Jake Gyllenhaal's first steps: 'Who wants to cast a kid from nowhere?'

We're spacebound tonight, travelling back in time, to take a look at Jake Gyllenhaal at the beginning of his adult career, when he overcame illness and parental concerns to win over the producers of October Sky. Jake's determination to win that role and achieve his dreams - and his modest surprise that he was able to do so - are told through his own words, from two early interviews, dating to 1998 and 1999. 'It's really incredible that people can have this much faith in me to do this.'


First, back to 1998: ' "To tell the truth, it's nothing like I expected," says Gyllenhaal. "Dreams when they become reality are nothing like the dreams."And for Gyllenhaal, working as an actor is definitely is his dream come true. "It's been my dream since I was really small -- since I could breathe," he says. "I've felt ever since I was young that this is my calling."'


Jake 'was signed by his parents' agency -- but only after agents witnessed his talent in a performance of "West Side Story" -- and he began doing auditions "every other day," stopping only when he got the lead in "The Rocket Boys" in January. Not surprisingly, Gyllenhaal's casting in the film has three acts: Act I: Next Please. Gyllenhaal misses out on the first round of auditions because he is sick. "I had mono," he says. "I was about to go in, and I threw up." Act II: Thank Your Lucky Stars. His agent calls him on Thanksgiving Day with news that he'll be allowed to audition when other actors go in for their callbacks. He does his reading for producers Charles Gordon and Larry Franco, director Joe Johnston and casting director Nancy Foy. "Somehow, Homer and I just clicked at that point," he says. "I'd been reading with my father, but I never got it until then." Act III: We'll Get Back to You. While Johnston wants him for the role, the studio doesn't. The solution, eventually, lies in screen tests a month later. "Who wants to cast a kid from nowhere?" says Gyllenhaal. "It was interesting going into meetings and talking with executives about why I wanted to do the part." (For the Brits, 'Mono' is like Glandular Fever.)


'"In my mind, I was saying, 'I have to do this,' " he says. One day in January, he walked into his house and found his father in the kitchen. "He said, 'Jake, I want you to go to college. I want you to have four years of college.' It was his roundabout way of telling me. Finally, he said, 'You got the part.' Two months of waiting ended there, but I had no idea what I was getting into." On the one hand, "It's the most incredible education -- life education -- I could have," he says. On the other, "It's lonely. All my friends that I've grown up with and gone to school six years with are on the other side of the country."'


'With tutors, costumers, makeup artists and other crew members constantly demanding his attention, "the only free time is lunch hour," says Gyllenhaal, who has used his day or two off per week visiting Cumberland Mountain State Park, Asheville, Rugby and even West Town Mall. Even though he'd grown up on film sets, he wasn't aware of how much work was involved in making a movie. He marvels at the skill his co-workers bring. "Everybody's doing their best," Gyllenhaal says. "I love that." He learned one aspect of filmmaking quickly. "The waiting part is what I do best and do the most," he chuckles'


Of the hoopla that can surround hot young actors: '"I've always been taught not to think too much of it," he says. "I've grown up around all of this. I'm only in it for the acting. Eventually, it's all that can keep you stable."'

'He credits his stage training and his theater teacher, Ted Walch, with grounding him. "You can just tell when an actor is from the theater or started in film," he says. "There's a sense of professionalism or maybe a little bit more responsibility. My analogy is, it's better to be a skier before you're a snowboarder. I know a lot of snowboarders who just rush down the hill. But if you've learned to ski first, you know the hill and the terrain and you respect it."'


'"There's something about the seasons that should come with a college experience," he says with a grin. "I've experienced that here. When I left Los Angeles it was summer; here it was snowing. It got me ready for the college experience." While he's playing a character, not himself, in "The Rocket Boys," he says there are similarities. "The passion that he had for making his rockets, I have for acting," Gyllenhaal says. "It's the unexplainable thing that gets you through the day, past whatever obstacles you encounter."'

And now to 1999: '"I think that there are experiences in your life -- and they're very short -- where you feel like something is going through you and that you have really no control," says Gyllenhaal. "I mean, sure, you're a vehicle, but you don't really have control. There've been times like that where I've been on the stage or I've been working with actors like Chris Cooper or Laura Dern or Debra Winger or Robin Williams or Billy Crystal, and you get that feeling -- whether it's for a split second or whether it's for a few seconds."


