Life and laughs in a bubble: the sun 'nearly burned a hole in my head'

After all this talk and excitement over the newly unveiled Tommy Cahill, I thought I'd go back and look at an earlier Jake Gyllenhaal incarnation, the one in the bubble. It might have been controversial, it might have offended almost everybody on the planet, including six-armed goddesses and the whore next door, it might have been disowned by Disney, but nothing makes me laugh outloud like Jimmy Livingston (and his mother).


'"It's a wonderful love story -- a freaky, awesome ride with crazy characters," said Gyllenhaal, who starred in 1999's "October Sky." What was it like in the bubble? "I got really hot and then really cold in there," he tells Seventeen magazine in its July issue. "The sun worked like a magnifying glass; it nearly burned a hole in my head." It was also difficult to hear inside the bubble. "I learned how to read lips pretty well -- and to yell," he said.'



Jake's childhood had prepared him for life in a bubble and the need to give it a good squeeze: 'The only problem is that growing up in Hollywood is not necessarily that close to any normal reality. It's a curse in the sense that you're trapped in a bubble that you have to become aware of in order to pop. Which is what I'm trying to do.'


Bubble Boy helped Jake pop that one bubble while arguably helping to inflate another. It enabled him to break free of college: 'But my sophomore year was a tough year for me, both intellectually and emotionally. I felt slightly schizophrenic because I was trying to live a regular college life, but I also wanted to be creative. I had no creative outlet at school, so I was thinking a lot about acting. It was difficult to juggle classes with the constant phone calls from agents offering me film roles. I was so confused, but eventually I knew I had to make a decision. And I believe I made the right choice.'


'I laughed out loud at the perversity of the script... It's funny but it's also touching and warm. It's a beautiful love story, and it's a story about a boy finding himself.' Both Jake and the director Blair Hayes defended the film's innocence against those who took offence, repeatedly repeating the metaphor of the bubble. Although not to everybody's taste, it had some killer lines in it, not to mention scenarios (I'm thinking bus stops here and the shop robbery). 'Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess?', 'and the prince climbed up Rapunzel's hair to the top of the tower and said, "Come with me, and we'll live happily ever after." Then Rapunzel left her plastic bubble and died. The end.', 'Supper time was the best! Nothing could beat Mom's homemade, vitamin-rich, soy-based, germ-free, fat-free fiber cookies.' These are some of the bubble cherries.


Jake drew inspiration for his portrayal of Jimmy from a series of films Blair made him watch: 'I used Peter Sellers in Being There, Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Buster, with his face, in silent films, says so much. Charlie, through his movement. The running in the bubble at the beginning was all Chaplin stuff. The voice came out of watching and thinking what a child would do.'


This interview also contains one of my favourite anecdotes from Jake - about the stunts and his very own Backdraft spectacular: 'They made me do a lot. I'm just a naive little boy. We did this one stunt where I come in and the building is on fire. There's a huge wall of fire and the guys who did the effects did in Backdraft. I'd say, "What is that?" and they'd say "It's gasoline. It's fine." They'd spray it on my feet. "It's fine. Trust us." Everyone is getting their fire suits on and, hey, I'm in a plastic bubble. They asked me to go in and shake the door handles. I go in with "I'm gonna be a stunt man. I'm gonna do this. I've got it." I get to that wall and I'm like "Oooh this is hot!" I put my hands out and grab the handles and I look at the bubble and it starts expanding. And then it goes whoosh.. and then flat all around me and I see the steadycam guy going "Run!." They are spraying me and they cut me out of it like an embryonic sack. I don't touch plastic anymore.'


Maggie also stuck up for Bubble Boy: 'The siblings are close, and Maggie even defends "Bubble Boy,'' the film often labeled Jake's worst. "I thought Jake was great in it," Maggie said, "and I actually thought 'Bubble Boy' was a subversive, smart film, not just another stupid comedy."'


More worrying, however, was the conversion of Bubble Boy into Bubble Boy The Musical. Written by the writers of the movie, the musical was laced with 'sweet songs' and seating was limited.


Includes pictures from IHJ.

