It is indeed true that BeardGate continues - after the tweets yesterday which did nothing but rave about Jake Gyllenhaal's hotness and his shoes, there has now been confirmation that the Face Pet is alive and well and indeed thriving. When I asked one lucky Jake Twitcher if Jake still had the beard, the reply was this: 'Yes he did, he was rocking the hipster beard lol.' When Jake was seen on a train yesterday, it appeared he was 'rocking the full beard'.
In fact Jake's beardy bear is now so famous it has made an appearance on Bearotic, which provides 'entertainment for bears and the furry at heart'.
Today, the sightings have been fewer but, as you would expect from someone who enjoys cooking so much, the ones we have involve restaurants. This Jake Twitcher was at Soho Park eating burgers when Jake walked past. It's not known if Jake was inside or outside the restaurant but, with food involved, the former is likely. And another one from yesterday: 'I'm standing next to Jake gyllenhal (I think that's how u spell it). Dude is cooler than the other side of the pillow.'
As a result of some of the recent comments here, I've decided that it's time to produce a new cribsheet for the citizens of New York City to aid them in their GyllenQuest. Clearly, GyllenSpotters have been too overawed by hotness to focus on their wider Gyllendom responsibilities. I hope this helps.
Preparation
1. The Autumn is a perfect time for GyllenSpotting. Don't look down, look upwards and watch for signs that Jake may be close - ie, are you by a restaurant? 2. Wear cool, loose clothing. 3. Invest in a good pair of binochulars. 4. Turn your camera on. 5. Buy a guide to The Restaurants of New York City. 6. Open a Twitter account.
Location
1. Inside restaurants 2. Outside restaurants 3. In cafes 4. In milkbars 5. In foodshops 6. On trains 7. Waiting for trains 8. At the ballet.
Observation Skills
Award yourself a point for each question asked.
1. Does Jake have a beard? 2. How long is the beard? 3. Is the hair in keeping with the beard? 4. Is Jake wearing Nike? 5. Does he have a NorthFace bag? 6. Does it have lollipops in its side pockets? 7. Is he eating? 8. Is he on a train? 9. What kind of shoes is he wearing? 10. Lumberjack Shirt? 11. Does Jake have a beard?
For comparison purpose, this post contains, thanks to IHJ, new old pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal in NYC almost 4 years ago exactly in October, 2006. He doesn't have the Face Pet with him; instead he has The Box Lady ( I do like how Jake has his arm out instinctively in the photo above to protect her from a road of traffic - still lets her carry the box though).
And finally...
Jordan Mechner, the father of Prince of Persia has posted here a link to his last PoP screenplay from the summer of 2005.
I'm still waiting by my letter box for the postie to deliver my shiny Prince of Persia DVD and Blu-ray. Despite the cramped conditions (not to mention the draft coming under the door), I'm able to do this evening's post. Even more distracting is the Jake Gyllenhaal Learning How to Swordfight video posted by OK! It's not often you get such great footage of such spectacular swords. You can see the video here. These images give you a taster.
Love how Jake has his hair pulled back in the picture below.
To mark the release of the DVD, some more Q&A interviews have been released. Again, these date from earlier in the summer but are only now getting a release. These include a Q&A with Jake. It's included here in full and, although much of it does sound very familiar, it makes good reading and goes with the video above.
'Q: You and Gemma Arterton have great chemistry on screen in Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time. That must have helped in the scenes where your characters banter together? JG: Oh definitely! Those scenes I think were the best written and the most fun to play. They came so naturally and we shot them so fast. It was unfortunate that the ended so quickly. We might spend a month on an action scene and half a day on that scene (with Gemma). We would nail it and move on. She and I had a sort of tit for tat thing. The first time we met she looked at me as though she was unimpressed and I looked at her like…’You should be! Why aren’t you?’…(joked). So that was it from the beginning, there was no acting required.
Q: The weather in Morocco during filming was supposed to be so hot and sandy that it was almost like having sand in your mouth all the time? JG: It was not that bad. It was ok. It was hot but it was fun. The desert is really cleansing…the sand exfoliates your skin….and there is a nice warm dry sun and you are sweating.