'"Being an actor, you tend to try and bring something of yourself into the character," says Gyllenhaal, who spent most of the second semester of his high-school senior year shooting "October Sky" in East Tennessee last year. "So to do service to the true story, I think you have to compare with the real guy."'

'In addition to coaching the young actor on "rocket lingo," Hickam "tried to explain and portray to me what was going on at certain times and why it went on, with his father especially, and sort of kept me in the groove when I felt like I was falling out of it sometimes," Gyllenhaal tells reporters gathered for an interview at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Los Angeles. Not only was Hickam a mentor to him on the set, he continues to be "an inspiration even in everyday life," says Gyllenhaal, who maintains a long-distance friendship with Huntsville, Ala.-based Hickam.'


And then there comes the strange experience of watching your film with your family and witnessing the suspended belief mixed with pride. '"It's so strange because they watch the movie, and it's as if it's actually me," he says. "Like, when the science fair is won, they hugged me. I couldn't actually connect. They could, obviously. But I couldn't make any connection between me and what they were experiencing."'


Articles (from The Knoxville News-Sentinel) from WDW Archives. Includes pictures from IHJ.

Jake Gyllenhaal playing real lives - 'He looks like how I looked in my dreams'

Great actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal have the power to transport us into alternate universes of experiences, as varied as medieval Persian fantasy and the rodeos of 1960s' Texas, but imagine what it is like to have Jake play you - to transpose your story onto the screen and to reproduce your mannerisms, affectations, failings and strengths. Homer Hickam, Tony Swofford and Robert Graysmith have all experienced just that - they looked into the mirror and saw Jake.


Rocketeer

When Jake took on the part of Homer Hickam, he recalled that Homer had given Chris Cooper (Jake's father in the film) his own father's jewellery to wear, making it more real for him and for Jake. Jake reflected, though, that what drew him closer to Homer was not the touch of familiar things but the thought of aspiration and dreams (This video works but you need the patience of a saint): 'But I think in terms of the character of Homer there are two things. And there's one the character that I create, drawing from myself and from my own experiences, and then trying to adopt the characteristics of Homer, the real Homer, and do service to him as a character, as a human being really. But I think that the connection between the two of us are the rockets and learning about the rockets, it's really what helped me to develop the character besides the accent and besides asking him.'


''And specific situations when I wanted specifics about a scene, especially actually emotional scenes. I knew they were emotional for him in real life - I wanted to do these scenes service, so I would talk with him about different aspects of what was going on, how was he feeling for a ... or I would just let him talk and I didn't even want to ask too many questions. I felt like I just wanted to know what he was going through.'


'And so, then also, friends of his came to the set and I would ask them questions and I kept a notebook so I had notes from what they had told me. And even lists of personality traits. I heard from one of his friends that he used to carry like a transistor radio everywhere he went to listen to the latest news, and even on his bike. He was the guy with the transistor radio. And I thought to myself 'What kind of person carries a transistor radio with them all the time?' So that added to it and just different things.'

In the documentary that accompanies the DVD, Laura Dern, who plays the inspirational teacher Miss Riley, reflects that this was a special time for Jake and that he was "in constant discovery. He has a passion and interest, which I think is paralleled in Homer, so it's really fun and moving to watch." The real Homer muses about Jake that "He looks like how I looked in my high school days in my dreams! He's a great kid. I only wish I'd been that sharp.'


Homer himself also said: 'if he had been as good looking as the actor (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the movie, he might have got more material and retitled his book Rocket Boys and Girls.'

Sniper

Although Jake was greatly impressed by Tony Swofford's account of his Gulf War experiences, he was also intimidated enough to have a lunch with Swoff and Mendes and not say a word (as Sam described in the video below) and then sit next to Swoff at a screening, during which he would scrutinise Swoff's face for every flicker of interest. This was a man Jake did not want to let down.


But Swoff was happy: 'I like Jake's acting; he does a fantastic job... It's easy to be out there for this film. It's odd for me, I'm watching it as the book's author... as my life up on the screen... But everyone I was talking to on the film knew the material, so it seemed right. And it is.'



 Variety Screening Series 2005 - Jarhead
Tony also said: 'I'd loved Donnie Darko and The Good Girl, and I felt that his onscreen presence was such that he would capture the controversial bloodlust and existential angst of the young jarhead going to war. I visited the set during the last week of rehearsal and met Jake. He was committed to playing the role authentically and intensely.'


