On Ang Lee's birthday, Brokeback thanks

Today is Ang Lee's birthday and Focus Features took the chance to wish their director happy returns by reminding their followers on Twitter of what is arguably Ang's finest film - it's certainly the one I love the most - Brokeback Mountain. Take a look at their Brokeback site and let it wash over you. Their Vice President of Global Operations, Gordon Ampel, picked his favourite scene from the film, which you can see here:

'This sequence in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN comes very late in the movie. After learning that the love of his life, Jack Twist, has died, Ennis Del Mar (so beautifully incarnated by Heath Ledger) has come to pay his respects at the family homestead. The emotional crux of the movie has been Ennis’ internalizing his feelings, and not really expressing them – even with Jack, he would make only so much of an exception. Visiting Jack’s childhood room, gut-wrenching emotions come to the fore for Ennis – but, wordlessly, and without flashbacks to their time together or even audio echoes. It all plays out on Ennis’ heretofore stoic face, and when we see tears gathering, it is heartbreaking. The sequence builds powerfully with the nearly-silhouetted staging of the scene in the room’s closet where the full force of the love lost hits Ennis. The postscript to the sequence does include dialogue, but it’s what’s not being said that moves Ennis – and me, every time.' 

Thanks Ang and happy birthday.

My review of Contagion is now up at MovieBrit.

Ang Lee - bridging the cultural divide. WDW Interlude Part 2

There's little doubt that Ang Lee is an extraordinary film maker. He might not communicate that much verbally with his cast, as noted by both Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger about their lonely experience of filming Brokeback Mountain, but his frames of film are each perfectly conceived. Lee manages to appear always in touch with his independent and auteur roots, while yet appealing to mainstream audiences when he chooses. For me, Lee has the ability to combine emotion with distance in the same shot. It's a very clever way to tell a story - no wonder, then, that Ang's Sense and Sensibility is a masterpiece. Ang Lee was made for Jane Austen, even with the great cultural divide.

This article from Film International reviews a new book about Ang Lee by Whitney Grothers Dilley. Both the book and the feature examine Lee's adaptation into, and of, western cinema. They also consider Ang's relationship with collaborator James Schamus, his unique bearing and how Ang the outsider is able to teach the west about itself through the medium of film.

Many thanks to BBMISwear for the scans and to IHJ for the picture.

Interlude - Festival of History Part 2

On Sunday, not being one to let a little thing like a torrential downpour put me off, I was back in Northamptonshire and Kelmarsh Hall for a second day of big explosions, charging knights and real ale tents. It was Day 2 of English Heritage's Festival of History. You can see some photos from Day 1 on the previous post, here are some highlights from Day 2 and I'm delighted to say that the sun did come out! In fact, I received a very sunburnt nose.

Do check out my report of the wonderful Festival of Historical Writing, which took place at the same event.

Jake Gyllenhaal Part 1 - Learning lessons and gathering the tools

Last night's publication of a fascinating interview between a reflective and thoughtful Jake Gyllenhaal (albeit fairly coldy and snotty) with Scott Feinberg gave us the rare chance to listen to Jake talk at great length about some of his deepest motivations and cares. In response to requests, I've taken a closer look at Jake's words. There is far too much to cover in one post (unless you want to wait 72 hours), not just looking at what Jake said, but also some of the themes raised. It is a veritable treasure trove. And so, in this first post, Jake talks about the early years and how he learned a valuable and painful lesson which ultimately led him to October Sky. There are gaps - some of the recording is unclear, especially at the beginning. And so any hesitations are mine and not Jake's.


