Catherine Keener - the woman who made Jake Gyllenhaal feel sexy - and a Nailed catchup

I've always had a big liking for Catherine Keener, ever since I saw her making out in the car with the younger Jake Gyllenhaal back in 2001's Lovely & Amazing. Can't imagine why... Anyway, today I saw her in Cyrus, a movie I do recommend and also featuring another familiar name, John C Reilly, from The Good Girl. And so it seems right to do a post for Catherine who has featured in more than one of Jake's films. I'm hoping that one of these days we will get to see her on the screen in Nailed, in which she plays one of Jake's nemeses. This gives me the perfect excuse to repost some of my all time favourite pictures from Nailed - gorgeous, adorable, humorous and handsome I'm sure you'll agree, and Jake's not bad either. And these days, just as furry.



Parker the Monkey was a visitor to the Nailed set from Sam's Path Petting Zoo back in the spring of 2008. Catherine even shared her toothbrush with the cheeky monkey.


Catherine spoke about what it was like to play the older lover of toyboy Jake in Lovely & Amazing: 'I had a blast with him. People have asked was it weird because he was so much younger. I guess I was so in the mindset of Michelle and the story and she is so immature it seemed sort of an appropriate guy for her [laughter]. It wasn't freakish at all to me. And so therefore if it's going to be a guy who's only seventeen why not Jake Gyllenhaal ! It was fantastic! He's adorable, fun, enthusiastic. We were laughing all the time. It was three o'clock in the morning the first night we're working and we are kissing in the back of the car, freezing it was just silly. It wasn't like one of those standard uncomfortable love scenes were you feel weird enough. We had no time, no money and no time. He's so gifted and a really nice guy. Everybody was. This movie was really a great time everyone was unbelievable.'


When The Day After Tomorrow came out, Jake reflected on how much he had enjoyed Lovely & Amazing: 'I probably would say there are pieces of every performance that I like, not one performance that is great. But I do like the movie "Lovely & Amazing".' Because of... 'A comfort, a real sense of camaraderie on the set which made me feel comfortable. I was a young actor not having the experience that so many other actors have who have been in the business for a long time. Building up a defense and figuring out ways of bringing things up even when you're not supported, is something I don't have. Whenever I feel like I falter, it's because I don't feel like I'm completely supported. In that movie, I walked into rehearsals with Catherine Keener and she immediately made me feel sexy and I remember Nicole Holofcenter, the director was like, 'Do you want some coffee?' and I'm 'Yeah, I'll have some coffee.' She's like [Catherine] 'I'll have anything he has.' And I was like, 'Okay, cool!' You don't get that from other actors. Usually you walk on and you're like, 'Can I have a coffee?' And they're like 'oh, you want coffee.' And I'm like, 'what? What's wrong with coffee?' So I like that film because I just felt relaxed and myself, and honest, and happy.'



Nailed catch up

To find out more about Catherine's role in Nailed, do check out a set visit report from WDW reader Nicole who even got a part as an extra. Even more reason for us to want to see this film. You can read about Nicole's time on set here. Another reader, Lisa, also wrote for WDW about her experience on the set where her daughter also had a role as an extra. You can read Lisa's account of the nightime shoots here. Not to forget The Excellent Adventure of Ted and Lisa (a different Lisa - our very own BBMISWear) when they spent an incredible day with Jake. If you've not read the detailed and very funny account, you can find out how here and see some photos.



Another actor in Nailed, David Ramsey, reflects about the project at the end of this interview.

Includes pictures from IHJ, Nicole and a scan from WDW.

You can read what I thought of Cyrus over at MovieBrit.

[Updated] Something old(ish), something new(ish) - and get that hair out of your face...

If you want as many people as possible to see your movie, it doesn't hurt to appeal to more than one audience because, believe it or not, not everyone goes to the cinema just to see Jake Gyllenhaal. In past days, a director or producer would pair Jake (and other young actors) with big names and that way everyone would be happy, more people would see Jake and, hopefully, he wouldn't be bossed about too much.


Dennis Quaid was a fine and believable choice for Jake's father in The Day After Tomorrow. 'Producer Mark Gordon (The Patriot) knows that when it comes to big-budget effects spectaculars, it doesn't hurt to showcase two leads who appeal to different audience segments. "We had Dennis in mind because he is strong, smart, likable, fatherly and tough," Gordon says. As for Gyllenhaal... "you could believe Jake is Dennis' son, and not just physically. Together, they are charming, funny and warm."' The charming, funny and warm, combined with extraordinary dimples, was a winner.