Here, Swoff describes the first time he saw Jarhead: 'Oh yeah, it was bizarre. The first time I saw the film was here in New York and Sam and Walter Murch (editor) were sitting behind me and it was truly bizarre to hear Jake called 'Swofford' and 'Swoff' and see him get his head shoved into a chalk board, but very quickly I fell into watching the story telling. It was like there were three versions of me sitting there in that seat, there was the writer of the work, the person who had that past, and who I am now. I'm aware that now that I'm exposed in a different way, that it's harsh and it's not always attractive. But it's always honest.'


The obsessed cartoonist

Jake had a healthy respect of entering the head of cartoonist serial killer hunter Robert Graysmith - this was a man who would scrutinise Jake, relentlessly summing him up. When Robert was asked at the LA premiere what he thought of Jake's performance: 'I love Jake's performance! Am I the luckiest man in the entire universe?'


In fact, Graysmith was full of admiration: ''I don't think you have to walk Jake through anything. I was just talking with Mark [Ruffalo] outside the hall. My best friend is Inspector Toschi. We go and have lemon meringue pie and french fries in San Francisco and we talk about the case maybe once every week. But Mark Ruffalo came back as [young] Dave Toschi. He's got the Toschi hair, the voice, and he's really annoying after a while because he follows you around. Jake, he just watches me. I never told a person on this Earth that when I was living in Japan, I was in the boy scouts. But by God, he got that. How he got that I don't know. He got that apparently I was very obsessed about this case. (laughs) I did not know this until I saw Jake's performance and then I thought maybe I was two-fisted like Mark Ruffalo. Everyone went, "No, Jake has got it."'


They don't have to be real to breathe

But as Jake told Aboutfilm, a character does not have to have breathed real fresh air for Jake to consider them living people: 'I've considered characters I've played that aren't real people to be people that are still living out there, or have lived, who have struggled with the same things. I think Jack Twist is just as much of a real person as Tony Swofford. I approached both in the same way. They're aspects of every person, everybody's personality. With Jack Twist, I met with a lot of different cowboy and rode horses and learned how to pack mules, and all those things. That became a big part of that character for me.'


Includes pictures from IHJ.

Jake - 'I'm more of a logical English guy so I do with words a little better than I do with numbers'

After thoroughly enjoying the image of Jake Gyllenhaal playing in a bed of red rubber balls at Ikea, I felt like more Young Jake Gyllenhaal today. So I've gone back even further to one of my favourite films, October Sky, and Jake's remarkable portrayal of a young man with dreams of rockets and space while being faced with the dark reality of a life - and possibly injury or even death - down the pit.


This video is pertinent because, hopefully sooner rather than later, we will see Jake in Space again in the Moon Project, and no doubt he will remember his early foray into the realms of space exploration. The video is also pertinent because there's a good chance it won't work for all - I had to hit my PC a few times to get it going - and Jake begins by giving a message to all those in 'cyberspace' who may be trying to download the clip and having trouble. Jake then reveals he's been having his own troubles downloading (Twisted Logic, you're in good company!).

'It will download - He'll get the whole thing soon enough. I've been having a little trouble downloading lately, maybe because I'm not on the network. I'm on AOL so... when I'm at school it's easier, it's faster.'


The conversation then turns to Jake's freshman year at Columbia, from which he had been enjoying a break for October Sky. 'I was on a break - I'm going a little over but I'm on a break and I go back to school on Monday... It's coming along pretty well, actually. It's an amazing school, Columbia, amazing people, amazing teachers, amazing experience so it's very interesting.' That sounds to me like someone who's trying to convince himself that he doesn't mind going back to school.

Jake is asked what the reaction will be to him from his fellow students when the film is in the cinemas: 'I don't know, I hope... there are things that I hope and things that people say to me... I don't really know how they'll react or what people will say. I think there's, especially being at Columbia - there are people with special skills and special talents all over the place. So it's not like that abnormal to have someone doing something like this. There are people who've written novels and they're only freshmen! People who know how to take apart a computer and put it back together again - things I would never, could never do and never would think of doing and they're doing it! So I would hope that they... should have the same respect for me as I have for them and it's exactly the same.'


And asking a question that no doubt Jake will be asked again when he gets going on the Moon Project - 'How much do you know about space travel?' (How much can any of us know about space travel?) Also, does Jake understand any of the books that Homer is given to read by his teacher? 'Oh yeah - I think that underneath the mathematics of the situation and equation, there's a logic to it that can shine through. And especially equations that he works with - things like s equals one half 80 squared. If you draw it out, it makes sense. That's sort of how I did it. I'm more of a logical English guy so I do with words a little better than I do with numbers but that's how I drew similarities between the two of us.'