Q: You must have been conditioned by Jarhead? JG: I was. I make a lot of movies about turning back time and a lot of movies in the desert. It’s a very strange thing.
Q: You have been Spider Man and Batman. Now in Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time you have become a sort of super hero? JG: No! I am a video game adaptation. (jokes)
Q: So how does it feel to finally have your own action figure? JG: That is like fulfilling the dreams that I had when I was eight years old. When he is playing with an action figure what young boy doesn’t think that maybe one day…You personify anyway as the action figure character that you are playing with, so to be one is incredible. If you were to go back to the eight year old me and say that one day you will be playing in a movie that looks a little like Indiana Jones, or The Goonies and a couple of other things and it is the video game that you are actually playing called the Prince Of Persia…I think that my head would have exploded.
Q: What was your inspiration for the movie? JG: My primary resource was the video game. There were also books and different paintings of that time that were real inspirations. After I read the script I had a meeting with Jerry Bruckheimer and asked him what the movie was going to look like. Was it going to look like a video game or how I might imagine a typical Disney film? For instance, I wondered if I was to be wearing the red outfit for the whole movie. Jerry handed me this book (The Orientalist) and said that was how he wanted it to look. But apart from that there was not a lot of research. There was some research into weaponry and things like that. But I looked on it more like it was based on a fantasy world that was based on reality.
Q: What is it like to make a big expensive special effects film like Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time? JG: The thing about a movie like this that is interesting is that people tend to only associate it with commerce. For me it was always that it was so much fun. It is differentiating the actor with the businessman and the actor who says that he wants to be a kid again and have a good time. It was so exciting! Every day I would drive to work and it was like going to a sporting event when you are the captain of the team. There were thousands of cars lined up along the road for five miles and there was an army of film crew and then the sets were 100 feet high – all built with perfect detail. I don’t think you see that any more on a film set. So often it is green screen effects that are done later. But we could shoot anywhere because the details were extraordinary and there were thousands of extras. And some more were added in later – to make it even bigger! I would get in there and every day I did feel like a kid.
Q: After working with you in this film, Sir Ben Kingsley says you have the ability to seemingly be doing very little in front of the camera and yet it’s just right? JG: With this movie I always looked at it like I was reading a children’s book to a child. It was that kind of style of acting. Because of his years of theatrical work and his history of Shakespeare, Sir Ben has an attitude that there is a sense of telling a story clearly and even theatrically. At on point I told him I felt as though I was speaking to a child and he said….exactly! I always feel that if a movie is good then an actor should have to do very little.
Q: What would you say was the greatest challenge, the physicality of it or speaking in a British accent? JG: No doubt speaking in a British accent, that was the hardest part for me. It’s daunting trying to do any service as an American to such a beautiful fluid speech pattern that you all have. For me, it did help being surrounded by a primarily British cast and somewhat British crew. So I would speak every day, I would get out of the car and I’d have the accent on all day. And I would sort of journey from region to region around England with each different person I would talk to, I would mimic them and sometimes I would sound like them in takes and Mike [Newell] would say [adopts posh British accent and shouts]… ‘Dear boy! You don’t sound right! Do it again! Smashing!’. That’s my favorite line. ‘CUT!’. That’s when you know he was excited about a take. So yeah, I would say the accent was much more daunting, particularly in front of the British press.
Q: How dangerous is it working with ostriches? JG: The ostrich scene was where I was the most terrified in the entire shoot. They are terrifying animals. Even in their innocence, they can tear out your eyeballs and rip out your heart. They seem like they have eyes similar to mine but they really don’t. They can really do dangerous stuff to you.
Q: How much of the stunt work did you do and were you in the best shape of your life for this movie? JG: It depends what you mean by ‘best shape’. I cycle and I run long distances…10 or 12 miles. But I am not able to do that when I am the shape I was for the movie. I remember seeing lance Armstrong on the cover of a magazine and he was saying ‘I’m ripped!’ He was skinny and really gaunt but that was him ready for the tour. So that is being in shape in another way. But I was fit for doing almost any sport. I could avoid serious injury because I was strong and flexible enough. I am pretty athletic so I always feel pretty good and healthy.