Dustin Hoffman was another big name father figure for Jake and accounts of Dustin's vigorous charm on set are numerous. Here is the story of the dog handler who worked with Dustin, Jake and their four-legged friend(s) on the set of Moonlight Mile.


But, Jake hasn't just played against older men, there have been some older women too... 'Jake Gyllenhaal, 21, spent his summer as a boy-toy object of desire for older women in the praised art-house releases The Good Girl, with Jennifer Aniston, and Lovely & Amazing, with Catherine Keener. But he says women of a certain age aren't putting the moves on him off-screen as a result. Not that he's likely to notice. "I would think older women are more nonchalant than that. They've played that game before. I wouldn't know they were doing it."' - Lesson number 1, there is such a thing as being too subtle.


Jake does not only look like a younger Dennis Quaid when he needs too, Brad Silberling picked him to play a version of himself partly because 'an agent friend alerted Silberling to Gyllenhaal, declaring, "You guys scare me by how much alike you are." Silberling beat the rush to hire the actor he now calls "the ubiquitous Jake Gyllenhaal. His stock is going up."'


In the same article we learn that we are not alone in our feelings for Jake's Moonlight Mile 'hairstyle' - 'Gyllenhaal had no problems with the 1973 setting of Mile— except for his retro bangs. He says his mom, screenwriter Naomi Foner (Running on Empty), griped, "Why did they put that hairdo on you? You look so good when your hair is out of your face."'


Update: Jake spotted (today?) in Intelligitsa in Venice...


... and Kate Bosworth on Twitter: 'Public Enemies was alright but the trailer for a film called 'Brothers' w/ Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire & Natalie Portman looks FANTASTIC!'

Includes pictures from links and IHJ.

Jake's leading lady who came back for more

After all the excitement of the last few days, tonight's post is intended as a brief diversion and includes one of my favourite pictures of Jake with a leading lady. Here we have Jake Gyllenhaal with a rapturous Catherine Keener, who has of course been doubly fortunate and has been Jake's co-star not once (Lovely & Amazing), but twice (Nailed).


This connects to an interview Jake did for Australian magazine Cleo's charmingly entitled 'Spunk of the Month' feature, in advance of the release of The Good Girl and Moonlight Mile. While we learn that Jake had made out (in a movie sense...) with Brad Pitt's then wife (Jennifer Aniston) and Brad's friend (Catherine Keener), we also read:


'My sister Maggie's an actor, too, and we have a little brother, but we chopped his legs off and threw him in the closet - otherwise there would have been too much competition.' And if Jake ever should be searching for that 'wonderful, smart, probably non-American girl' ('Just kidding.'), can I make a suggestion?


Totally off topic, but today I walked through the streets of London's West End and Soho, illuminated by some spectacular Christmas lights and decorations. I loved the giant, fluffy snowmen floating and bobbing over Carnaby Street and wanted to post a picture or two. I hope Jake's managed to find some time as PoP finishes to check out the atmospheric shopping streets of London.



Scans from WDW and picture from IHJ.

An inspired 'attitude of perseverance' - Nailed and Once

A late post this evening and it's all Jake's fault - on his recommendation, I have been watching Once and it has consumed my evening and in a pleasant way. In the words of one critic, this is a film for the lovers of music, film and love. As Jake Gyllenhaal told Film 2007, when asked for his favourite film of the year: 'I saw that movie Once. I loved that movie... I just thought it was a brilliant piece of moviemaking'. Heath Ledger also recommended Once: 'It was really sweet.'


Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, recommended Zodiac as his film of the year, forever sealing his place on my Christmas Card List, and, at long last, at the end of this month, Zodiac is about to get its Director's Cut release in the UK. This means Zodiac is getting some extra plugging, as in this feature for Time Out, which includes an interview with David Fincher.


'Zodiac is a mystery movie with no solution. ‘This may be my particular perversity, but for me, those films are the most interesting. I don’t think we’ll ever know the answers.’ So does Fincher suffer from the kind of obsessive behaviour that crippled and galvanised reporters like Graysmith? He’s currently editing his new film, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, for a Christmas Day release in the US. ‘I don’t think of myself as obsessive,’ he says uncertainly. ‘But you only get so many hours to make a movie. If you want to make it as good as you can, you may have to stay late.''


