Tonight Jake Gyllenhaal appears on the Jimmy Kimmel Show - does that mean the return of Yellow Banana one asks oneself. While we wait to see what is in store for us courtesy of Jimmy and Jake, we have some more interviews with Jake and Duncan Jones. But before that, we now know that the premiere for Source Code takes place on 28 March (7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard) and, if you have a bunch of dosh, you can be there too. It's all part of another Jake ACLU auction and more importantly it is donated by Jake himself. Details here. Thanks to BBMISwear for the heads up.
Admittedly, their last auction involving Jake was to join him and Doug Liman on the set of the Unnamed Moon Project back in the spring of 2010. Something that did not come to pass and something that is unlikely to either. The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that UMP has reached another stage in its somewhat fractious path to a possible launch. Despite Jake's close association to the project in the past, as producer and star, it now looks as if Doug is trying to push the project forward yet again but now Jake is not attached. As we've mentioned here before, Jake's association with Duncan Jones may have given his link to UMP the kiss of death, but it has not been helped by switches in writers and plot plus the lack of studio support. One can't help but wish Doug all the best with this labour of the heart. I still think that Jake and Doug will work together at some point.
We have some more interviews with Jake and Duncan. First off, there's this from Making Of.
There is more behind the scenes footage at Kinogalereya. Thanks to Carlota and Eureka for the links! There is also this interview from Hitfix.
A WDW Cotswold Interlude
Today was the warmest day of the year so far - there wasn't a cloud in the sky and a sheltered spot it was positively balmy. I have a sunburnt face to prove it. And so, spontaneously, Mr WDW and I took off on the faithful Triumph for the Cotswolds and spent the day visiting some of the most beautiful old wool towns and fitted in a couple of Roman villas for good measure. We rode past one field and the sound of the bike disturbed a small herd of large deer, who leapt over wall upon wall - one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen in England. I tried to get a photo but just got the tailend.
Churches - the Painswick church is well known for its excessive topiary.
Villas - Chedworth is one of the most well-known Roman villas in the Cotswolds but is currently under scaffold as a new visitors' centre is built giving closer access to its famous mosaics. I rather liked the wrapping for the hypocaust.
The other villa, Great Witcombe Roman Villa, had no such disturbance. Just a spectacular backdrop across the most stunning countryside.
The next Bourne movie will be a little different - it won't have Bourne in it. Deadline has reported that Tony Gilroy, the director and writer of The Bourne Legacy, is meeting with actors in LA this week to make the Big Casting Decision and among those being considered is Jake Gyllenhaal. This may help to explain Jake's recent meetings, haircut and shave - or not.
Here is the full list: 'Joel Edgerton, Josh Hartnett, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Paul Dano, Michael Pitt, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Luke Evans, Alex Pettyfer, Taylor Kitsch, Benjamin Walker.' The list will be cut quickly because several have availability issues - possibly not something that would hamper Jake's selection.
Jake has regularly spoken of his admiration for Matt Damon plus there is his friendship with Doug Liman, the director of the original The Bourne Identity. Jake undoubtedly has the look and talent to play a smart spy and, if he is still looking for a franchise to stamp his name on, this could be a worthy possibility.
I need to get this out... Tobey Maguire? Alex Pettyfer?
If you're a card-carrying member of the I Love SciFi club like me and have a huge need in life to see Jake Gyllenhaal in Space, then there is a hint of some good news today. Although, rather ironically as it happens, there have been fears that Doug Liman's Unnamed Moon Project may have been scuppered by Duncan Jones' Moon, which in turn led to Jake's forthcoming movie Source Code, which in itself may have caused some serious damage to the chances of UMP taking off, perhaps the stars may align favourably after all.
When Doug Liman was interviewed by Coming Soon for his new film Fair Game, Doug revealed that All You Need is Kill is just one of two movies that he is currently working on, with either one due to happen next. The other one is the Unnamed Moon Project: 'both of them are in budgeting and both have small, early crews on them'.
After all the effort that Doug has put into his Moon Project over the years, with Jake as a producer, as he has revealed to his Ninja blog, it is great news to hear that it may still be on the way to the launchpad and not the scrapheap. And if it does make it, we can be assured Doug will tell us all about it.
