The deal might not be done and dusted yet but, all going well, Jake Gyllenhaal will at last get that musical role that he's wanted for years. Hollywood Reporter informs us that Jake and Chris 'Spock! Spock!' Pine are in negotiations to appear as princely brothers in Disney's adaptation of Into the Woods, a Broadway musical. Both Jake and Chris have sung for the very lucky and fortunate director Rob Marshall and, not surprisingly, are expected to receive offers soon.
Several things to note here. Jake would play the handsome prince who falls for Cinderella and manages to make her give up her life as scullery maid and slave to a wicked stepmother and persuades her to abandon her mouse friends in favour of a life of love and indulgence in a spaceship. Chris T Pine will seduce Rapunzel away from her alien hairy planet of heartache and knots and promise her a new life beside him on the bridge. Admittedly, I would set this in space, given the chance. Not in woods.
The title is a little worrying - Into the Woods. Does this mean that it's not Jake who will be hired but his hairy twin, Sasquatch?
This role would also give Jake the opportunity to play against his Rendition-co-star-by-phone again, Meryl Streep, who gets the prize witch role. Johnny Depp will play a hungry, sexy wolf (there are several things up with that sentence). Jake and Chris will be 'brothers who are pompous and self-absorbed'.
Full details here. I knew that all those pop videos would pay off in the end...
All in all, this project sounds like a lot of fun for Jake and us alike, not least because Jake may have screen, even singing, time with Chris Pine who is Captain Kirk and that, for me, is swoonworthy. It doesn't sound like a big role for Jake so its filming date in the autumn would probably fit in well with Nightcrawlers which also has a start date around then and the completion, presumably, of Mississippi Grind. Jake was filmed boarding a private helicopter in NYC on 12 May (see photos) and while it can only be speculation it is possible that this was related to MG filming.
All of which sounds a lot more promising and exciting than the tweet that Jake met with Marvel this week with the associated rumours and murmurings that this may be something to do with Iron Man or Ant-Man (Edgar Wright's movie planned for 2015). My bets are hedged.
Something different and hugely special in the post this evening. I am truly delighted to give a link to my Blogomatic3000 report from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides press conference and premiere in London last Thursday.
The rest of my photos are also there. With big thanks to Blogomatic3000, Disney, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and all for a day I will never forget.
Unfortunately, the images of Jake Gyllenhaal leaving a karate session were too hot for Blogger to handle, knocking the poor blog hosting platform out for almost two days, taking the overly scorching post with it. (Note to Blogger - if you can see your way to returning said post, I would be most grateful.) It is therefore with great trepidation that I post the following pictures of Jake attending a boxing gym in LA from 12 May. If Karate Jake knocked Blogger out for two days, I hate to think what Boxing Jake will do... Please note how I'm not mentioning the sunnies.
Consider the following picture, from the karate set, a test to see whether Blogger really is fixed.
Very Good Girls
Jake may have starred in The Good Girl but, not to be outdone, Peter Sarsgaard is to feature in Very Good Girls. And what's more, Peter's mother in law Naomi Foner is not only the script writer, she is also set to direct. Deadline reports that the film is currently being shopped in Cannes. It will star Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen as the girls in question and the cast also includes Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek. Very good news, indeed.
And finally...
Yesterday, I had an amazing day at the press conference and UK premiere for Pirates of the Caribbean - I never realised Johnny Depp was such a funny guy! A full report will follow on Blogomatic3000 so I'll put a link up when that's done. In the meantime, here's a picture of the man himself. I hate to mention it, but at the far left of the picture, that's my arm. Yep. My arm and Johnny Depp in the same picture. Next time, I'll try and work in a foot as well. Picture from DisneyMoviesUK.
It was wonderful to see Jake Gyllenhaal on the Golden Globes red carpet this weekend and what makes it even more special is knowing that Jake shared it with my very dear friend Lisa (aka BBMISwear) who was working there this year. Hard day at the office, I'm sure you'll agree. In this photo, try and move your eyes from Jake. To his right is none other than Lisa.
In these caps, from the AP Livestream (check it out from about 15:50 onwards) you see Lisa in the background and then Jake appears. You can see him on the right in the second photo.
At this point, let's cut to Lisa's words, interspersed with Lisa's own pictures of a very gorgeous Jake Gyllenhaal shining on the golden red carpet. This picture below is particularly special - it's when Jake spots Lisa.