Jake is then asked if he ever had experience of experiments blowing up during his own chemistry classes! Laughing, Jake replies 'Well, I have to say, not necessarily literally, but probably I did all the stuff with my voice and personality of blowing things up and annoying people. Dissecting frogs maybe. Or a baby pig, I think it was when I was in 9th Grade - I think that got a little out of control at times. I don't think I should go into specifics!' Now there's an image...


Finally, Jake is asked about what primary research he did to play Homer and whether he used any props. His answer reminds me of how later on Jake would record Robert Graysmith in preparation for Zodiac, using a range of recording devices. 'It's interesting cos I think that with Chris Cooper [being hugged by Jake below], I know that Homer gave Chris his father's rings and his father's watch and told him certain things about his father. But I think in terms of the character of Homer there are two things. And there's one the character that I create, drawing from myself and from my own experiences, and then trying to adopt the characteristics of Homer, the real Homer, and do service to him as a character, as a human being really. But I think that the connection between the two of us are the rockets and learning about the rockets, it's really what helped me to develop the character besides the accent and besides asking him.'


'And specific situations when I wanted specifics about a scene, especially actually emotional scenes. I knew they were emotional for him in real life - I wanted to do these scenes service, so I would talk with him about different aspects of what was going on, how was he feeling for a ... or I would just let him talk and I didn't even want to ask too many questions. I felt like I just wanted to know what he was going through.'

'And so, then also, friends of his came to the set and I would ask them questions and I kept a notebook so I had notes from what they had told me. And even lists of personality traits. I heard from one of his friends that he used to carry like a transistor radio everywhere he went to listen to the latest news, and even on his bike. He was the guy with the transistor radio. And I thought to myself 'What kind of person carries a transistor radio with them all the time?' So that added to it and just different things.'


Crawford's big night

Tonight is the premiere of the documentary Crawford, for which Jake is on the advisory board, along with Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Brad Silberling (Moonlight Mile director with Jake below). Crawford tells the story of a small town in Texas (a population of only 700 or so), which suddenly found itself the centre of attention when a new resident moved in - George W Bush. This film looks at what it was like for the citizens of the town to live through the years of the Bush presidency after being shoved so unexpectedly into the spotlight after Bush's arrival at the head of an army of media. Fittingly, the premiere is at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, and the possibility exists that Jake may choose to attend tonight.


The Austinist has published an interview with Crawford's director, David Modigliani, whom they asked how he came to have such high-profile advisory board members as Jake Gyllenhaal: 'Those folks really responded to the film - to the idea that Crawford is a microcosm of the country. They found themselves identifying with people they thought they never would because they had shared the same experience of the Bush era. The same boom and bust. The same feeling of having been used. Their interest probably helped a bit with fundraising, but their real contribution to the film was their notes on an early cut of the film. They're good storytellers, with a great feel for film.' That's a great tribute to Jake. Here is another look at the trailer.



Includes pictures from IHJ.

The promise of Jake - October Sky (continued)

We've been enjoying a discussion about October Sky, Jake's inspirational film from the dawn of his career in 1999, and, coincidentally, the film has been included in an article today in the Chicago Sun-Times e-newspaper, the Daily Southtown. This feature (which typicaaly now seens refiled on their website) has been prompted by the tragedy of the mine collapse in Utah on August 6, and selects October Skies, and films such as How Green Was My Valley and North Country, as examples of how filmmakers portray the reality of this most dangerous of professions and environments. (The pictures in this post are from the 2nd Annual Bridge Awards 2002 - held on 1 October 2001 - and the Movieline Young Hollywood Awards - held on 5 May 2002.)


Although many coalmines are now closed, due to economic and not human factors, films such as October Sky continue to be relevant as long as men work in the pits and their familes wait for them to return safely home. The comments to yesterday's post show that I am not the only person here proudly descended from good coalmining stock and, therefore, particularly and personally affected by watching Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickam descend into the dirty dark pit. There was too much to say yesterday, so this is part two - please forgive the indulgence!


