Jake Gyllenhaal will not be in Bourne, 'am I a fresh vegetable or am I canned?' and our own report from Duncan Jones' Boston Q&A!

After yesterday's confirmation that Jake Gyllenhaal will star next in David Ayer's LA cop drama End of Watch, it doesn't come as too much of a surprise that the Bourne Legacy rumour that was spinning around is nothing but a red herring - albeit a rather attractive red herring. Jake told Extra: 'That's quite a rumor and that would be amazing if that were true, but it's unfortunately not.' Intriguingly, when asked if he was still 'on the market' Jake responded 'do you mean I am a fresh vegetable or am I canned? Can you pay for me at the checkout? Is that what you mean? You can definitely pay for a little piece of me if you go see 'Source Code.''



To continue the vegetable theme, Jake's role as ambassador for Edible Schoolyard has shifted up a gear with 'a new campaign to prompt America's public schools to grow their own fruit and vegetables'.


'We're trying to make it possible to have an edible garden in every public school in America," [Jake] explains. "Kids can have a new relationship to nature and to their food and to their diet and an understanding where their food comes from. Kids can take classes in these gardens and learn mathematics by counting vegetables and engage in the world in a different way than we're used to in schools. It's basically to take a piece of the concrete out and put in a garden where children can explore and learn and hopefully it changes them. I grew up around edible gardens all over the place in Los Angeles and a little bit outside of Boston, and it's changed my perspective on the world and I think it could change the world."'


'"My family always emphasized it and it's an incredibly economic way of feeding the family and having everybody learn where your food comes from. It's something that I care deeply about. I remember my niece, when she was first born, and the great irony of her learning how to walk by holding onto tomato plants and how to count with cherry tomatoes."'

I'm trying to remember what I learned to count with but I don't think it was tomatoes...


Last night, 21 March, Duncan Jones' Source Code screening tour reached the fabulous city of Boston. You can read details of the event here in the Examiner but I'm delighted to say that one of our own was at the event, BBMISwear, and with her usual generosity has sent us some photos and an account of the occasion. I saw Duncan at a Q&A for Moon and talked to him afterwards and I must agree with everything BBMISwear says about Duncan, surely the friendliest and most generous of directors. Over to BBMISwear:


'Duncan got a big round of applause when he entered the front of the theater as the end credits rolled on the screen. He discussed a few things we know already – (i.e. the British song that was in Moon and pops up again in SC, how he met with Jake about another project and Jake thought that was great but wanted him to take a look at the Source Code script, etc.). He was asked about the script and he said the structure was all very sound but there were two things he wanted to change – first, it was very serious and he wanted to lighten the tone and inject humor and Jake got on board with that and they both felt that would help the film. Second, he wanted to change the ending – he thinks that when the audience sees it they are either frustrated with the ending or love the ending with not many people just thinking it was all right.'


'I got to ask question and asked about something I saw on the B-roll with Jake saying to Duncan that the source code changes everything – future, present and past - and it seemed he was trying to convince Duncan of how that should be included but Duncan was telling him that no, that would make her (Catrina) something she is not – I asked him to tell us a bit about that. I recorded his answer with my phone – he responded with: “We had a lot of rehearsals and discussions covering where we had to get to in each scene and then we shot it all consecutively to stop it from getting too confusing while we were shooting. But, it is a very confusing idea and I think that was part of the trick of the script was to keep it simple enough that an audience can really just go with it and accept the logic behind it. Because if you think about it too much you start to fall into paradoxes which are there by design and that’s just the nature of time travel films - by their very nature.”'


'He was also asked about getting a start as a script writer, the Mute graphic novel, writing his next film now that is inspired by Blade Runner, being a sci-fi fan (here he noted he treats it seriously but thinks humor is an incredibly powerful tool and learned you can use it to get the audience to bond with a character and empathize with him and share a joke with the hero and then he becomes one of your buddies – he pointed at the screen at this point – it was obvious he was referring to Colter)!'


'After the Q&A many people headed down front to say hi and get autographs and pictures – I did all three and must say the man is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet at an event like this! He stayed and stayed and didn’t turn anyone away - happily taking pictures with anyone who wanted to do so. Rodene was right there next to him and after using her super-duper camera during the Q&A she was happy to take hold of all camera phones that were given to her (including mine) so she could take pictures for anyone that asked! She joked that we all now are going to have Duncan’s cold! (My pictures came out okay but unfortunately with a camera phone and bad lighting there wasn’t a chance of anything spectacular).'


'I only had a minute to talk to him at this point so I used my time wisely and requested that Duncan please, please, please make sure he and Jake do an audio commentary feature on the DVD as people love that and there seems to be less and less of those these days. He said that he thinks they are going to do that and I added, again, that he must do it with Jake because the two of them are terrific together based on what we’ve seen so far and he laughed at that and nodded with a big smile! It’s so obvious how fond these two are of each other. Let’s hope we get what we’re asking for on that DVD!!'

DVD commentary with Jake and Duncan? Yes, please!


This post includes new pictures from the LA press conference at the weekend, with many thanks to IHJ, and BBMISwear's photos from last night. Thank you BBMISwear for sharing your experience!

Jake Gyllenhaal watches Celtic win in Boston - and actors taunt Jake with Mars Bars in desert

Jake Gyllenhaal continued to prove that he is both Laker and Celtic fan last night by attending the game between Celtic and Orlando Magic in Boston. And Jake did such a good job of distracting those Orlando players, Celtic won.




Jake also managed to conduct a brief interview, no doubt at the exact moment as the winning throw. Good to see Chris, by the way!



