goes to work with Sam Mendes

Last seen wearing a leather wrap and chasing mammoths down the sides of Egypt's pyramids, 10,000 BC's Reece Ritchie has now signed up to be in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. And, according to the report, he will be playing the friend and sidekick of the Prince, who is to be played by Jake Gyllenhaal.


'The Disney film, which is being directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and Donnie Brasco) and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, is due for release in August 2009. It follows the Playstation computer game classic about a prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. After attending auditions in London in January, Reece received the call that he'd got the part at the weekend and this means that he will be off to Morocco for filming of the video game adaptation in June. With the project also set to be filmed at the UK Pinewood Shepperton studios, Gyllenhaal, who has appeared in The Day After Tomorrow and Brokeback Mountain, plays the prince with Ritchie being his accomplice and best friend. The part of Princess Farah has yet to be announced.'


Whether or not this serves as confirmation, it does add credence to the rumour that Jake's next project will be Prince of Persia, with filming (in Morocco and London) to follow hard on the heels of Nailed. It also makes Jake's involvement in Roland Emmerich's 2012 - also due to start filming very soon - less likely. I am intrigued that Prince of Persia could well star two of Roland Emmerich's previous leading men and, instead of Jake and Reese in 2012, we could get Jake and Reece in Prince of Persia. For me, any film that could bring Jake to the UK is going to get my thumbs up (especially a film in which, for the Prince, a shirt is an optional extra).


So I'm going to say it again, it's a small world after all and, to emphasise this, the news came today from Variety that Maggie Gyllenhaal has signed up to replace Toni Collette in Sam Mendes' new untitled comedy. Sam Mendes, of course, directed Maggie's brother and other half in Jarhead.


The Focus Features comedy, 'which stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, is about a young couple who travel around the U.S. searching for a place to put down roots. Dave Eggers and wife Vendela Vida penned the original screenplay. Gyllenhaal will play a bohemian college professor who is an old friend of the character played by Krasinski. Collette dropped out of the film due to scheduling delays on the shoot, which recently got under way in Connecticut. Gyllenhaal begins lensing her role next week.'

'Lensing her role' - now there's an expression you don't hear every day. This isn't a leading role and so may fit in nicely before Maggie goes off to Tasmania to film with Paul Bettany. Going off on a bit of a tangent, if filming is due to start next week, this may indicate that Peter Sarsgaard is now finishing off filming An Education in England.


'The most beautiful thing that's ever been created'

Talking of going off on a tangent... Amy MacDonald, the Scottish singstress and self-confessed Gyllenhaalic, has been playing The Living Room in New York City. Amy's album 'This is the Life' has been a huge success in the UK and is shortly to be released in the US. The song LA is reputed to be all about a certain 'boy named J', or, as the reviewer of the NYC gig says, 'the man that Macdonald once declared “the most beautiful thing that’s ever been created."' No argument there and I heartily recommend the CD which has many fine tracks on it, in addition to the one inspired by Jake.


Includes pictures by IHJ.

Sand on Jake's pillow - and UK Zodiac DVD gets an extra!

The release date of the UK edition of the Zodiac DVD has just been released - 24 September - and, what's more, it seems it's not the same edition as the US version. From the look of things, it'll have a different cover (hallelulah), a slipcase for a special exclusive HMV edition, and a half-hour documentary on The Making of Zodiac. I suspect, although I may well be wrong, that this will be the ITV programme that was on TV in the UK earlier in the summer. Great news. Of course it also means that now I'll have the US edition, the UK edition and then the Special edition in the New Year. All are different and the problem with being a collector is you have to collect to be one. It also means I'm going to need a new Jake Gyllenhaal shelf.



I've been thinking about Jarhead today, possibly because I've spent some time thinking about and watching Brokeback Mountain of late. As we get ready for Rendition, I've become preoccupied with tough Jake (in a movie sense of course!). Here is a link to an audio interview in which Jake talks at length about how eager he was to win over Sam Mendes so that he could do the role and why he wanted it. I know we've all heard about how Jake has said that the character of Swoff was the closest to himself that he's played. But in this interview this is stated more explicitly - in Jake's beautiful voice - and it made me think. This is what Jake says:


'There are times and have been times when I've wanted to put my fist through a wall and, as an actor, when you're allowed to punch your fist through a wall in a scene and you're feeling that in your life, I think it's a mergence of life and work and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to havea part where I could get angry and express myself.' Remember that this was straight after filming Brokeback Mountain which, as we've discussed here, may have been a time of real loneliness, introspection and solitude for Jake. This may well have been just what the young man needed.


