WDW exclusive - Jake Gyllenhaal the 'French Fry dude' who loves to dance plus some Damn Yankees and Source Code chatter

With Love and Other Drugs in the American cinemas and while Jake Gyllenhaal's busy maintaining his caffeine levels over the holidays - liking the hat - I now have a chance to catch up a bit and post a treat.


Back in May this year, Jake put in an inordinate amount of airmiles to promote Prince of Persia around the world and in so doing came face to face with quite a few of the people here, myself included. BBMISwear saw Jake in Toronto when he was up there to appear on eTalk on 25 May. We've seen here the videos that she took of those off camera moments when Lisa and Ted reminded Jake of their South Caroline meeting and his allegiance to Boston (something to do with sports...), but we've seen little from the show itself. But now, thanks to BBMISwear, here are six tastey morsels. And that's not including Jake, Lisa and Ted, all of whom get quite a look in here. And as Jake says himself: 'She's from Boston' (that'll be clip no. 6).

Clip no 1: C'mon Canada!




Clip no 2: Jake loves to clap and some details on his Prince of Persia co-star (and they don't mean Gemma...).



Clip no 3: a swordfighting lesson. Don't try this at home.



Clip no 4: Jake Gyllenhaal the 'French Fry dude' and American Jake and Canadian Jim. Some thoughts on Damn Yankees.



Clip no 5: 'I dance wherever I go' and filming Source Code in Montreal.



Clip no. 6: The sports one.... 'We're going to make you wear green!' (that's those Boston people).



Many thanks to Ted and Lisa and to IHJ for the wonderful picture from the Love and Other Drugs NYC press conference. There are lots more there.

Jake Gyllenhaal - the UN of sports. Jake on ESPN radio and taking a leap of faith

While Jake Gyllenhaal has been out and about publicising Prince of Persia he has also been a source of interest to America's sports commentators because of his West/East split personality when it comes to that mysterious world of basketball - known in the USA as 'NBA'. Jake was a guest on ESPN Radio and again he faced questions on his Jekyll/Hyde Lakers/Celtics split personality - Jake concluded that he was the UN of sports. There was also talk of Damn Yankees and Joe Namath (or Mr Namath, as Jake refers to him). You can listen to the broadcast here.


In another interview released today, you can see Jake and Gemma Arterton (known to ESPN as 'Gemma who?') talk about their roles and relationship in PoP. gemma talks about the frission between herself and Jake and talks about what a funny guy Jake is.



IF Magazine has published an interview with Jake which is well worth a read: '"There were a lot of movies that I read, and there were movies that I was offered that I really liked, but it was all about the character for me,” admits Gyllenhaal. “I chose the movie because the character was about the relationship between Princess Tamina and Prince Dastan and about family. But ultimately, [Dastan] was wry and did cool stuff and always had a great thing to say that wasn't too ‘winky winky’ at the audience. He felt like this classic kind of character.”


“Jerry would comment while I was working out and say ‘nope, bigger biceps please,’” Gyllenhaal says with a smile. “And I was like ‘yes’ and ‘no problem... When I got the role I started to play [it again] for an extended time and there were moments on set when I would be like just ‘seriously wait a second,’” recalls Gyllenhaal.'


'“In the ‘sand room’ we had a green slide that was basically plywood,” says Gyllenhaal. “That was hugely high and at the very bottom of it was a pad with three stuntmen around it. And I was sliding down this green thing, and it was fast, so I had to do it fast. And it was so much fun. There was no safety on either side. So if you slid off, you would just slide off and just fall. I don't know if there were even pads there. There was one stunt my first jump, that was like a 35-foot jump and I was really pretending I wasn't nervous about it and I was going to be all good with it, but I was pretty terrified about it. It's in the trailer of the movie. I've run and then I basically just jump and I looked over 100 times and I remember saying ‘screw it I have to trust these guys and do it’ and I did it.'