While Jake's relationship with David Fincher was possibly irritating at times, but definitely productive and creative, we have had concerns about Jake having to work with the notoriously bad tempered David O Russell on Nailed. But, despite the James Caan cookie moment, it all seems to have gone surprisingly well. Could this partly have been, ironically, because of the other pressures on set? In a feature this week, Nailed's ladies, Catherine Keener and Jessica Biel, were keen to show that they pulled together under Russell's leadership and for the first time we hear what it was like to have to work through all those shutdowns:


'“He’s wonderful,” Catherine Keener said. “I love him,” co-star Jessica Biel echoed. “He pulled such a bizarre cool interesting performance out of everyone. It was quite an interesting experience. David was amazing.” What’ll be equally interesting, no doubt, is how the final film, a political satire Keener called “a screwball comedy” about the adventures of a brain damaged waitress in Washington D.C winds up, given the massive delays and stoppages in production. “That was the only really sh–ty part. The shutdowns were killing us,” Biel said. But if there’s a silver lining, it’s that the stoppages have inspired an attitude of perseverance in the cast, Keener insisted. “This felt like it was happening despite all of the obstacles,” she said. “It felt like us against the man. We were like — you cannot shut us down!”'


Includes pictures from IHJ, Just Jared and Fitz News.

Jake Gyllenhaal meets Parker the Monkey- Brothers' first screening is 'excellent'

There have been other visitors to the set of Nailed and not all them have had two legs and some are more in need of a shave than others. I hope you will forgive a second post today but I saw this picture and couldn't resist. What a cutie - and the monkey's not bad either. Jake Gyllenhaal meets Parker the spider monkey and, apparently but not surprisingly, it was love at first sight.


When Sam's Path Mobile Petting Zoo came to Columbia and the set of Nailed, Parker the spider monkey got the full tour, even being seemingly inappropriate with Jessica Biel. Catherine Keener, by contrast, shared her toothbrush with him, making that important step in a new relationship.




And whatever this is, I like it. Looks like it could be useful for cleaning cobwebs off high ceilings.


Screening of Brothers

All may have been quiet with Brothers but that's probably because, unlike a certain other film starring Jake, it's been behaving and going as planned. Even though the release date is still some five and a bit months off (but drawing nearer), Brothers is now at the stage of early screenings. Thanks to Monica, here is some information about this, which includes a report that the film is 'excellent' and that it may get an R rating (that will be because of the naked shaving scene we spent such a long time discussing last Christmas).



I am thrilled to hear that Brothers has progressed this far and it gives me hope that Brothers will be a feature of one, if not more, Film Festivals this Autumn. Can't wait to see it and it's great to have an excuse to repost one of my favourite pictures of Jake from 2007.


And a repost of the new picture of Jake from yesterday because I'm not ready to stop looking at it yet.


Wonderful pictures from Sam's Path Petting Zoo and IHJ.

'Thank you for filming with us!' - A day as an extra on the set of Nailed - Nicole's story

If ever you wanted proof that Nailed is up and running again and Jake is back at work, this should do the trick. Nicole, our eyes and ears on the ground in Columbia, South Carolina, had the amazing opportunity to not only watch Jake Gyllenhaal at work on Nailed but to be a part of the project, as one of its extras.


Nicole answered an advert calling for locals to turn up on set at the State House yesterday (Saturday) in their Sunday best and she was one of the lucky ones. She got a seat in the State House for a big scene involving most of the major characters and was able to observe Jake and David Russell at work. Jake, it seems, held things up by making people laugh - a story we're well familiar with from most of Jake's movies. cameras were banned from the set but Nicole and all the other extras were given a reward:


Here are excerpts from Nicole's account, for which I am very grateful. We are very lucky to share her glimpse into that extraordinary place otherwise known as The Nailed Set. Not only did Nicole get to see Jake, she also got three meals and $125 for a lot of hours spent hanging around - I do hope the money was paid upfront...

'We got to the statehouse around 9:30 in the morning. It turns out it didn't start until about 11:30 (it was a 100 degrees outside) so we got to the set and we went up to the casting lady. My friend's outfit was approved by wardrobe but mine wasn't (I was wearing black dress pants and a nice blouse but it had a weird pattern to it) so the wardrobe lady told me what kind of outfit they were looking for and so I called my mom and she brought me a couple of outfits. The lady approved the first one I picked out. So then I started getting really excited!'