Prince of Persia is full of fine actors, many of whom are Brits who have many a story to tell about working with this Hollywood moviestar. Amongst them is Brummy Steve Toussaint, who played knife-thrower Seso. Here he recalls:


'Jake carried on his training during filming. We’d be driving back to Marrakech from filming in the desert and we’d see him in the distance, running along beside his car! So we drove up and waved our Mars Bars out the window at him. He was very dedicated. We all had, shall we say, ‘toilet issues’ while we were there but he carried on filming throughout. He’s a lovely bloke and very funny. Some megastars like to distance themselves from the rest of the cast, but he was very down to earth.' [I am sorry for mentioning 'toilet issues' so early in the morning...]


No wonder Jake's said he could have torn the heads off people for a bar of chocolate - he was getting taunted with the things. But who'd have a bar of chocolate when you could be running alongside a car through a hot desert instead? No brainer, really. Judging from this picture below, maybe Jake has allegiances in a third state - or is he just indicating to Chris how many dollops of ketchup he wants on his hotdog?


Many thanks to IHJ for the pictures and for the video! More later.

Jake Gyllenhaal - as actors we need 'to give people a little bit of a rest from what's going on in their lives.' And WDW in The Monster!!

September's issue of Interview magazine reached the shelves today in the US and, in a classic case of never mind the answers what about the questions, I have been fascinated by Jake Gyllenhaal's enigmatic interrogation of Natalie Portman, an actress he knows well. Some of the interview we have seen previewed before, but in the additional section, there is a quote that made me sit up in my Legal Seafoods seat. This quote of Jake's may well be in my top 5, my top 2 quotes even.


'Well, I think for the Prince of Persia, I just practiced ass-kicking ... [Portman laughs] But I do think that it's the job of an artist to not just mimic but also empathize - and in that process of empathizing give people a little bit of a rest from what's going on in their lives. And I think that's only possible when the artist, as a person, is really connecting with what's happening in the world. That's something that I can definitely see in your work. I also think that part of the job is to give people a break from the amazingly hard work that they all do. People need to laugh, people need to have fun, and so I think that's the real work. As an actor, you're taking yourself way too seriously if you're like "I'm only going to make films about the current state of the world,"'


If ever I have a quote sewn on my pillow it'll be that one - even if I need a really big pillow, it'll be worth every stitch.


Elsewhere in the interview and previously unquoted: 'The irony I've found in traveling for work is that meeting people and learning about their experiences has often been more interesting to me than even the work itself. I mean, at best, we actors have the opportunity to meet people who are doing real things, and then we get to tell a story that incorporates elements of their lives, and I think that is incredibly important. But, ultimately, what I've found in my life - what I feel gives life some meaning - are the experiences that I've had when I've done research for roles.'


And Jake's response to Natalie calling Jake 'a very special man'? 'You think so? Thank you. That's very nice.'

Today has been a very special day for me. Why? Because I sat in the Green Monster, that's why! From there, I could see Jake's view of the Park, seeing the graffiti in the monster, seen the marks ('They're never called dents', said the guide) from the home run balls and had a feel for what it's like when the Red Sox belt them out to the far reaches of the Park. The guide told us always to wear a glove in the Monster and he listed off the injuries to fingers, hands and heads as people stretch for the ball in the passion of the moment - just remember Jake on the Conan O'Brien Show.




The view from the Monster...


And in the Monster.



I know little about the Red Sox or Fenway but seeing the old wooden seats, that clank like anything when they're lowered and raised, seeing the one red seat amongst a sea of green for that famous shot from the 1940s (knocking out a guy in a straw hat - warning to you, Jake - don't wear hats) and sitting in the Budweiser bar right at the top with a perfect view of the Monster and each and every base, I swear I've almost converted from cricket. I may even start using baseball terms to describe cricket. Whatever happened, I will now wear my Red Sox hat, bought at Fenway, with GyllenPride.


Pictures from IHJ and Red Sox fan WDW.

[Updated] Jake's Pinkberry pose. A whale tale - a Stellwagen Bank Interlude

Update: Now that Jake Gyllenhaal has discovered that being photographed with employees of ice cream, frozen yogurt and ice establishments is a sure way of getting ice cream benefits, Jake's at it again. Pinkberry tweeted that Jake twirled into their Little Tokyo store in LA this weekend. And they also gave us a pic, complete with goodnessmfg t-shirt.


With the hope that you will forgive a purely gratuitous post (or at least it was until the update above), I couldn't let a day spent on the wide open seas in search of humpback whales go unnoted on WDW. And besides, in a way, the whole experience reminded me of my Jaking adventures over the years. If Jake Gyllenhaal emitted a six foot tall plume of mist every time he breathed then maybe we'd have more chance of finding him. But just as Jake has his Intelligentsia and Cafe Luxxe, the humpbacks have Stellwagen Bank. I don't think there's a choice between full fat or skinny krill though.




Another similarity I noted is that it is almost impossible to take a good picture of a humpback whale - Jacques Cousteau I aint. Nevertheless, I hope you can tell from the pictures that these are whales and not just flecks of dirt on the camera lens.


We saw three or four small groups of adults and young. While our game was trying to work out the exact moment to take The Tail Shot, the whales were having an animated discussion by smacking their flippers on the water's surface.




I have learned some lessons today that will come in handy the next time that I have a red carpet experience with Jake - seasickness pills and a good jacket are vital. Winding down afterwards with a blue margarita complete with a candy/sweet shark floating in its depths is also recommended.


I should mention that the New England Aquarium is well worth a visit, not least because it is currently showing Star Trek at its IMAX!


Cheers!


Gratuitous pictures by WDW. This post is dedicated to BBMISwear :-)