Revenge of the Nerds

Going to the movies as a kid: 'I went to the movies a lot... When I was a kid, the actor that I loved - I was a huge fan of the Police Academy movies to be honest when I was a kid (laughs). They're great movies. There were actually really wonderful characters dealing in topics that were funny and also... I mean, mostly funny. I was a big Leslie Nielsen fan and all the Naked Gun movies I loved as a kid. I loved Revenge of the Nerds. In terms of actors that I looked up to, I... I'm trying to think,... I loved Harrison Ford because I loved Indiana Jones as a kid a lot, all of those movies. And then I loved old movies too that my parents always had us watch. I mean I loved Danny Kaye as a kid. we watched Hans Christian Andersen. I even just recently saw it, my niece had watched it, and just couldn't keep my eyes off it, how Danny Kaye, how effortless his screenwork was and how charismatic he was on screen and just the detail and the... in his performances. It looked kind of effortless and ultimately, as anyone knows who's done anything, you can see how much work is involved in that effortlessness. That I remember really, really well.'


Have a chair

'(Laughs) I do remember... I do remember getting a first laugh and I think it started that way for me. Like a lot of people have asked me that question and I never until really recently begun to think that the answer to the latter part of that question it, that it hasn't been until relatively recently that I've felt like performing is something that would be my life's work. I think as an actor, in particular, but I think anyone in the movie business whatever they do it seems to me... cos I'm always wondering if they're going to be able to get to the next job and what's it going to be and I think the nature of the business sort of in some ways thrives on knowledge and security... But it wasn't until recently that I knew that I wanted to do it through my life.'


'But when I was a kid there was a specific moment when I remember sort of getting an idea. My parents were at a dinner with their friends and we were all sort of joking and laughing and everything like that and I remember I was maybe six or eight years old and when one of the - as with a lot of the stories that one tells - it's probably not so funny when I tell it now - as one of the guests was leaving, me getting a chair from the table and telling them 'wait a minute, you forgot your parting gift, I got a chair for you...' I remember it very clearly and everybody, I don't know if they were drunk from the party or not, but everybody, that was the reason that they all erupted in laughter. But I remember that feeling... That having an idea... and then getting a response from it. I remember that really clearly and then it started to grow on me that impulse and I realised that you know, get on stage and try for the same thing.'


Gathering the tools

'My parents let me dabble in things... so I auditioned for that and when I got the role. They let me audition for things, I remember that, and what I think about it now is that I'm sure it must have been hard for them to feel that someone so young had something that they cared so much about and were passionate about. But sometimes it's like teaching a kid patience is one of the hardest lessons, it seems to me watching parents, that's the hardest thing to teach. And they tried their best, and saying to me 'I know you want to do this thing but you really have no idea of what it entails and there's a craft to it and there's... it's not just ambition and drive. It's about gathering the tools'. I remember my mother always saying that to me, 'It's about gathering the tools that you need in order to do this thing that you so desperately want to do cos you'll fall flat on your face if you don't.'


'As a teenage actor, I mean I did a little bit of work but I really did have and protect and I feel very, very protective of my life, which is what they knew, as an artist that there's no way to create anything if you don't have a life. I think that's really what they were getting at. 'You can go off and act and act and act but if you don't have a life that you're cultivating then you are going to have nothing to be inspired by. I think that as writers, as a writer and a director, and someone who's behind the camera and is a creator of a story, understands that more. Like if you're dry of ideas then usually it's because you haven't been out there living your life... I think there's always a need for kids in movies but I am not a huge proponent of it. I'm a huge proponent of... you get thrown up there and you become... you're just not aware. As a child you're innocent and you're not aware of the fact that it's an adult industry. And you have to act like an adult. And I've seen that before. I've been an adult with children in movies. It's a confusing thing, regardless of what anybody wants to say about it and I found it that way and that's what I want to say that it hasn't been until very recently that I've started to feel like it's something I've wanted to do for the rest of my life...'


Lessons

'There was a time in my life where I was able to drive. I got my driver's license and I was in high school still and at the beginning part of my senior year in highschool and I had free periods at school, like I would have an hour in between class sometimes and I had double free periods, when I had two hours and I would set up times where I could audition in that two-hour block of free time during the schoolday sometimes.And I was in a school play and then I would go and audition for things. And actually the great irony of that moment for me was that I was auditioning for things, I read the script of October Sky and I remember saying... 'I want to play this part; I can play this part' and I had...[You can stop me...] But I remember when I was in high school and I had gone into an audition for a highschool play and I asked my highschool drama teacher, who was a very important influence on my life, for directions before I went in to audition for him for another audition I was going to go to and - I didn't really give it my all at the auditions...'