And finally...
Today marked the beginning of National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo. Rather alarmingly I have signed up for the task of writing 60,000 words in 30 days. So if you see any plot bunnies out there, think of me... I will chart my progress on the front page.
Jake Gyllenhaal is back! And he's demonstrating enviable determination and zeal in his effort to see how long his beard can grow before he gives in and shaves it off to reveal more of that beautiful face. As a foodie, a beard does offer additional storage facilities, of course. It may also catch rain water in times of drought. Jake was in LA yesterday escorting a rather lovely young lady called Ramona to a birthday party. It was my sister's birthday yesterday so I think it's a bit off that Jake and Ramona got an invite and I didn't. Many thanks to IHJ for the very welcome pictures! There are lots more there. Good to see you Jake!
Update: Thanks to Monica for the ID of the gent in the pictures with Jake - he is Marc Silverstein, Busy Phillips's husband. Their daughter celebrated her birthday on the 13 August and, judging by when Busy posted a photo of the magnificent cake, the party was yesterday. I wonder what's in the middle of the cake - I would've throught a globular cake is very difficult to slice.
As a note, the Chilmark road race took place last Saturday and, while Jake and Chris were absentees this year, I'm very pleased to report that Dou Liman ran and finished 75th in this group! Good going, Doug.
Jake Gyllenhaal's fitness regime for Prince of Persia is well-known, involving as it does an awful amount of running, a horrendous number of pushups and way too many jacket potatoes with tuna. If you want to get fit and lithe but you can't function on two squares of dark chocolate a day, then there is an alternative Prince of Persia diet. You simply watch it. A reporter for the Independent discovered that by watching Prince of Persia you can work off 0.9 calories a minute. Admittedly, this is not a huge amount of calories and also the article doesn't state if scoffing a big pot of Ben and Jerry's through the film impacts on this amount of calories. I'd argue not.
Therefore, I can enjoy the pictures of Jake going about his workouts whilst smiling to myself and wondering when Jake will realise that he could keep in shape just by looking at himself on the big screen. I do realise that I have to watch a huge amount of Jake in order for the Jaking Health Regime to be effective. It's tough but I can do it.
Doug Liman is a director who has interested me for a long time, not only because of the long association of Jake with Doug's Unnamed Moon Project (UMP), latterly known as Argonauts, but also because he blogs as he directs. It's been interesting watching the development of UMP from Doug's point of view (all courtesy of the 30Ninjas website) - the desire to get the special effects just so, the importance of allowing Jake's character to develop as Jake would wish and the efforts to get a studio onboard. I wrote more about this at MB.
However, at the turn of the year, the time when Doug said that shooting for Argonauts would kick off, all went quiet. Instead, Doug has been associated with other projects, such as another Musketeers movie and All You Need is Kill, while publicising Fair Game at Cannes. This film stars Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Brothers' own Sam Shephard. So, what has happened to UMP?
The Playlist, always good reading, today posted an article about Doug Liman, and it raises the very interesting point that maybe the Unnamed Moon Project has been killed by the definitely named Moon. Although UMP has a very different plot and scenario, dramatising a race to colonise the moon, perhaps Duncan Jones' triumph Moon has filled that niche for studios. And just as Knight and Day has possibly been damaged at the box office by comparison with Mr and Mrs Smith and Killers, maybe Doug has taken the hint from studios and has moved on.
Doug's blogs are testament to the amount of work that he - and Jake - has put into creating a project that studios would wish to invest in. A difficulty for Doug was making shots of the Moon believable - to such an extent it even sounded like he was actually prepared to go there! Duncan Jones took the other tack and instead managed to visualise the moon for us on a comparatively tiny budget.
The critical success of Moon, winning Duncan Jones a BAFTA, led to Duncan's first role as Hollywood director, at the helm of the highly anticipated Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan. Jake can't stop talking about how Duncan is the next great director of his generation and how the scifi Source Code will blow our minds.