Q: What sort of injuries did you get? JG: My shoulders got pretty big so I couldn’t always grab on to something and sometimes there was a little pulling and tearing of tendons. There were some little muscle things and bruises and cuts…but no big deal. I accepted that aches and pains are part of the job. I want to go after the things that I want to do or I am inspired by.
Q: Did you feel you were chosen for Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, not just for how you look but because you can handle deeper stuff? JG: I hope so. I hope that is why people choose actors. Obviously I know they don’t always do that. But I believe that you earn your stripes. I don’t believe that there is necessarily an order and that doing a bigger movie means you have to do a smaller movie. But I do feel that when you are cast in a movie you should have earned that thing – whether it is from an audition or other work you’ve done, or whether you have behaved well in a certain way or that you also do good work. Those things are important. Jerry [Bruckheimer] said he thought I was a good actor and [director] Mike Newell too. Mike had worked with my sister and had seen and respected my work. He didn’t just pick me out of the blue. I worked to gain their confidence and I feel that is how it should be.
Q: As a child was it always the case that you would become an actor? JG: There is a very early entry in my diary, from when I was six years old. It says…Soccer is my life! I played AYSO soccer – school soccer. It became my obsession. Which position did I play? I played all sorts of positions. When you are playing soccer at five years old there isn’t really a position. You run after the ball, basically.
Q: There are several Prince Of Persia stories. So how prepared are you to do another film as Dastan? JG: With a movie of this size that is something that becomes contractual even before you start it. There have been many movies in which I have been involved when there has been the potential for something else and it hasn’t happened. Or it has happened actually. But the thing is, I am totally game. I love the character and his world. I think it is super fun.
Q: You must be pleased with your English accent in Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time because it is spot on. JG: Thank you very much. I worked really hard on it. It was planned from the very beginning to use an English accent. Jerry Bruckheimer said that he thought an English accent seemed to legitimize any time period. Particularly if it is in the past but even if it is in the future. It’s sort of strange but there is something about the accent. I don’t know what it is. There is an ancient quality and the Shakespearean theatrical thing that people can unconsciously relate to. Also since Mike Newell was shooting it in Britain, he wanted primarily to cast British. So the actor who was to play the part of Dastan would have to fit in.
Q: How have you coped with fame? Have you become more comfortable as you have got older? JG:Up until now I have had an interesting perspective because I haven’t been so clear about all the things that I want to do or who I was. Now I think I feel much more comfortable with it because I am more comfortable with what I want to do and who I am and what I care about. A lot of this stuff is great fun, I have a good sense of humor and I enjoy laughing. I want to make movies that are like that and spend time with good people. This is our day so you should have a good time doing it. That is my perspective on it now. Source.
There is a similar Q&A with the PoP Creator Jordan Mechner. You can read that here, but I did like this response of Jordan's to the question of what he thought of the film: 'Firstly the original Prince Of Persia was a character 40 pixels high on the Apple II screen, running and jumping. The technology at the time was quite primitive, I think in my mind I imagined a much grander spectacle, and to see Jake [Gyllenhaal] in the best shape of his life running around the rooftops of Morocco and doing parkour and all this stuff was more than I could imagine.'
Jordan was also asked what he thought of the cast: 'Mike Newell put together a fantastic cast. Jake Gyllenhaal makes a terrific prince. He is a very good actor but he also has the right spirit – besides being a warrior and in the best shape of his life, he has got a humanity that is really important.'
You can also read a similar Q&A with Jerry Bruckheimer here.
The Prince of Persia Blu-ray
We've had some discussion about what exactly will be included on the Blu-ray, in terms of the interactive features. There is a full account of them in this review, which tells us that they total up to about 42 snippets, each two minutes long, all of which can accessed through an index and not just through disrupting the movie. I am also wondering how much or little there will be of Jake and Dastan in the deleted 'Head' scene. The review includes some interesting comments on the quality of the audio and the video and some great screenshots, one of which is below.