'I had been acting for a long time but I would get a role, and I didn't really give it my all and I'd ask him for direction... assuming that he knew that I could act and that I was, you know... and I guess it goads me that some people have experience and I see it a lot too in any field professionally...'Let me get this, it's no big deal to put my whole heart into it', and I went off and did this audition which happened to be the first audition for October Sky and then I came back and for a couple of days literally after... I wasn't cast in the play and I was devastated. And I went to my highschool drama teacher and... he had no respect. 'There was no respect for what you had to do here. How can you have respect for doing it professionally if you don't have respect for it here, and vice versa? If you don't have respect for it. So why would I want an actor like that in my play?''


'That was a huge lesson for me and then in a strange kind of event I got a callback for October Sky and I didn't want to go. I shouldn't do this! I finally went in and did it and ultimately somewhere out of that lesson I learned I think I got this part. I gave it my all. I mean everything. I gave everything I could to get that part. I remember I auditioned many times. My heart was open to the process and so I got that part from there. And I remember... there were so many things that came up there that I learned from getting that role as an actor. The lessons I learned as an actor.'


'I remember that I auditioned for Ang Lee for Ride with the Devil actually, maybe a couple of times before that and I had walked in to the audition with my hair spiked up and I had all these necklaces on and... you know, obviously, Ride with the Devil, and when I got back from Ang Lee who ironically I ended up working with in another movie (laughs) was... I couldn't see him in any of the roles, he was a modern person, I didn't understand. His hair was spiked up, his necklaces were on - I couldn't see him in the role. And so for October Sky when I auditioned for it, I combed my hair back and I wore a shirt that I thought was sort of 50s like and I really got into the character in a way that... and I started to learn all these lessons which culminated in me getting the role.'


Read here for more about Jake and his teachers.

I have written some detailed reports of October Sky over the years, including this one: You made an astronaut who went to the moon cry, Jake.

I have discovered something I share with Jake - I vividly recall seeing Revenge of the Nerds! I also remember that Police Academy 4 was the first (and possibly the last) film I ever walked out of. Part 2 tomorrow.

Includes pictures from IHJ.

Brokeback, film of the the Noughties but still relevant - 'we all have lips'

With the end of the Noughties looming, the impulse to to make lists increases. Two newspapers - the Times and the Telegraph - have listed their best and/or most defining films of the decade and Brokeback Mountain features prominently. I'm also pleased to say that Donnie Darko also gets a nod, as it deserves.


The Telegraph lists Brokeback Mountain as its second most defining movie of the 00s. 'Director Ang Lee insists on calling this simply “a love story” but it broke new ground as a gay cowboy movie. Achingly moving, with career-high performances from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as the strong, silent, repressed lead characters. A stunning achievement, brilliantly executed, with an acute sense of time and location.' Fahrenheit 9/11 takes first place. This is an interesting list because it doesn't reflect on what is best but what is important, and how the cinema both reflects and prods at society. The full list is here.


The Times went for the 'best' approach and listed Brokeback at No. 17. Not a bad spot when one considers just how many movies have been made over a decade, but, still, not high enough. 'This achingly sad love story gave Heath Ledger a chance to explore hitherto unsuspected depths. It’s a hugely powerful performance — his inarticulate yearning is almost painful to watch.' I think Jake Gyllenhaal played a part in it too. Obviously, the whole point of a poll is to argue with it and this point is proved by this poll placing The Queen at No. 9 and Casino Royale at No. 8!