Jake is asked if he could be that marine in real life, if he were called to it? He replies 'I think I can, but I don't know if I could'.

On a lighter note, Jake is asked if it's true about the sand getting everywhere. 'It's true. We thought we'd invaded the desert but the desert invaded us... For weeks afterwards I'd wake up and there'd be sand on the pillow from coming out of my ear. It was always up my nose and then you'd find it in the weirdest places - and I don't even want to get into that with you - It invades you.'

'I started feeling like I could really handle this stuff'. Each evening the cast would return to the hotel but 'I never really wanted to leave'.


Musical interlude

I want to congratulate Amy MacDonald on reaching No 2 in the UK album chart with her wonderful album This is the Life. Of course, this album contains a song, called LA, written about Jake - a man who makes dreams come true - and since I bought the album I've barely stopped playing it on that long commute.

Talking of music, it seems that when Kevin and Anita Robinson played with the Shins at Saturday Night Live in January, Kevin experienced an enviable pleasure: "I just got drunk on free beer backstage," Kevin said from a phone in Minneapolis. "Oh, and Jake Gyllenhaal grabbed my ass!" I bet he never washed it again...


Sag Harbor

Maggie and Peter are back from Chicago and were seen in the surf shop of the old shipping port of Sag Harbor - another place deeply evocative of the world of Moby Dick. Just look at this place, it's beautiful! Perhaps another sign of the continuing Gyllenhaal summer break. What a place for it!


Includes pictures from IHJ and DVD Times.

Here's a story about a boy named Jake

There's no doubt - Jake Gyllenhaal is an inspirational figure. I discovered more evidence of this indisputable fact today when I happened across the music of young Brit Amy MacDonald. The debut album of this young singer and composer from Glasgow is the album of the week on two shows on national Radio 2 and is receiving attention in the wider media. The album This Is The Life is released on July 30 and one song, LA, is dedicated to Jake.


In an interview in The Sun newspaper, Amy says of Jake "People think I’m some sort of celebrity-obsessed loon, but he is my favourite actor and the song says you can make your dreams come true." The lyrics describe how even though she has only seen his face on the screen and only heard his voice utter words from a script, she wants to follow him and he can help her to realise her dreams. You can listen to part of this song, and others on the album, at Amy's Myspace. Lots of other information about Amy, including videos can also be found there and at Amy's website.



Reading about Amy, she says that one of her influences is the Guillemots, another of those bands Jake's made no secret of liking. The legend goes that Jake actually requested a meeting with them and, about a year ago, Jake was seen at one of their concerts in New York. I cannot rave enough about the Guillemots - I've seen them in concert and it was one of the best nights I've had out - at a students union so I thought I'd drink a lot in order to fit in with all the youngsters.


The Guillemots played at the Glastonbury Mud Bath this year and were interviewed for the Glastonbury website. And this is what they said of their famous fan: "F.D. [singer Fyfe Dangerfield]: Jake Gyllenhaal was nice. Very shy. Didn’t seem like a movie star in his hoodie… G.S. [Drummer Greig Stewart]: …But he did have a girl with him. F.D.: And he was very cool. He told us he sang along to our songs in his car… Strange." I think that the girl was probably Kirsten as she is also a fan of the band and they have attended Guillemot gigs together. I regularly sing along to the Guillemots in my car and I find nothing strange in that at all! Check out their website - it's... imaginative.


The trouble with Sherry

Today is the 27 July, meaning SherryBaby opens in some, but not all, cinemas across the UK. Already, this film is being called the film that many will miss. The Daily Mail praises Maggie's performance as a career best but says: 'The best new film of the week will also be the least commercially successful. It's humane, intelligent and beautifully acted, so it has little chance of surviving long. Catch it while you can.' The paper also says that this may be a hard film to watch if it weren't for Maggie. Great praise indeed.


Includes pictures from IHJ.