'But things like that happened every day as we were coming up with new ideas. I would look at the video game, and I would say ‘what about this’ and they would incorporate it and then all of a sudden I would be up on the wire for two hours. There was another thing that we found somewhere, where out of the middle of nowhere, we thought that I should dive on this guy from above and I did it three times. And I looked at it on playback, and it doesn't even look like a human being falling from the air. It was so weird.”'


'“I usually make choices based on filmmakers and definitely story, but no matter how good the story is if you don't have faith in a filmmaker, it's hard to deliver and give your heart,” says Gyllenhaal. “And Ang Lee was like a no-brainer and I can say it, because I lived it, whether it's a totally obscure movie about two sheepherders who end up falling in love in Wyoming or whether a movie like this – it's the people involved that give you the confidence to do hopefully your best work. That's how I feel.”'


Pictures from Disney.

Damn Yankees update - Director Todd Graff to bring it up to date & pump it full of steroids

An update on a much anticpated Jake Gyllenhaal movie requires a second post of the day, especially as it coincides with new photographs from the ultra glamorous and mysterious photoshoot - many thanks to IHJ for these beautiful pictures. The movie update is that Damn Yankees, starring Jake and Jim Carrey, is getting closer and its writer/director Todd Graff has been talking about his plans, which have brought the musical into the 21st century. Apparently Graff is a diehard baseball fanatic... he hides it well.


"['Damn Yankees' will be] a big, movie-star movie," the Mets fan explained of the flick, remembering a time when he had to sell himself to the producers. "I said, 'Listen, there may be writer/directors out there who know more about musicals ... there may be writer/directors out there who know more about baseball, but I guarantee you, there is no writer/director out there that knows more about musicals and more about baseball and hates the Yankees as much as I do.'"


'"If a character like Joe Hardy — who's the character in 'Damn Yankees' — sprung out of nowhere and was hitting 70 home runs in a season, who would not think immediately 'steroids'?" said writer/director Todd Graff, who has cast Gyllenhaal in the Tab Hunter role of a baseball fan who sells his soul to become the greatest player. "So [steroids] is not even a side character for us; it's our main character. No one is going to think, 'Oh, it's because he made a deal with the devil!' They'd think, 'He's juicing!'"


"The original was about the Washington Senators, who obviously don't exist anymore," Graff said of one major update that will undoubtedly please the fans of a Chicago team that has gone 102 years without a championship. "Now, the most obvious candidate is the Cubs. It is going to be set now, and my whole pitch was that it should feel like 'Jerry McGuire' with songs," Graff explained. "It should really feel like the real world of a major sports franchise and what would happen with this fantastical goofy, funny idea of a baseball fanatic who sold his soul to Jim Carrey as the devil in order to be turned into a 20-year-old Joe Mauer."'


'Graff is planning to hold on to only a handful of the original songs and having new ones composed — including one possibly about, yep, steroids. "There will definitely be about five or six new songs," Graff revealed. "[We'll keep] some of the originals, but we'll jettison some of the originals, and we'll write some more new stuff." For fans of the original, however, don't worry: The sexy, signature tune "Whatever Lola Wants" isn't going anywhere. "It'll be in there," he assured, saying he's currently looking to cast his Lola. One thing that won't be in the new "Damn Yankees," however, is Bob Fosse's famed choreography. "I think it'd be a mistake [to keep that]," Graff said. "They did that in 'Chicago,' so it's been done. His stuff was brilliant, his sensibility was very hard-edged and cynical, and I think what we're going for is more of a muscular, athletic, youthful, sexy movie. We're going to be less brittle, less razzle-dazzly and aim to knock your socks off with the athleticism."'


'Graff is rewriting the script to get it ready for production — and to help get in the right state of mind, he's heading to a spring rite of passage shared by thousands of other die-hard fans. "I'm going to spring training; that will affect the way I write it," he said. "I'm going to Tempe to watch the Cubs spring training, hang out and talk to everybody. I'm going to soak it all up, get all the details right, the behind-the-curtain stuff, which is going to be kind of awesome."' Source.