Setting the scene

'There were so many squaw girls (girl scouts) and congressmen and woman. We ate breakfast - they had all kinds of food - biscuits,eggs, and the traditional stuff like that. So then it was finally time to go inside the statehouse! The statehouse is three floors - the first floor is where the parents and extras stayed when they weren't in the scenes. The second floor was where Jake and Jessica were and the their floor is where I was. But it was a balcony so I could see the filming very close below us as we were supposed to be watching them down there. So I was on the third floor where there were rows of seats to sit in. Luckily I was right behind a guy who had a speaking line so if they show him you will definitely see me!'


The scene

'The whole cast is in the scene and Jessica Biel is speaking to the congress. She starts acting 'erratic'. She just starts going crazy and saying all these crazy things. It's kind of hard to explain but she falls on top of this congresswoman and puts her hand up and we are supposed to clap. Before that happened she said something about Romanians. The guy in front me shouts something in Romanian and then later in the scene walks out. So if you see the Romanian guy, I'm right behind him! Anyways, Jake is below the balcony so we couldn't see him until he walked over to Jessica and kinda hugs her. James Marsden and Tracy Morgan were on the same floor as me so they were really close!'


More details of the scene

'From the balcony 3 squaws, Kurt Fuller, Tracy Morgan, Malinda Williams, James Marsden, followed by a couple of other girl squaws, walk in from the balcony. I'm guessing that, since they are all from Indiana, they came all the way to Washington to see Jessica to support her. Jessica and Jake are at the bottom of the balcony. When Tracy and the whole gang walk in, they start waving to Jessica. They wave and smile and James Marsden does all this funny stuff like he blows her a kiss and draws a heart in the air. Then they start waving at Howard (Jake's character) and saying 'Hi Howard!' (At the this point since we were in the balcony we couldn't see Jake because he was right under us.) So then I am guessing Catherine Keener's role (not sure if that was her or not) was the representative at the microphone. Tracy then says 'You let the other hot girls talk, why not Alice' (there were two other women also next to Jessica, whom Jake had something to do with - they called them 'hussies').'


'Catherine Keener gave Jessica one minute to speak. Jessica starts talking crazily and saying 'Do you think its cool? No, it's not cool!' (that she got a nail in her head) and then James would shout 'Not cool'. Then she would fall on a congresswoman and put her fist in the air and everyone would start clapping. Jake finally runs over to her - and he spoke so softly I didn't really know if he said anything - then he helped Jessica up and he had his arms around her and he kept looking at her. Finally, Catherine Keener would say that the bill for healthcare was lost again (I guess that's what they were there for since I found out that Tracy Morgan's character, Jessica Biel's character, and Kurt Fuller's character all have weird injuries - Jessica has the nail in her head, Tracy has something wrong with his butt, and Kurt has something wrong I'm thinking with his private part). Then, as Jake and Jessica are walking away, Jessica faints.'


Jake on set

'Jake was under the balcony, so it was really hard to see his character most of the time but I did see him during breaks. Jake was texting and he also asked about the horse race yesterday. At the end of the day, Jake was helping Tracy, James, and the gang with their lines and he even made the little girls laugh (as well as me). There's a line in the movie where, I think, some people say 'You monster' to Jake's character and they couldn't get it right and Jake starts yelling 'You monster' in funny ways. The director told him to stop making everyone laugh (at that point it was 12:30 in the morning and i know the girls were tired so I thought it was great how Jake, Tracy, James were interacting with the girls and making them laugh). Jake was wearing the exact same suit he has been wearing and they were all wearing the same outfits.'


David Russell

'David, I thought, was in a good mood in the morning. He was joking around with the cast. I didn't see any problems with him today. At the end of the day, I know he was getting tired - he was cussing a little bit in front of the girls but, overall, I thought it was a good day.'


A long day

'Jake passed by me about five times in the hallway. Once, while I was sitting on the steps and he was coming down. We ate lunch/dinner at 7 pm - the food was fried chicken, mashed potatotes, salad, corn on the cob and cake for dessert (I guess you could say it was the typical southern meal). We were there until 1:30 in the morning! The congressmen and women had to stay longer. Jake was still in his trailer so I don't know if he was done shooting for the day.'


Many congratulations Nicole for your big day (not to mention, sharing the big screen with Jake, however briefly) and a huge thanks for sharing your day with the rest of us!

Includes pictures from Nicole, IHJ, Flickr and FitsNews.