And so, more anxious than ever, back to my letterbox vigil...
Includes pictrues from links, Getty, USA Today and IHJ.
Love and Other Drugs now has a release date for the UK - not surprisingly, it's later than the November release for the US but it does mean we get a Christmas Bonus. FilmDates has announced a date of 29 December, although I must say that Wednesday seems an unusual day of the week for a movie release.
A week ago, we enjoyed Jake Gyllenhaal answering some more questions from fans and one of the questions was from our very own Silver (Erin)! Silver was promised some goodies which have now arrived and I'm delighted that Silver sent me photos to share with everyone. I wonder if Mrs Wood has received her's...
Conratulations again, Silver! And here is a reminder of the video.
At long last I have finished reading We Make Our Own Destiny which, as you may recall, I took to pieces after having the front cover signed by Jake and the back by Gemma Arterton. As a result, it's now in bits. However, there are gems in those fragments. And here are just a few of them.
Mike Newell: 'I considered lots of actors for Dastan... but Jake has a man-of-the-people quality. He's curious, open, gentle, very tough, and has great comic abilities, and in Prince of Persia he uses all of that. I saw pretty much everything he had made, and thought him a marvellous actor, with terrific charisma. But, what I didn't know about Jake was that he would be an absolutely God-given action hero. He can fight, hold a sword, run, clamber, jump, and a ride a horse as if he were glued to the back of it. And that I didn't expect. I expected the acting and the good looks, but didn't know that he could hold a sword and look like he means it - and that's not a small thing.'
Jordan Mechner: 'Any time you have a character who an audience has connected to through another medium, whether it's a novel or a video game, people are going to have strong feelings about it. But I think that if you have a good actor and a good movie, then after the first minute it's no longer an issue. I think Jake is a fantastic choice for the the role. Once you see him in costume and in action, you have no doubt that he can be the prince in sixth-century Persia.'
Gemma Arterton: 'Jake is a naturally humorous person, so we had lots of banter anyway, which kind of fed into what we were doing in front of the camera... We'd muck about on set, and Jake is easy to bounce off in that respect, because he's a funny guy. But at the same time, because he's a good actor, we could get through to all of the undertones of Dastan and Tamina's relationship, so it was brilliant. I was really lucky to act opposite Jake.'
Jake Gyllenhaal on Sir Ben Kingsley: 'Sir Ben Kingsley's work speaks for itself... which of course is why he's here. He's just an extraordinary actor in all respects and all rights, and has earned all the accolades that any actor could or would ever hope to, and we're just lucky to have him in our film. That's how I feel every day I'm working with him. He's incredibly sensitive, and I liked seeing that in someone who's so experienced. He hasn't been hardened to a life of acting in movies and onstage, He's ever learning and ever curious to what's happening, and I really respect that he could be so open to a twenty-eight year old actor who's still at the beginning of his career, and just be kind and giving.'
Jake: 'Every time I walk onto one of the sets in this movie, I just think of all the children that I know and love, and how much fun they're going to have watching this movie... The fact is, I made it for them. And if I'm frustrated about something, I take a look at the sets of Alamut, or the Sandglass of the Gods, and I just think anout how much fun the kids are going to have watching Dastan fight off the Hassansins and doing his jumps and leaps. It brings me a lot of joy to think about that, because I remember how huge of an influence movie heroes had on my life when I was young. Kids today are brought up in a very different world. We're experiencing a lot of hard sruff. So it's really nice to have a movie that's going to be a real escape and a metaphor for them that represents good. It's a nice feeling to be a part of something like that.'
'Mike is just wonderful, so smart and robust... Mike is all about performance and story, and that's his strength. Also his sense of comedy is really wonderful, very dry and British. When he tells me something, particularly in a comedic moment, it's always based in a real place.'
'There's not a single person on this movie who can find a bad thing to say about Fred Molina... He's just great, an actor's actor who adds light and life to the movie. Fred raised the bar, and he's just a lovely man.'