'While in route to find someone at the beginning of the carpet I was walking against the flow of the celebs walking down the carpet as they arrived and saw Natalie Portman right in front of me - I stopped in my tracks as she was simply beautiful and glowing. Just as I said that to a co-worker to my right I then looked up and who was coming up the carpet toward us? Jake! Amazing! He was talking to everyone and walking with his publicist Carrie and his regular bodyguard pal and was just breathtaking to see coming toward me.'
'I followed along Jake's route and watched him during the many photos taken, interviews conducted, etc. And then the most unexpected thing happened...as he stood in front of the bleacher seats with fans yelling to him and asking for autographs he was in conversation with Carrie and another PR person (it looked like they were planning what further press stops he'd make as they continued) he was now standing right in front of me not going anywhere quite yet so I took my chance at saying Hi (not an easy thing to do on this carpet with them all moving along as quickly as they can).'
'I leaned in so he could hear me and said "Hey Jake!" and then this is the incredibly unexpected part - he looked right at me and said "Hey! How are You?" as he put out his arm and pulled me into a hug! So I leaned in, hugged him and kissed his cheek! That beard stubble - Wow!!! I said "Great! How are you?" and he said "Great!" - huge smile! I said "Congratulations on your nomination" and he said "Thanks!" and then Carrie was ready to pull him on to the next press stop. I stood there in one place for a minute or two wondering how the hell that just happened?! He remembered me! It was amazing...simply amazing!!'
'After watching him continue on with his photos and press stops he was headed into the hotel ballroom very close to start time so off I went backstage to work! He talked to various people on the carpet - the one he talked the longest to was Natalie. He was very upbeat the whole time - at first when the fans in the bleachers asked him to come over to sign autographs he gave a signal like "I don't know if I can" and looked toward his publicist for confirmation but once he was told he had a few minutes to sign he walked right over to them. Although when he was "posing" for photos he was very serious with that brooding stance and stare when he was being interviewed he was smiling and laughing - always friendly with the interviewers, etc. Just so upbeat!'
'While on the carpet I saw Natalie as I said and also Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Kevin Spacey, Mark Ruffalo, Jimmy Fallon, Lea Michele (Glee), Matthew Morrison (Glee), Carrie Underwood and January Jones... Backstage I saw Bruce Willis, Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Chris Colfer (Glee) and Claire Danes among others. But I will say when I saw first Al Pacino and later Robert DeNiro come backstage, well, words cannot explain...those two are legends!! Another highlight was being in the press room when the ENTIRE cast of Glee came in after their big win...all of them...a huge, excited, loud, very happy group - they were so much fun and everyone in the industry loves Glee so everyone was so excited right along with them - clapping for them, high fiveing them, etc!! All of these moments were great...but NOTHING compares to my encounter with Jake on the red carpet.'
I am so grateful to Lisa for sharing her adventure with us! I'm not mentioning the 75 degrees that she had to endure in LA to bring us her story...
There are new photos today, courtesy of IHJ, of Jake with some famous friends, including Anne Hathaway, Johnny Depp and the first actor that I ever met - Tom Hanks. I spent a day with him on set in the mid 1990s in Washington DC and so, for me, seeing Jake and Tom together is a golden moment indeed.
The Day After
Jake was seen the day after the Golden Globes out with Marc Silverstein, the husband of Busy Philipps. What a weekend.
Cosmopolitan, a publication that has always appreciated a Hot Jake Gyllenhaal when it sees one, has today proposed for debate the question of whether Jake is now superceding Johnny Depp in the Hollywood Hottie stakes. Obviously, this is a serious matter and one must give it some serious thought. With no disrespect to a much-loved Johnny Depp, it's good to see Jake's Hotness is again a matter of debate, and it looks like Jake is winning the Cosmo polls (except when he has facial scruff - but, on the other hand, the readers don't mind the hats - just as well).
Emphasising Jake's hotness is the revelation today that one of America's top ten hottest professors would choose Jake Gyllenhaal to play him in a movie - suggesting that even hot profs aspire to Jake levels of hotness. I'd be interested to know if the UK has a top ten of hot profs...
I had to include this review of the Blu-Ray release of Zodiac, which hails the film as being amongst the top Blu-Ray releases yet. 'It’s a must-own for not only fans of David Fincher’s excellent movie but anyone with a Blu-Ray player. Not only does “Zodiac” include one of the best video transfers that have ever produced for any format, but the special features are nearly as mesmerizing as this five-star movie. Fincher will get a lot of press this month for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but history is likely to be even kinder to “Zodiac,” an already-great film made even better with one of the best Blu-Ray releases to date.'
This excellent review and tribute to the film that is Zodiac, is certainly in keeping with our recent David Fincher Lovefest. But back to degrees of walking hotness...