Aside from the value of October Sky as a reminder of the daily challenges and risks some face every working day of their lives, the film also resonates for its examination of the father and son relationship - it's not overly dramatic, there is right and wrong on both sides as Homer and John (Chris Cooper) endeavour, and usually fail, to understand one another. Here is a review from 1999: 'The relationship between father and son in October Sky is at times painful to watch. There are no winners or losers when sons go their separate ways. October Sky does not illustrate good parenting; rather, it evokes the realization that since parents have only a limited vision of how to shape their children's future, the job requires a huge amount of love and a lot of divine assistance.'


But almost above all else, October Sky is significant because it shows us the promise of Jake. Although a teenager and understandably enthusiastic at winning his first leading role, the young Jake was conscious of the real opportunites this film offered him. 'I think especially in this movie working with Laura Dern and Chris Cooper, when you work with people like that you get something from it. It's like a perpetual learning experience. It's like playing with a pro tennis player and they hit a ball and they hit a ball so hard and you just put up the racket up and you hit it back to them with so much force even though you don't do that much. Working with Chris Cooper there was that teaching. We would finish a scene and he always told me never have any regrets. We'd go through the first couple of takes of the scene and he'd come up and talk to me and told me" I don't think your listening to me " I said -"ok". I think that's the essence of acting really is listening, and I think being young and naive and green and all that stuff, you are not going to be able to do that all the time. I think regardless of age and experience, no one can do that all the time. So he would guide me through that.'


That October Sky should withstand passing years should not be surprising considering its inspirational message. As Jake said: 'I think what I liked about the script the most, like I said before, it was the metaphor of the dream and no matter how isolated someone is, they can fulfill their dream with passion and perseverance. And also what I wanted to play because this character has such a range of emotions and it really fascinated and interested me, and it's such the opposite of who I am as a person. And it intrigued me. I think the target audience is hopefully everybody. I don't think it's the kind of movie that's targeted to one specific audience, it can touch people of all ages.'


In 2001, it was clear that Jake was going to be not only a great movie star, but a sex symbol. Proving that you can never be too cute to be weird, Jake impressed his interviewer for having that 'certain whatever-it-is that spells stardom.' The feature ends by saying 'A self-professed "odd, wacky, weird kid" growing up, Gyllenhaal, 20, is playing the same kinds of characters. And that’s fine by him: "There should be more movies that say, ‘So you’re going through some abnormal shit? Hey, it’s just a part of growing up. Feeling like an oddball is OK.'"

Finally, in this look at Jake's earliest film while we await his latest, here's an article that dates from the filming of October Sky. Time had moved on and Coalwood in West Virginia had gone. Film makers instead had to look to Petros in East Tennessee and this feature looks at the town's transformation by Hollywood and shows what a good job was done.

Kind of going off topic in an on topic kind of way...


The picture above is gratuitous - I just like it!

Includes pictures from IHJ.

You made an astronaut who went to the moon cry, Jake

If I can persuade one person to go off and watch October Sky as a matter of urgency, then I've done my bit for Jake Gyllenhaal today. I watched this film today for the first time in a long time, since before Brokeback Mountain, and every single one of its 108 minutes was a joy and pleasure. It also reminded me, not that I needed it, that Jake's genius and sheer magnetism should not have been a surprise to anyone in Brokeback Mountain, not if you'd seen Donnie Darko and not if you'd seen October Sky.


Filmed when Jake was just 17 and just becoming a man, he still manages to convey a young lifetime of feeling in his portrayal of Homer Hickam, particularly when Jake's character engages with his mother, teacher and especially his father. When Homer sees Sputnik flying over his coal mining town in West Virginia, he is inspired, and watching this movie, I am inspired by Jake. Jake conveyed perfectly what it means to catch a glimpse of a way out, almost literally, from a very bleak and extremely dangerous fate, down the coal mine. While Homer's father, almost a legend among the men he works with, looked down into the ground, Homer looked up and worked out his escape route with mathematical formulae and rocket science.


Since watching October Sky, I've been doing some reading about the film and about the real Homer Hickam, and trying to uncover what this role meant for Jake at a pivotal time in his life, choosing to go ahead and follow his own dream of being a movie star.


In the documentary that accompanies the DVD, Laura Dern, who plays the inspirational teacher Miss Riley, reflects that this was a special time for Jake and that he was "in constant discovery. He has a passion and interest, which I think is paralleled in Homer, so it's really fun and moving to watch." The real Homer muses about Jake that "He looks like how I looked in my high school days in my dreams! He's a great kid. I only wish I'd been that sharp."