One can't help but think that however much many of us, including myself, had longed for UMP, not least because Jake would have an active role in the development of both his character and the project as producer, the path to its demise paved the way for Source Code. But, nothing is ever certain in Hollywood and I still hope that we may get both and may still get to enjoy Jake in Space.
While I wait (with everything crossed) to discover if I will be snowed in tomorrow with nothing but a home full of chocolate scraps, cheese, half a veggie garlic kiev and Jake Gyllenhaal DVDs for sustenance, there is time for a short post. It's actually cause for a celebration because today I learned that the Unnamed Moon Project is no longer UMP! The Unnamed Moon Project has been given a name and that can mean only one thing - it's still on the way. And the name? Argonauts.
I'm sure you'll agree - or maybe you don't - that this is a huge improvement on the last hinted at name of Trip of a Lifetime. Evenn better, the name Argonauts comes from the best source, Doug Liman himself.
While it would appear very unlikely that Jake can cram in Argonauts (why am I thinking short tunics, skeletons with swords, ships with big oars, sandals?) before Source Code begins to film in early March, Doug's continued blogging to the ninjas about the film suggests that it is still very much his next project. Perhaps Source Code will allow Doug the time he needs to solve the problem of making the moon more realistic to audiences than the unfinished Tower Bridge of Sherlock Holmes. On this I must agree with Doug. Good movie, bad bridge.
Talking of Source Code, director Duncan Jones has tweeted (example tweet) that he is already in Montreal doing prep for the movie but that he will shortly be in LA.
Princess of Persia
While it is inevitable that our attention is very much on a certain Jake Gyllenhaal when it comes to Prince of Persia - after all, the film is called Prince of Persia - Gemma Arterton has been in the British press today. In the interviews Gemma shows that she is every bit as feisty as the Princess she plays in PoP. And it turns out that it wasn't only Jake who had to make some accent adjustment: 'Similarly, she makes no attempt to hide the Estuary vowels in her busy speech rhythms, and proudly remembers dressing down her Prince of Persia director Mike Newell when he told her to change her accent. “When he first met me for the film he said, ‘Oh dear. Can’t you do posh?’ I thought, ‘I can’t believe he’s asked me that!’ So I said (firmly, through gritted teeth), ‘Of course I can, I went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic F***ing Art!”' It's a very enjoyable article, you can read it here.
This post is illustrated with more lovely pictures from Jake's arrival at LAX on 3 January, thanks to IHJ. Has anyone worked out what the label of the new bag reads?
Remember that E! video of Jake Gyllenhaal talking to Ben Lyon? The one where Jake owned up to dating Jim Sheridan ('it was awkward')? Well, today, thanks to IHJ's Stephanie, we have the whole interview, all five minutes of it. There is plenty here that's new.
What struck me is the contrast to Jake's Rendition publicity days - that was very serious, intense, as befitting the film's subject matter perhaps. But now, when Jake is asked why he's done such a powerful movie like Brothers, his response is 'Do we have to be so serious?'. This Jake wants to have some fun. But first he has to get 'the serious' out of the way. 'I definitely gravitate towards things where I feel like I can open up - where I can be somewhat honest, as honest as is possible, and this happened to be one of those things. But most of all I wanted to work with Jim Sheridan. He's incredible.'
On getting into shape for the role (and one can look back and remember that Jake was possibly at his most bulky during this time), Jake describes visiting jails and 'I decided to put on a bit more weight because, to be honest, for someone like me to survive in that type of environment, I'd have to be able to defend myself! So, in order for that reality to be translated, I started to put on quite a bit of weight.'
On the appeal of the very different Prince of Persia (Jake's version of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man or Natalie Portman's Thor): 'I've loved these movies since I was a little kid, I love them now. I'm creating a larger than life character. It was great fun, challenging but I'm an actor so I don't really know if we can necessarily say it was challenging. I would say that it was great fun.'
There are two other clips - in the first Jake talks about his friendship with Maroon 5's Adam Levine.
In the other, well there's not much at all, except that Jake talks about what he's learned from having Atticus. That there are other things more important than acting, 'like eating and smelling people's butts'. Oh yes, and Jake 'can cook, clean and I'm not so bad in...'.