Alfred Molina: 'I think it's rather presumptuous of us to imagine that audiences are going to come out of watching Prince of Persua and be better people for it... If an audience walks out thinking that their ten bucks have been really well spent, then we've done our job. If they come out entertained and uplifted in some way... if it makes them curious about wanting to find out more about history... that's even better.'
Alfred: 'I don't think we've seen a member of the human species being quite so emotionally linked with an ostrich... I think we're breaking new ground here.' Alfred had thought that the ostrich he kissed was an Anita but it turned out to be an Alan. 'So I think we did the first sort of gay, interspecies kiss on film. Hopefully, they'll create an MTC Award for that category.'
Gill Raddings, animal coordinator: 'The camels on set are wonderful. They don't kick, they don't spit, they don't bite, and they don't spook at anything. With a battle raging around them, the camels just stand their, chewing their cud and looking down their long noses at everyone and everything... They can get a little moody...'
Anthony Bloom, avian coordinator (about the birds in the palace scene between Dastan and Tamina): 'One bird has a vocabularly of colourful swearwords, and another, named Peppy, speaks soliloquies in a thick Scottish accent... I just hope they don't start talking during Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton's dialogue.'
Chad Oman, executive producer (on Dastan and Tamina's leather water bottle): 'It took five weeks of constant work to make that one bag, with elaborate stitching and beadwork.'
Sir Ben Kingsley: 'Everywhere our eyes looked, we saw the most exquisitely carved walls, drapes, ramparts... And in Morocco, nature itself, the camels, thousands of horsemen, the dust. Our sets are so detailed that even if you're pausing, like I am, half-way in a line and just breathing in, the amount of energy and information you're breathing in is extraordinary. Hours and hours of work have gone into this environment for you to act it. It's really uplifting, and it honoured our craft to such a degree.'
Penny Rose, costume designer: 'As anyone can see, Jake Gyllenhaal has a superb body... And we felt it was relevant to show elements of it without a kind of full-on torso. So we start the movie in his battle armor, which was painstakingly made in real leather - with all the ingredients and accessories - by a wonderful Moroccan craftsman. It is a big wink at the video game, because we felt there had to be an identity from the first frame, so audiences will recognize aspects of the look from the games. For riding and stunts, we had a plastic replica, much lighter, but you can barely tell the difference.'
'For Jake's second costume, the inspiration for his coat came from an old piece of textile we picked up in an old antique fair... I particularly liked the work on it, thought it had a very good identity of its own. So we remade it by hand and turned it into a coat, bound by leather. Jake loves what we call the 'spiral coat' because it's really light, he can really move in it. He's got a white linen shirt with handstitching down the front and on the cuffs, plus a sash and a belt, and a nice necklace. Jake wears boots and knee protectors with this costume.'
'But I think Jake's favourite costume is when he's disguised as an Indian palanquin-bearer for a very large Mughal in King Sharaman's funeral procession. It's metallic-embroidered red silk from India, and I must say that Jake cuts rather a dash in it, especially with the matching headdress.'
Greg Powell, stunt coordinator: 'This movie has been an adventure... We've taken nearly every stage at the studio, plus half of the Moroccan desert. It's been great fun. Jake is capable of doing it all himself, and we only use his stunt doubles when it's absolutely impossible for safety reasons.'
Ben Cooke, fight coordinator: 'Jake has to fight convincingly with two swords and a dagger, in addition to the parkour and free-running elements, and that's a lot to learn. But Jake's done it... He's rocked the party. When he gets in there, he knocks it out. We'll have him fighting, jumping, falling, sometimes up on rigs that are forty or fifty feet up in the air. Jake's all for it.'
Jake: 'I learned at the foor of people who have designed some of the most insane movie fights you've ever seen... We did a ton of fight rehearsals. I remember the first one that we did, just learning how to do simple moves, starting with a strike and parry, and slowly moving on to much more difficult choreography. It's sort of funny, because by the time we were on day ninety-eight, I walked onto set, and Ben Cooke says, 'Okay, mates, you're gonna parry him off, turn around, then he's gonna come around here and swipe under your head,' and I was like, 'Okay, no problem'. It's amazing how you start to take it all for granted once you've gotten used to the process.'
