The morning after - The Oscar recap featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathway and a cast of thousands...

What a night. While I wait for the coffee to have some affect and contemplate where in the office might be the most suitable place for a discreet nap, there's time for a look at what was for me the highlight in a ceremony that went on for an extraordinary amount of time: the Jake Gyllenhaal Bit.


Jake and Amy Adams (a nominee herself and wearing an extremely long dress)presented the awards for Best Documentary Short Subject and Best Live Action Short Film. The latter went to Luke Matheny for 'God of Love'. He also got one of the biggest laughs of the night. "I should have gotten a haircut."


As for the important stuff - what Jake was wearing - we hear from JJ that 'Jake wore a black made-to-measure Salvatore Ferragamo tuxedo, with double breasted jacket and gros grain details, paired with a pair of black leather Tramezza lace-up shoes.'


As mentioned in last night's update, Jake was able to share a moment with nominee Michelle Williams as well as her partner for the evening Busy Philipps.




Jake was also photographed with another of his co-stars, Gwyneth Paltrow, who had some rather unsettling news for Jake... 'Gwyneth Paltrow, apparently a bit nervous about performing the Oscar-nominated song from "Country Strong," crossed paths with Jake Gyllenhaal, about 30 minutes before Sunday's show started. "Hey, I'm sitting right behind you," he said. "Oh good, I'll throw up on you then," she replied.'


At 5:07pm (still a long, long way to go): 'There's major mingling inside the theatre now. On one side, Colin Firth kisses Amy Adams on the cheek. In the centre, Hugh Jackman is shown to his front-row seat before bouncing away. On the other side, Jake Gyllenhaal greets Marisa Tomei and Hilary Swank. "We're sitting next to each other," Swank excitedly tell Gyllenhaal.' Lucky Hilary! There were some other familiar faces too.







As for the Oscars themselves, take a look here at the opening skit by James Franco an Anne Hathaway. It's a rusty version but well worth a look if you haven't seen it.



Many thanks to IHJ for these wonderful pictures - there are lots more there.

[Updated] Jake Gyllenhaal on the cover of Vanity Fair (along with a lot of other people)

This Emergency Post is brought to you courtesy of the Hollywood edition of Vanity Fair which has just revealed a peep of its long extended folding cover. I'm delighted to say that right (or even centre) on the front is Jake Gyllenhaal plus three other really quite gorgeous and talented thespians: Ryan Reynolds, Anne Hathaway and James Franco. The words 'lucky Anne' spring to mind. You can see video of the shoot here.


As for who everyone else is - try and see how many you can identify. It does embiggen on being clicked. This clean version below, from the NYP, gives you an even better look and embiggens even bigger.


If you did a poor job, like me, here's the register (from left to right): Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, James Franco, Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde (you may have a harder job spotting her dress), Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Robert Duvall, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund, and Noomi Rapace.

I love Robert Duvall but slightly mystified at his inclusion amongst this bunch.

Update!

Here is a picture of Jake and Anne, along with a description of the shoot: 'As for the foursome on our front panel, Anne Hathaway (the next Catwoman) was fresh from Oslo, where she had co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize concert. She was thrilled to see her Love and Other Drugs co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and her Oscar co-host James Franco, who had just completed his finals in a graduate program at the Rhode Island School of Design (he has also taken graduate courses at N.Y.U., Columbia, and Yale). Once Ryan Reynolds arrived from Atlanta, where he was filming The Change-Up, and slipped his superhero physique (his Green Lantern comes out this summer) into a Giorgio Armani tuxedo, the stars were all in place for another classic V.F. tableau.'


And it's hard to go wrong with a picture of Jake and Ryan Reynolds together!


So, to get down to the nitty gritty of what really matters, is this shoot the reason for Jake's shave?

That was the before, here's the after:


Pictures from Vanity Fair and links.

Zodiac - a film and performance to remember and Brothers released in Germany at last!

As the preparations get under way for the Oscars (see below), there are some reminders about of many of the other 'best of' films that never quite got the Academy Award vote of approval for reasons that are beyond fathoming. And probably aren't worth the effort of fathoming.


David Fincher has an Oscar nomination for his astonishing work on Social Network. While this is enormously well-deserved, it has caused some to wonder why an earlier movie of his, Zodiac, was completely ignored by those award-giving committees. While it isn't productive to dwell on such things, what is extremely rewarding is to think back on a film, which, for me, puts crosses in all of the right boxes. And it's good to think that Fincher's Oscar success this year may attract new audiences to another film - Zodiac.



Zodiac isn't just the perfect police procedural movie, for me it succeeds (so much so it's in my top three films that I have ever seen, maybe even the top one) because it excels and surprises in so many ways. Zodiac is a thriller with many scenes of superb dialogue and minute observation; it is a horror movie that terrifies through a distortion of a recognisable reality; it is an elegant evocation of 1960s' and 1970s' San Francisco. Through detail and song, Zodiac reproduces a past time in a memorable way, reminding one of the past through its accuracy and mood.



And then there's the acting. Jake Gyllenhaal's portrayal of obsessive Robert Graysmith is a landmark performance in his career. In the promotion for Zodiac, Jake spoke of the passions that affected his life - family, food, acting, films - and demonstrated once again why he is such a great actor of his generation - he understands fully the roles he plays.


But it's not just Jake here, of course. Robert Downey Jr, in one of the first of his come back performances, and Mark Ruffalo and the actor whose skills Fincher may have appreciated the most, Anthony Edwards. Plus Chloe Sevigny and John Carroll Lynch who had appeared with Jake in two earlier movies, The Good Girl and Bubble Boy.