'It's impossible not to respond to Gyllenhaal's sweetness, wide eyes and dazzling smile'

With Chekov's Seagull opening on Broadway this Thursday, starring our very own Peter Sarsgaard, I'm in a theatrical mood, helped along by Peter's appearance in an Associated Press interview today. The interview itself takes place on the stoop of his Brooklyn house (complete with blueberry muffin).


For the role of Trigorin, Peter has 'grown a lush beard... and radiates both charisma and sleaze.' And in the interview we learn that, at the last minute and without warning, Peter switched his accent on stage to an English one in order to be less acceptable to the audience. After An Education, Peter should be well-versed and, of course, he can practise with the Prince of Persia himself.


Hot on the heels of the announcement that Brokeback Mountain is to be turned into an opera, we now hear that Bubble Boy is to be 'musicalised' (I've made that word up). At this rate we'll be getting Zodiac on Ice.


Bubble Boy has had its share of critics, after all, it could be construed as being slightly tasteless. However, that is because you have to suspend belief and feed the laughter glands by revelling in Jimmy's happiness at being out of his bubble room and into the big wide world (albeit while still in a bubble), where you can tread on dog poo, leap in sunlight pools, mud wrestle, have your first sip of beer and meet shiny happy people (not to mention a bunch of other lunatics), while chasing your blue-eye blonde-haired dream all the way to Niagara Falls.



This film was also Jake Gyllenhaal's first experience of the stunt world of being a movie star: 'I'm falling over waterfalls, flying in an airplane, and being tossed off motorcycles... I did a lot of the stunts because the bubble makes it safer to hit the ground.' Jake also defended the film when the Immune Deficiency Foundation called for a boycott: 'It's actually really political, and I think, while being political, really empathetic to people who might be considered sort of oddball and different, and so in essence it becomes different itself.'


Some critics really did get the joke - and the charm in Jimmy's situation: 'Gyllenhaal is fabulous as Jimmy, a charmed innocent who grew up viewing the world from a distance and inspires people with his purity and lack of cynicism. Once he leaves home in pursuit of love and experience, Jimmy could be an alien visiting Earth for the first time: Everything is new to him, wondrous and strange. This is a star-making performance: It's impossible not to respond to Gyllenhaal's sweetness, wide eyes and dazzling smile, or to imagine anyone whose looks or personality would be more perfectly suited to the role.'


'Equally brilliant is Swoosie Kurtz, who gives a wicked spin to Jimmy's sex- phobic, fiercely overprotective mother. Determined to keep her child clueless and celibate, Mrs. Livingston is prone to reading aloud from "Pinocchio" and improvising the ending: "And then Pinocchio touched the filthy whore who lived next door and died."'


When Jake read the script: '"I laughed out loud at the perversity of the script... It's funny, but it's also touching and warm. It's a beautiful love story, and it's a story about a boy finding himself." Gyllenhaal said the idea that the movie makes fun of such children is ridiculous. "They obviously haven't seen the movie," the actor said, "because the boy is the hero of the movie. The people who make fun of him in the film are shown to be idiots. If anything, I think the movie will help bring an awareness of the disease to people who never heard of it."'


Director Blair Hayes wanted Jake for the role on first sight: 'We literally saw hundreds of actors for the role, but when Jake walked in, Beau and I looked at each other and we knew," director Hayes said. "Jake has a way of immediately being sympathetic, lovable and cute. That was essential for any actor playing this role. But more important, Jake is able to play comedy and drama. In the hands of just a comedic actor, this part would come off as shtick, and that was the last thing we wanted. There are not many actors making films today who can pull off both comedy and drama like Jake. It's a Tom Hanks quality, and Jake already has it."'


And when you watch this film, it has to be with the commentary...



And finally

Jake is a theme of a new musical, Jason and Ben, currently being performed in NYC. The play is not getting particularly warm reviews but has a highlight: 'Cohen's songs are mostly fine, capable examples of 1990's Emo pop that would be better enjoyed outside of the show since nearly all of them lack theatricality. The score's lone attempt at humor, Ben's gushy tribute to the charms of Jake Gyllenhaal, is its clear highlight.' It's difficult to see the fault in anything that includes a gushy tribute to Jake Gyllenhaal. So that's a 10 out of 10 from me and I don't even need to see it...


Includes pictures from IHJ and links.