Time to crank open the archives chest once more and go back in time to 2005 and listen to Jake and Ang Lee (at a press conference) discuss Brokeback Mountain:


'"There are women I've done love scenes with that I'm not very attracted to, and women that I've done love scenes with that I probably should be a little less attracted to. [This is] different obviously, but there's a weird sense when you're on the set, there's definitely a performance aspect to it," Gyllenhaal said. "Everything is heightened in that way, when you're performing with another actor. When we were doing it, there was something very similar to fighting, especially the love scenes. When we kissed each other, you know whatever, we just did it -- really raw human beings, we all have lips, it just happened, you know?"'


'Ledger's next film after "Brokeback" is "Casanova," where he plays the most notorious lover of women, and Gyllenhaal appeared last month as a macho soldier in "Jarhead." When suggested that these roles have been seen as affirming the heterosexuality of both actors, Gyllenhaal responded without missing a beat, "I don't need to play any role to affirm my sexuality. Whatever questions anybody has about that, if they do have any questions, I welcome them," he said. "I don't need to affirm anything to anybody, that's why I picked the movies I've done and why I've picked this movie. I don't think Heath feels that way either, I mean when someone offers you 'Casanova,' gay or straight, you should do it... I think it's kind of brilliant that people go in with this idea of actors, knowing or thinking that they're straight and then that they're playing these roles too; I think it's just another degree of deconstructing that whole theory of sexuality," he said.'


'"It was written almost 10 years ago. And it just so happens that right now on television, we all love 'Will and Grace' and we all love 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' and things have changed, and there is a reason why this movie is coming out now," Gyllenhaal said. Seemingly trying to avoid politics, Lee argued for the opposite. "I think if it's a love story, it's important to come out anytime. I think we don't know what love is. We know what love stories are all about and we started making them 2000 years ago. We always look for new material, precious new obstacles to tell the same old story," Lee said.'


Gyllenhaal doesn't seem to be too concerned with offending or losing any of his male fans. "Well, 'male' is broad," he said, adding, "I mean, I've been told by a lot of people I have a very faithful gay audience too, and they're male." After a statement was made about the film being highly anticipated, particularly from the gay community, the actor responded: "I think there should be high expectations for it-from the gay community, from all..." before being cut off quickly by Lee. "I don't think it's for one community. Just because they're gay doesn't mean they think alike. There are gay people who come out crying, there are gay audiences who are disappointed -- they want to see more exposure in the love scenes," the director said. "The other day after I watched it, I was walking on the treadmill and I start crying, not because I'm gay but because I'm middle-aged. You get comments from the whole spectrum."'


'Gyllenhaal gave personal examples of his family's response to the film. "My parents walked out of the movie and my father was like, 'If we weren't talking after this movie, I probably would've gone into the bathroom and kept crying.' And my mom felt the same way," he said. "And my two gay godfathers walked out going like, 'Mm-hmm.' Who is it a story for? I don't know. But it's definitely affecting people in different ways."'


Yesterday was 7 November, Pine Creek Day, a Brokie Day. It seems appropriate that I spent it in the good company of Brokies (and some giant pink reindeer). Here is a rather festive Carnaby Street.


Includes pictures from IHJ, article from the WDW Archives - as always pdf available on request.

[Updated]Tobey Maguire talks Brothers... Jake Gyllenhaal on Jack Twist and Swofford - 'They both come from my heart'

[Updated] Is this a sign that the Brothers' publicity machine is finally getting into gear? Today Tobey Maguire talked to the LA Times about the challenges of playing Sammy. Tobey also discusses Jake's role and the relationship between the brothers: 'Tommy finds himself to be unworthy, unlovable," says Maguire of Gyllenhaal's character, "so he isolates, he doesn't get attached or connected. The older brother is such a strait-laced good guy who's been good at things his whole life, had the attention of their father, ended up getting a great wife and family and all of that. And when I go away, Tommy learns how to show up and he learns responsibility. He learns how to care for people and gets cared for."' More here.

On with the post!