The buzz for Brothers builds with just a day to go before North American audiences get their first look. Here are just a few little snippets:
Jim Sheridan told one reporter that, although he'll be avoiding the awards hoopla, 'he admits that awards shows such as the Oscars and Golden Globes play a vital role in keeping the European and independent movie sectors afloat. "The great thing about the awards is that they can help -- and this is especially true of European movies -- to live and survive," Sheridan said.'
Natalie Portman was asked by USA Today whether Tobey or Jake was the better kisser: 'she answered: "I'll be murdered if I say that. I'm probably the source of envy for getting to kiss both of those boys. It's hard to be me."' Although possibly not as hard as it is not to be her in a Kissing Jake Gyllenhaal situation.
Salon: 'Gyllenhaal is superb at channeling his confused feelings into physical awkwardness. He shows up at the family's house one morning, after a particularly unsettling episode, carrying construction materials for her kitchen. "I brought you some moulding," he mutters, and sure enough, there it is, coiled into stiff loops that keep threatening to spring out of his arms.'
In the LA Times, we get to hear a little more about Jim and his big fan Bono. Sheridan also tells us what it was like filming in New Mexico: 'The war scenes were filmed in the hard shadows and craggy pits of the New Mexico desert. "It's like you're in a prehistoric place, a place that once existed and teemed with life," Sheridan said. "If you stood there in the past the life would be swimming past your face but now it's fossilized. It brings up these emotions that are primitive and, I suppose, have to be kept below the surface."'
And about the actors: 'Sheridan was impressed with the discipline of Maguire, the polish of Portman and, perhaps most of all, the easy authenticity of Gyllenhaal, whose somewhat scattered on-set demeanor is a search for clues, not a symptom of cluelessness. "Jake is very good at that, searching for something in a scene," Sheridan said. With a chuckle he added: "It's not that he doesn't know his lines. He's always looking for something in the scene. It makes it feel real."'
In Now Toronto: '“Tobey’s very controlling,” [Jim Sheridan] recalls. “You go close on him and he’s very complex and you can see how he’s thinking about everything. But he’s like a poker player rather than like a star with a huge intensity. Jake’s more like a charismatic actor. He likes to be the centre of attention, which for a while drove me mad, because I want to be the centre of attention. It took me a few weeks to get used to him. But he knows how to stay real. He acts how he behaves in real life. He’s interested in everything that’s going on around him. That leaves a powerhouse kind of person that you want behind your back in a war.”'
'Taking on the inevitable criticism that Natalie Portman is too beautiful as an army wife, Sheridan describes going to Camp Pendleton to talk with military families. “I have to tell you, I met some really beautiful women who are married to soldiers. Women like warriors, you know.” And does he consider himself a kind of warrior? “Oh yes,” he replies. “I’m a warrior who wants to get rid of guns.”'
Doug Liman has been talking to the Ninjas again and affirming that he does indeed want Jake's Moon project to be his next movie and that work is well underway with the script. However, Jake's next project may well be Duncan Jones' Source Code. In a story reporting that the UK distributor has bought the rights to the film, Variety informs us that filming is due to begin in March. This may give Doug and his team the time he needs to make the moon project a reality - and even named.
A reminder of yesterday's radio interview - far too good for anyone to miss, or not listen to at least a dozen times.
Includes pictures from the marvellous EpixHD. Many thanks to IHJ for the vids!
If you have enough of the green stuff (or, if you're in Britain, purple stuff with some silver, a bit of blue and maybe some dark grey bits) you could bid for a day on the set of the new Doug Liman production. Not only that, you could get to flutter your eyelashes and test your chat up lines on its star, Jake Gyllenhaal!
Yes, there is a new auction up and running and it's important for several reasons (aside from the fantastic oppportunity of being able to distract Jake from his next shot with your 'I love you, Jake' tattoo): 1) This movie may still be going ahead after all (at a time to be determined); 2) It's no longer Unnamed - it's 'Trip of A Lifetime' (I think I prefer UMP); 3) Part of it is to film in Eastern Europe. Full details here - on the understanding that if you bid and win you have to take me. Вы понимаете меня? (apologies if that was accidentally rude...)