So, what to say about all of that? It's great news to get an update and it is clearly going to be a big film. I'm also pleased to hear that there will be new songs, as well as old favourites, plus athletic choreography. However, while this is undoubtedly a filmmaker who loves baseball and musicals in equal measure (no doubt a good thing for a musical about baseball), I rather hope that he remembers to make this film appeal to those of us who know as much about baseball as we do about sumo wrestling and thought cubs were something lions had.


I want this film to travel well. I fear that watching Jake Gyllenhaal leap around a baseball stadium while singing a song about steroids might not do it. I'm counting on other dimensions - Lola may provide it. But who to cast? Anne Hathaway has been suggested. Emily Blunt? She's another. How about Rachel McAdams?! Much as I long to hear Jake sing, on reflection, I think the Joe Namath movie may have more to offer. Todd! Prove me wrong!

I am sure that many of you will disagree with me and so I look forward to hearing your views.


Many thanks again to IHJ for these stunners!

Damn Yankees moves to second base and gets a director!

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jim Carrey were first linked to the musical Damn Yankees a full year ago and since then there's been Zilch. Nada. All those of us who believe that if there is one actor with a musical in him itching to get out it's Jake Gyllenhaal can sleep a little better tonight because Damn Yankees has a director! He's Todd Graff and not only is he the director, he's also going to be licking the screenplay into shape. It will be a modern version of the original.


I'm sure I'm not the only one who's not heard of Mr Graff and this is a contrast to Jake's previous films where he has been influenced by the choice of director. It has been suggested, for instance, that Jake was insistent on Duncan Jones for Source Code after seeing Duncan's sensational debut, Moon. For an interesting discussion of how Hollywood is having to look elsewhere for big movie directors - including the director for Damn Yankees - look here.


As yet there is no date and a rewrite suggests the film may be some time off. However, after a year of nothing but hope for Damn Yankees, this is good news indeed. Now, to continue the sporty themed weekend, all we need is an update on the Joe Namath Biopic.

Very lovely and sporty pictures from IHJ.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jim Carrey to star in musical Damn Yankees!

Breaking News! According to Variety, Jake Gyllenhaal is to star with Jim Carrey in the film musical Damn Yankees! All the signs have indicated that Jake has a musical in him and this sounds like a big one - who knows, it may even come out on time...


And they say: 'New Line Cinema is playing ball with Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal on "Damn Yankees," attaching both actors to star in a contemporized film transfer of the classic musical. Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel are set to write the script. The musical is being produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the duo behind New Line's musical "Hairspray"; a sequel to that film is in the works.'


'"Damn Yankees," which bowed on Broadway in 1955 and won seven Tony Awards, focuses on Joe Boyd, a happily married middle-aged man whose devotion to a hapless pro baseball team prompts him to make a Faustian bargain with the devil to help the team. He's transformed into slugger Joe Hardy, in exchange for Boyd's soul. Boyd can break the deal, but the deadline occurs during the World Series. For good measure, the devil engages Lola, a gorgeous lost soul, to seduce the slugger and seal his fate. The plan is for Carrey to play the devil, and Gyllenhaal to play Boyd. It's the first musical for each.'


'The producers tried but struck out on a version of "Damn Yankees" five years ago at Miramax, where they made "Chicago." The rights lapsed after Harvey Weinstein exited that studio. After two years of rights negotiations, "Damn Yankees" is moving forward with Toby Emmerich's New Line. The trick is finding a balance that retains the show's classic tunes like "(You Gotta Have) Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants," while injecting a contemporary feel on a musical that is firmly rooted in the 1950s.'The intention is to get a script from Ganz and Mandel before meeting directors, and actresses who'll want to play Lola.'


Early days but maybe the time will come when we'll be dancing and singing along with Jake in the theatres. So, how about Anne Hathaway for Lola?

Stay tuned!

Pictures from IHJ.