On with the post...
Yesterday's smooching Jake post with its pictures of Jake enthusiastically and hotly kissing a bunch of co-stars and directors reminded me of how fond I am of the on-screen relationship between Donnie Darko and Gretchen Ross and, more to the point, how fond I am of Donnie Darko - my own introduction to Jake Gyllenhaal. So this post touches on the role in which I first saw Jake, in a film that was, and is, so good that it didn't just come out the once, it came out twice.
The Director's Cut wasn't to make more money - Donnie Darko never made anyone any money - but because studios and producers alike knew it just had to be done, and there was money to put into it (thanks to Mel Gibson and The Passion of Christ). As Jake put it to The Northern Echo: '"Thank God for Jesus Christ". This is because Newmarket, who distributed Donnie Darko, also released Mel Gibson's money-spinner The Passion Of The Christ - "so they have the money to recharge the campaign for Donnie Darko".'
Richard Kelly is a young director and he speaks the same language as Jake - in other words, sometimes one can't make head nor tail of it. But Jake hadn't been first choice: 'Jason Schwarzman was originally attached to the film, but had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict. When I met Jake, I knew he was the one.' This very enjoyable interview highlights the relationship between Richard and Jake. It also includes one of my all-time favourite quotes of Jake's - Richard had freaked out when Jake had turned up with hair dyed black to which, when asked why, Jake responded: 'Because it's Donnie Darko, not Donnie Dark-hairo'.
Other favourite quotes from Jake...: 'I had a few comments from people... a wonderful comment from a girl right after the first showing of the film at the Eccles Theater. She said her brother was manic-depressive, and some of my actions in the film and goings on my character talks about, really touched her in a way similar to her brother's experience. On the other side, a guy in the bathroom came up and said, 'Wow man, you play a really nice psycho.' Which seems like an oxymoron, but I guess it's possible. There are people who come up and say, 'I don't get this, or that, but I was really moved.' There's a point in the movie where you have to let your mind go, and abandon what you want to happen, and have faith that what you're feeling is right. And whatever you're feeling it's the right one. That's what a successful film should do.'
'I don't normally plug so much, but if you get a chance to see this movie, see it again and again and again. Even being involved in it, in almost every scene, it's an amazing thing to watch. You'll constantly be surprised. It's a f--'in awesome journey. I hope for all your sakes you get to see it. And thanks, good-bye. And the Hollywood Foreign Press too'.
It's interesting to learn that Jake played a part in shaping the character of Donnie and, even though the shoot lasted only 28 days, much more time was spent before that with Richard and Jake honing Donnie: 'Before their first meeting, Gyllenhaal envisioned Kelly as a brooding character obsessed with death. "And then I ran into this preppy college kid," he said. During a month of script meetings in which Gyllenhaal and Kelly tightened the dialogue, the actor came to appreciate Kelly's collaborative work style and became intrigued by the philosophical questions the director posed with the film.'
"I was questioning all those same things," said Gyllenhaal, who earned praise for his portrayal of the son of a West Virginia coal miner in "October Sky." At the time, the actor had completed his sophomore year at Columbia University in New York, where he was studying Eastern philosophies. Eventually, Gyllenhaal used Kelly's self-conscious and slouched demeanor and his slow, sometimes mumbled speech as Donnie Darko characteristics. "I'm a firm believer of the unconscious being the teller of some truth, and I feel Richard wrote the script very unconsciously," Gyllenhaal said. The issues that Donnie Darko confronts are "metaphors for things in [Kelly's] life .... They obviously resonate with him in a pretty intense way .... I mean, there must be some stuff going on in Richard Kelly's mind." '
When the original version came out in October 2001, the mood following 9/11 stopped the film in its tracks. Also, too much had been left out. Jena Malone said: 'Richard basically wrote and shot the script," Malone said. "Everything that was in the script needed to be in there. And it was really heartbreaking for him that he needed to take 20 percent of it out to get the film an initial release. He had to get it under two hours. I think the re-release is because of what it's become, this cult film with such a built-in fan base. It's exciting for Richard, because he can say, 'OK, this is the film that I wanted to make and that I wanted to show you guys.' It's really beautiful.''
As Richard moves onwards with Southland Tales and his future work, he will always have people reminding him of Donnie Darko: 'It's been like a monkey on my back, in a way, but I guess a monkey I'm proud of. But I'd like to have more than one pet monkey'.
Jake, although he has said that people still come up to him and ask for an explanation of Donnie and that rabbit, has literally grown up since the film. He told Cosmopolitan: 'Well, there is part of me that's Donnie Darko, I'm not gonna deny that, and there's a part of me that looks at the world now in a more mature way than when I made the movie. I was going through a tough time growing up, dealing with it and figuring it out, and that was why I related so much to Donnie. It's not like the growing up has stopped, but I do feel I'm different. There's a whole other part of me that's other things. I just haven't shown them yet.' But what a film to have to your credit...
Includes pictures from IHJ and links.