Brothers has had another TV Spot which you can see here (thanks Monica!). There's little new in it but it does strengthen my view that, as far as this film's trailers go, less is more. It also has more kissing in it - I like that in a trailer.
Brothers is starting to gather that sweet aroma of Oscar fever (a reference to Jake's appearance on Heart FM a couple of years ago). One site has seen a confirmation of category placements and this is what we see:
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart - LEAD Seth Rogen - Funny People - LEAD Meryl Streep - It's Complicated - LEAD Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin- It's Complicated - SUPPORTING Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - pulling the same campaigning as "The Departed," it has it listed as For Your Consideration 'THE ACTORS' Max Records - Where the Wild Things Are - LEAD Tobey Maguire - Brothers - LEAD Jake Gyllenhaal & Natalie Portman - Brothers -SUPPORTING
So, not only do we have Jake Gyllenhaal, we have Maggie, and we also have that same old situation of Jake being in a Supporting category potentially up against some fine actors, including a brother-in-law and a co-star (Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina). Perhaps they could share.
Another Brothers Oscar possibility comes from its closing song - U2's Winter. No argument here. Enjoy.
Doug Liman has been talking to the ninjas again (how I love these ninjas), providing further insider information on the whereabouts of The Moon Project. Last week, Doug was invited to a Moon Party to watch NASA's rocket attack on the other moon, the named one. And when the rockets failed to produce any kind of dust cloud that was visible more than 10 foot off the surface, Doug resorted to the next best thing - Moon Watcher Watching. Doug's conclusion? Jake Gyllenhaal is better looking than your average moon watcher. Obviously, no disrespect to your average moon watcher is intended here - it's simply Physics.
So... what have we learned from Doug today? Firstly, his work in progress - the Moon Budget - is 350 pages long, suggesting that firing rockets into the moon may actually be cheaper. Secondly, Jake Gyllenhaal may have outshone everyone in the room but he would still have looked at home there, thereby combining hot and geek; a tried, tested and much loved combination in Jake's acting repertoire. Thirdly, things have moved on from the original script. Jake is no longer the mad scientist, he is now the controller.
'Jake isn’t playing the hardcore scientist of the movie; he’s the mastermind. He is using the hardcore scientist in a way, like I am using the physicist at Columbia to research my movie. I realize that I’m saying that I’m the Jake in this scenario, but that’s the way it is. I identify with a character in all of my movies. Sometimes more than one — they’re different sides of me. In Mr. & Mrs Smith, it was John Smith. And when Jez Butterworth (the writer of Fair Game) read Moon, he pointed out massive similarities between the Jake Gyllenhaal character breaking all the rules to complete his mission and basically how I put together my movies. Which actually makes me feel better about the movie, because I think that when you do a big epic story, if you cannot ground it in something really personal, it becomes sort of meaningless fluff.'
Fourthly, the good news is that the whole moon watching event inspired Doug and hopefully brought us a little closer to meeting this new and deeply fascinating Jake character. Doug clearly wants this project, so close to his heart, to do the right thing. More with the ninjas.
As for Jake on Earth, it's not been that easy pinning him down (metaphorically speaking). Tweets have placed him in various Californian locations this weekend - mostly in places associated with food. However, today, the Pittsburgh Tweeters are back and Jake has been seen filming. Someone also commented that pictures were not allowed and security was tight. I continue to live in hope.
Back to the moon - kind of. Well, science fiction - sort of. Over the last few days I've done rather well in my stumbling across famous people while trying to find a coffee act. Today, I came across that well-known time traveller who chose to settle in Cardiff - Captain Jack - aka John Barrowman. The downside was the John Barrowman album that was playing in the background the entire time, but the upside was that John was charming and rather lovely, reminding me of the last time I saw him - at the BAFTAs 2007 when he was hosting a show from opposite us on the red carpet. John also, of course, happily competes with Jake for the upper reaches of the AfterElton hot poll. I did manage to get some pictures despite the enormous crowds.
Barrowman pics past and present by WDW. Many thanks to IHJ for the new old pics of Jake from the Today Show back in 2007, as a result of which you're spared more Clangers videos.