David Belle: 'Jake certainly had me convinced... I've seen his work, his movements in various scenes, and I have no doubt.'
Jake: 'My DNA now has the Moroccan desert in it, because I've definitely breathed in my share of sand... I grew up in Southern California, and the weather and topography of Morocco are actually quite similar, so it wasn't too rough for me. I had shot here before, but I'd never actually gone as far into the desert and seen as much of Morocco as I did on Prince of Persia. It's a really beautiful country. There were times, on off days, when I'd just drive and drive, just amazed at the landscapes and the culture. Moroccan people are the sweetest, kindest people, and the hardest workers. I'm really going to miss them a lot. I just think Moroccans are wonderful people.'
Mike Newell: 'The English are supposed to have this special thing for the desert, because England is so small, green, and wet... and the English can breath free when they get into vast, dry spaces. And it's true. The desert is a very beautiful and mysterious place to be.'
Conclusion: 'That final night in Erfoud, with a charter jet due to arrive the next morning to ferry the company to London, vigorous drums and music permeated the air at the crew hotel as a Berber ensemble played. An adorable eleven-month-old camel named Mounis - that looked like a cartoon character, with his ever-smiling face and long eyelashes - made the rounds being petted and having photos taken with the crew.'
Pictures with thanks from Silver and Disney, via IHJ.
The Prince of Persia team is in Moscow! Continuing Jake Gyllenhaal's new trend of being interviewed in high up places (see below), Jake, Gemma Arterton, Jordan Mechner, Jerry Bruckheimer and Mike Newell brave the Moscow rooftops for a photocall with a great backdrop. Admittedly, it's not easy to appreciate the architectural and historical wonders of Moscow, when you have Jake Gyllenhaal and The Jacket in front of you. Having had some amazing adventures in Moscow and Russia over the years, I hope Jake and the others get to see a little of the city (overground and underground), and enjoy a taster of the fiery liquid.
Vodka will make a pleasant change, no doubt, because all the evidence suggests that Jake has been overdoing it on the tea while in London. So much so, he even tells Terri at Extra that his ideal woman must like tea. Obviously, I'm English, I can't get enough of the stuff... Particularly when it isn't tea. But it is rather nice to see Jake being interviewed while at High Tea - I can see clotted cream and a bunch of dainties. Full version here.
Jake also revealed how much he wants to play Joe Namath - when the project is perfectly ready - and how he trained for Prince of Persia. Somehing about riding round stars' homes in LA on a camel and eating twigs.
Talking of tea, Jake told the Sun: 'I love being in London and can walk around pretty free. I love going to Hyde Park, travelling around on a double decker bus and having a nice cup of tea! People are very welcoming in London. It's one of my favourite cities in the world.' Sitting next to Jake Gyllenhaal on a double decker, something every Brit should experience at least once.
Jake looked down on London Town from up high for two interviews. In the first, for ET, Jake proved that his flirting skills are finely honed and not adversely affected by jetlag. You can also see Jake taunt his fanbase.
Jake was also emotional during a rooftop interview for 10 Daily. One minute Jake's talking about his passion for Snickers and, in the next, the ordeal of being hot and sexy gets to him and he takes a moment. As always, whenever Jake is interviewed, I find myself laughing out loud and today, we have had so many, it's been a very good day. And no end in sight as the PoP tour continues.
There are more videos today from London! And here are some of them.
We also have quite a lot more from the London press conference.
Updated to add this great video in which Sir Ben Kingsley talks about Jake's greatest gift as an actor.
I still have much of my own stuff to upload and so I'll do that just the moment that I get the chance in this busy PoP schedule. I will also be emailing the three winners of the little competition later this evening! Many thanks to IHJ for keeping on top of the vids and for the wonderful pictures from the Prince of Persia's European Tour!