Before we get hit by the full force of the Prince of Persia trailer sandwave - I'm already practising my deep breathing exercises - there's time for a Brokie Sunday post (plus a sprinkling of Jarhead magic). This is prompted by Ang Lee's arrival in London last week for the festival showing of Taking Woodstock. Not surprisingly, on meeting the man himself, some journalists wanted to talk about Brokeback Mountain.


'"I was directing Heath kissing [Jake Gyllenhaal] and I told him that you would never kiss a woman that hard," he told Metro exclusively. "He needed to do it in a heroic Western way, more passionately. I remember seeing Michelle watching while we filmed - at that point they were already 'friends' - and she had a look of concentration on her face because she also thought he should be stronger with Jake."'


When Brokeback was new, Jake grew used to questions on whether it was a career risk to be on the receiving end of Heath's kiss: 'Play a gay man, and you're "a risk. Yeah, we heard that. But if I'm doing a movie that's not a risk - and I have - I'm wasting my time. Everything an actor or artist or writer is doing should be courageous. So it's redundant to think of this as a risky choice, because that's the job of art... It doesn't take much courage to say 'I'm going to be in an Ang Lee movie.' In a weird way, people saying it's brave to take this role kind of belittle Ang, one of the best directors of our times."'


'"I have always felt confident. That's 80 percent of being an actor, and it's what I look at when I scrutinize male actors my age: that ambition and drive and confidence. The last 20 percent of it is experience in life. If you're hesitant as a performer, if you don't believe your own (emotional) choices, there's no reason to be acting, because it's such a powerless job."


"(It happens) all the time that you're about to start a movie and you have no idea what you're doing. On `Brokeback,' I felt that way, but I embraced it. I just asked myself, 'Where am I going now, in this scene? I won't worry about where I'm going next.'" (Interview in the Charlotte Observer, 8 January 2006: 'Sitting opposite him in a hotel suite, you can see why directors won't leave Gyllenhaal alone. He's almost indecently handsome: broad-shouldered, six feet tall, square-jawed in the manner of a cowboy hero, with blue eyes that look gray if light hits them right and a shock of black hair that comes to a peak in the front.')


In March 2006, Jake answered five questions for a 'Wise Guide':

1: What was the transition like between these characters?
Gyllenhaal: There are a lot of physical differences and a lot of differences in terms of intention, but ultimately both of them come from parts of me. In that way, they're the same, kind of. They both come from my heart and it's the same derivation. There's definitely a rage that ("Jarhead's") Tony Swofford, the character of Swofford, had that the character of Jack Twist doesn't. He's much more open and engaged, much less cynical.


2: You went from horseback riding to boot camp. Talk about the physical differences.
Gyllenhaal: ("Brokeback" director Ang Lee) put a set of weights outside my trailer because he wanted me to kind of bulk up for that part. I tried my best, but I didn't do it as well as maybe he wanted. But then for "Jarhead," it was sort of mandatory. So I spent those three months reading, and I started working out like really heavily.


3: What appealed to you about these two roles?
Gyllenhaal: With "Jarhead," it was just kind of like a perfect match. When you get to be a certain age and you're learning how to be a man, there are probably physical, hormonal things and just, I don't know, spiritual things that happen. The feeling of wanting to punch your fist through a wall and not understanding what that is. It's just inherent in growing up. But that's a real, legitimate feeling, and those feelings and that part just coincided perfectly. And there is a resistance in both of the characters. They're not allowed to be their full selves, and I think that I was really drawn to that.


4: It seemed like "Jarhead" was destined to be a blockbuster, but "Brokeback" is the one that captured audiences. Did the reception of the two films surprise you?
Gyllenhaal: With "Brokeback," you're dealing with a genuine love story. I think that's what people have responded to. That's what's so amazing, is that people can watch it as that, even with the quote-unquote political subtext. And with "Jarhead," it's overtly political. People took into that film - unfortunately, I think - they took their own opinions and issues. I love that there are people who loved it and hated it. Both of the movies had that same response.