Aside from the film, which hooked me from its very first scene, there is also a soundtrack to listen to over and over again and a commentary featuring Jake and Robert Downey Jr together - a joy to listen to. Jake - and not just Jake either, RDJ said much the same thing - has spoken of what he had to endure to make this film. Tens of takes for each scene and, as the movie was filmed digitally, anything extra was instantly deleted.


This was a new experience for Jake but, judging by his body language with David Fincher in Cannes in May 2007, all of this was forgiven and a new relationship born. Jake has spoken recently of his pride in working for David Fincher. Without doubt, this will be an experience to look back on and we have been left with an astonishing film.



Brothers

Rather surprisingly, Brothers was finally released in Germany this week (27 January). Can there be any sense at all in releasing a film this far removed from its original debut? At least it ties nicely with Natalie Portman's huge Black Swan success.



And finally...



Includes pictures from IHJ and here.

My review of the wonderful Tangled now up on MovieBrit.

New publicity stills for Love and Other Drugs and Anne Hathaway in Empire

There are some stunning new stills from Love and Other Drugs today. These pictures not only display the charisma, chemistry and charm of stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, they also make me feel less bad about the state of my flat. In this instance, I'm even prepared to overlook the feet.






Love and Other Drugs features in the January issue of Empire. While Total Film focused on Jake, Empire puts the spotlight on Anne. This coincides nicely with the announcement of Anne and James Franco as the presenters for next year's Oscars (27 February).



While I'm about it, here's Empire's review:


And finally...

There was no way I could leave out these wonderful additions to the NYC press conference set of portraits.



Thanks to Eyeprime and IHJ for the pics and to Karmentxu and Mermon for the heads up. Scans by WDW.

Jake 'Crazy Mountain Man' Gyllenhaal back in NYC and Tent business

Jake Gyllenhaal is out of his cave and is back in New York City. Unfortunately, the pictures are still lacking, but more than one sighting of Jake in the city suggests that photos are a possibility. They are at least far more likely than if Jake continued to spend time rubbing sticks together in a gorge and eating rabbit, bat and berry pie. BUT, the tweets report that Jake has yet to shake off his sasquatch ways...


Facebook: 'Things in NY are looking up. Pavement show yesterday in Brooklyn. Saw the Gyllenhall siblings. Jake looked like a crazy mountain man.'

Twitter: 'Mr. Jake Gyllenhaal just walked by bearded out. Taller than I thought. Such is life in NYC. Jealous? lol'


Tall but 'bearded out' and 'a crazy mountain man'. Considering that it's been quite a while since we had a good look at Jake, it is very possible that the beard now reaches to his knees and has more than a few bells in it a la Brad. We must be strong.


Brokeback tents

The lovely James Franco has been talking about the Brokeback tent scenes. The only difficulty with this is that he's comparing Jack and Ennis in the tent to (and I shiver to say this) Edward and Jacob in Eclipse. Having seen Eclipse - under duress, I might mention - I can honestly say that I saw no comparison at all, not least because there were three people in the Eclipse tent, which, I would say, is one too many.


Talking of James Franco, Jake did, of course, state once that James had the perfect head.

As we head into the last hours of the poll, thanks to everyone for voting!

Includes pictures from IHJ.

Did someone mention special hats?

You don't have to be a Gyllenhaalic to realise that Jake's been almost surgically attached to knitwear during recent months. Jake has turned The Beanie into this winter's most stylish accessory... What next? Medieval Persian riding boots?


Jake has had more experience of hats than most, despite having a famously oversized (albeit perfect) head. He told Minneapolis' Star tribune 'It's not that it's a big head. It's just that it's an abnormally sized head. Hard to fit a hat around. If you asked my uncle, I'm sure it runs in the family. We should get some disability for it.' However, not surprisingly for a film named after a bad haircut, Jarhead required Jake to wear a full range of hats, although not necessarily on his head.





Jake's requirement to have 'special hats' made for his special head for Brokeback Mountain was an embarrassment. 'In the movie that I'm doing now they all made special hats for me. Heath has a fine-sized head. We just did a make-up test the other day and they were all bringing our make-up in and stuff and it was like the hats were the special moment. 'Jake's special hats are coming; they're coming in!' I felt so insecure because of it. Just don't mention special hats!… I'd like James Franco's. That'd be a good head!'


Speaking of James Franco... the actor who kisses Sean Penn in Milk is facing similar questions to those asked of Jake and Heath back in 2005/2006. The fact that journalists continue to ask actors these same questions three years on is an irritation: 'For now, however, Franco is happy to be described as a "scene stealer" in the multi-nominated Milk. Just don't ask him trivial questions about working out ("I don't. It's boring") or kissing his hero Sean Penn. "It's not that I mind talking about it, it's just that... there's so much scrutiny over the answers I offer," he says. "I really noticed it when Jake [Gyllenhaal] and Heath [Ledger] had to talk about kissing in Brokeback Mountain. It's like you can never answer in the right way. If I'm too casual it looks as though I'm making fun of the film. If I don't answer, it looks as though I'm uncomfortable. I can't win." He rubs his eyes. Then, finally, smiles. "God, I'm being way too serious! OK. You want the simple answer? I had no problem with kissing Sean Penn."'·


Torso is more stop/go than a set of traffic lights and, true to form, Paramount has let its rights to the project lapse. No doubt the rumours about it will persist, like a cloud of flies, until the end of time. Worryingly, this could mean that David Fincher's next project will feature Chef Keanu after all. Talking of torsos...


Includes pictures from IHJ and scan from WDW.