Nailed's nighttime shoots - another report from the set of Jake's film

Many thanks to an exhausted Lisa who just sent me her report from last night's shoot on Nailed, which involved her daughter as one of the 'squaws'. Unfortunately, the scene ended up being postponed but this report gives us a great idea of what goes on behind the scenes of Jake Gyllenhaal's new movie - so much of it takes place at night. No wonder Jake and the other stars have such comfy trailers. And the great news is that it is very likely this very lucky girl scout's scene will involve ALL the stars, and you know what that means! Lisa writes brilliantly, putting us right there in SC, so I'm sure you'll enjoy her report:


'The call time for my daughter's group of squaws was 7 pm last night. I had hoped it'd be earlier, but evidently Russell and his crew are making the most of the daylight and are trying to get in anything involving outdoors scenes while the sun is shining. So interiors are likely to be shot at night.'

'We arrived, did the boring employment paperwork, went to Wardrobe, got the girls dressed, hung around awhile, were taken to the catering tent and hung around some more (thankfully with food and beverages) and waited, waited, waited. The girls (13 in all) became friends and organized themselves into games. If you could harness the energy possessed by a pack of tween-age girls about to 'go Hollywood,' you could put the oil companies out of business. Everyone was tired, but we were excited, too. However.....'


'At approximately 10.40 pm (note the time!), the wonderful production assistant who was in charge of us came in and sweetly apologized that they were NOT going to be able to get to our scene last night. Whatever scene Russell had been filming since before we arrived was going to go on, and on, and on, perhaps into eternity. She did mention that he is meticulous, which made me smile! She told us our girls would be paid for last night (hurrah!), and would be called to come for this scene again when it was rescheduled. She said the scene our girls'll be doing involves 6 pages of dialog (apparently, that's a lot) and ALL THE STARS (please lord, let her not have been exaggerating or babbling out of pure weariness!). The girls will be sitting with Jessica in a council meeting. Since there are so few of them, chances are good that our girls will get actual "face time" on camera. And with that, she helped us finish up and called the vans to take us back to our cars.'


'So, Munchkin and I will be going back, though we don't know when. I did not see Jake but I spent probably twenty minutes total hanging out within 10 feet of his trailer. There was a dim light on inside, but no sign of life. I did not know if he was in the scene being shot or just wasn't there at all. However, what the assistant said made me think if he wasn't in that scene, he was getting some rest someplace till needed.'


'I saw Catherine Keener. She was wearing a pastel skirt suit and bedroom slippers (!) and had her hair in a retro, frosted, newscaster-gone-awry 'do. She was sitting in the doorway of her trailer as we walked to Wardrobe early on. I think she was trying to memorize lines or something; she appeared to have an Ipod with her. We also thought we saw Jessica Biel, all dressed down and coming back from taking her dog for a walk. We saw her enter a trailer, but never saw her come out. I'm guessing Jake and Jessica were taking the opportunity to get some rest. There seems to be so little chance for it in movie-making.'


And here is a message from Lisa to you all: 'Please give my best regards to all the nice Gyllenhaalics who responded so positively to it in the comment section. I really aim to share as much of the experience as I can with other fans of Jake, for as long as they're interested. He seems to attract the nicest people!' I think it's safe to say we're interested! Thanks, Lisa.

Incidentally, I do not believe that these new pictures from Fitsnews (I think from Wednesday) show Jake and Jessica Biel arguing - this looks far more to me like both are trying to convey something through Jake's phone, and possibly Jessica's, all at the same time.


You can see another picture of Jake on set here, along with an extra's account of the shoot inside a church - I didn't know Alison Janney was in Nailed. This film gets better and better!

As for future Nailed shoots - according to IMDb: 'Movie watch: Sumter Street closed today. Sumter Street in Columbia, between Gervais and Pendleton streets, will be closed today until 2 a.m. Tuesday and from noon Wednesday until 2 a.m. Thursday for the filming of a movie, according to the Columbia Police Department.'


And finally - Donnie Darko 2?

I'll come back to this, but it seems a Donnie Darko 2 is on the cards. This will focus on Donnie's little sister's story but the project will not involve Jake (not surprisingly, I suppose, considering the end of the original version) but it also won't involve the driving force behind Donnie - Richard Kelly. Rather humourously, the article states that the film will be directed by Chris Fischer (later becoming Fisher) but I doubt this is the one who likes to cook. According to another report, the only actor to repeat their role will be Daveigh Chase. I think I may give this one a miss.


Pictures from Nicole, IHJ and Fitsnews.