5: Were you disappointed with how "Jarhead" fared at the box office?
Gyllenhaal: We live in a world where you need initial response, a big jolt. People want to know something was historic immediately for some reason. I've witnessed, with a lot of movies I've been in, a slow crawl and an appreciation as people have had time with it. Even a movie like "Donnie Darko" or something, it's insane how people have responded to that film. Initially, someone could have said are you upset with how it went, and maybe at that time I may have (said) yeah, maybe I am. But I'm not. At all. It's found itself. I'm so proud of it. My mentality has changed.


Articles from WDW dusty archives. As always, pdfs available on request. Includes pictures from IHJ.

Life in and behind the lens

Watching Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese leave Burn 60 this weekend (you can see the pap video here) to a cacophony of shutters reminds me that, despite the inconvenience and the craziness of some pap situations, Jake has had a largely good relationship with the camera for years - both in front of it and behind it. We all know about Jake's passion for cooking but, back in Teen People 2002, Jake's passion was listed as photography.


Jake described his 21st birthday to 17 magazine: 'During the day my mom threw me a party with my family and closest friends. At night my friends had a big party for me at a club in LA. My mom bought me this really old-school Palaroid camera. And I got a beautiful ring from a friend that says: It's important to live, not only to exist.' On recent visits to Europe, Jake has been seen camera in hand taking pictures of the sights, just like the rest of us.



Jake can also be relied upon to help out.



Of course, as an actor, Jake is well accustomed to performing in front of a camera and, as a particularly photogenic actor, he's also well used to posing in front of fashion and magazine photographers, including some of the very best. These include Mario Testino and Annie Leibovitz as well as Michael Stipe. The impact of the paparrazi on such photography is discussed here by Steffan Hill who has photographed Jake in the past.


Beautiful as Jake is, Ang Lee told the Advocate that he'd had some problems photographing Jake, in contrast to Heath Ledger: '“Jake positions himself this way, then that way. He tries everything—like De Niro or something,” Lee says, then cackles. “Heath is not like that. He has a specific target within him. I don’t have to bring him back from here or there. He’s also very easy to photograph, easier than Jake. You don’t have to avoid anything.”' One wonders what this 'thing' was that had to be avoided. Yet it is because Jake has such an interesting, animated and expressive face that one takes so much pleasure in looking at him.


Brokeback Mountain had a stills photographer, Kimberley French, who has the gift of melting into the background and being tolerated and liked and admired by actors. Her photography on the set - especially her images of Heath with whom she had a special connection - led to the instantly recognisable Brokeback poster.



'French met [Heath] on a movie set when he was visiting then-girlfriend Naomi Watts, and when they met again on the set of Brokeback the two instantly bonded over cameras and cigarettes. As a result, French was able to capture poignant photos of the actor. “It felt really great from the start, that I already had a relationship with one of the actors,” French muses. “And it just continued... Heath would let me get so close to his eyeline. Getting in an actor’s eyeline—between them and the camera or another actor, or whatever they think they’re looking at—is a big deal. He also later allowed me to shoot him while he was concentrating on his lines.”


'On one such occasion, when Ledger was pacing back and forth rehearsing a scene, French snapped an introspective portrait that was used in composite for the movie’s iconic poster. The other portion of the final image, featuring actor Jake Gyllenhaal, was taken during a special photography session that lasted all of five minutes. “I had very little time, so I had no lights, just reflectors,” she now laughs. “It’s nerve-wracking, but the job is totally about being fast.”'



Kimberley's images also feature in this video as background to an interview Heath did for an Australian radio station on 22 January 2006.



Nailed

A big thank you to Monica for finding more pictures from the set of Nailed. As with other photos we've seen from the set, it seems the actors and director were quite happy to have cameras around despite the strict ban. The photo of Jessica is interesting because it gives us a good look at the offending nail. Many thanks to the photographers for taking these pictures, which must keep us going until we get to see the finished article.




And finally and off topic...

I took my own camera out today for a trip to Blenheim Palace to have afternoon tea...


... to enjoy the scenery...




...and to pretend my other car is a porsche.



Including pictures from IHJ, links and WDW.