Elsewhere Homer is reported as saying 'that if he had been as good looking as the actor (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the movie, he might have got more material and retitled his book 'Rocket Boys and Girls'." Homer says that before the making of the movie, he invited Jake to stay with him: "I invited Jake to West Virginia. I told him he might hitchhike there like we did a lot of when we were kids. I told him he could stop at any house and they'd take him in and take care of him. West Virginians are really good people."


In the accompanying DVD documentary, Jake expresses some of the doubt he felt in his own ability to play a living, breathing person: "I think it's really hard to live up to the person that really went through this. I'm trying my hardest to do the best that I can. But I've had a great relationship with Homer, with the real Homer. I'm talking with him, figuring out what really happened, how he felt at certain times."


Jake described his very own 'achieving his dream' experience - ie, winning this role - in an interview for Good Morning Arizona (link at bottom of feature): "I came home from school,uh, at the end of the day, and he (his dad) walked up to me,and he said now I want you to finish school. And I didn't understand what he was talking about. What, OK I'll finish school, and he said I want you to finish school. I want you to get an education, and you got the part. And I remember raising my hands up higher than they've ever gone, and then just slamming them down on the counter. And them throbbing red, ( smiling) like with excitement. A just I couldn't really explain how I felt at that moment except the sheer joy of being able to fulfill a dream that I've always had... It's like that first rocket goes up and I, his, my hands are throbbing. It's like the same thing." Just like Homer.


We get a little glimpse of Jake's pride in this film and his relationship with Homer if we visit Homer's website because there on a page of fanmail is an email from Jake. "I wanted you guys to see this... "October Sky is a gem! It is about rocketry, coal mining and family. It is about fathers and sons. It is an engrossing, great movie that will live in your memory forever." -- Larry King, USA TODAY. Love, Jake." Homer publishes his response: "Email to Jake from Homer; Jake - we had an excellent screening of the film Tuesday night at the MPAA in Washington. The Administrator of NASA, his eyes red-rimmed with tears, even hugged me afterwards! It was, of course, really you he was hugging in absentia. An Apollo astronaut was there, too - also teary. You made an astronaut who went to the Moon cry, Jake! Homer." This gives a lovely picture of a young Jake reading the reviews of his movie, and spreading them around. This website page is well worth a read as it is full of personal anecdotes about the real people in the movie, life in a small town, the first rockets and responses to the film.



When Jake publicised October Sky, all that time ago in 1999, Jake appeared in an online chat and this is an absolute treat: Jake really does write LOL after and before a lot of his answers, almost a practised Forum member! Here are some of the questions and answers:

Question: Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut?
Jake Gyllenhaal: Wow, yeah, definitely. It was around the same period when I wanted to be a fireman or a policeman, and it sort of died for me at the age of twelve. But yeah, everyone kind of has a dream to go up into space. It's one of those generic dreams, I guess.



Jake did a gig! Q: Do you ever think of coming back to Los Angeles to do a gig at the Whiskey A-Go-Go?
Jake: Yeah, of course. I'd love to. It was wonderful when I played there before and hopefully I'll do it again. Right now I'm playing by myself and I'd have to get some other musicians to play with me to do something like that, but it would be wonderful if we could.

Q: Do you think that your part as pharaoh was your lead to stardom?
Jake: LOL It was definitely a highlight of my very short career! LOL
(If anyone can explain the above, credits awarded)

Q: What did you like best about being on Rosie O'Donnell today?
Jake: The fact that I wasn't on it.


Q: I thought you were great in October Sky. I wanted to know... what kind of music are you into? If you weren't an actor, what would you be?
Jake: I would be dead if I wasn't an actor. But I really like Bela Fleck. I really like the soundtrack to Rushmore. That's great. My friend is actually in that movie... and I like the new Beck album.
(Sounds like Jake knows exactly what he wants to do)

OnlineHost: Are you single and what do you look for in a girlfriend?
Jake: Yes, I'm single. Oh God, someone who's witty, someone who challenges me, kicks my butt sometimes. And someone who respects my life and my work and who I respect in the same way. When it happens, it happens, and I'll probably be blown away by who the person is anyway.


Here is a link to the rest, and to a transcript of Jake's appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999, as well as the Good Morning Arizona snippet mentioned above. I had quite a bit more to say about October Sky, but I've gone on more than long enough, so I guess this is 'To be continued....' PS, I must be extremely dim but I've only just found out that October Sky is an anagram of Rockets Boys - er, LOL as Jake would say.

Includes pictures from IHJ.