An inspired 'attitude of perseverance' - Nailed and Once

A late post this evening and it's all Jake's fault - on his recommendation, I have been watching Once and it has consumed my evening and in a pleasant way. In the words of one critic, this is a film for the lovers of music, film and love. As Jake Gyllenhaal told Film 2007, when asked for his favourite film of the year: 'I saw that movie Once. I loved that movie... I just thought it was a brilliant piece of moviemaking'. Heath Ledger also recommended Once: 'It was really sweet.'


Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, recommended Zodiac as his film of the year, forever sealing his place on my Christmas Card List, and, at long last, at the end of this month, Zodiac is about to get its Director's Cut release in the UK. This means Zodiac is getting some extra plugging, as in this feature for Time Out, which includes an interview with David Fincher.


'Zodiac is a mystery movie with no solution. ‘This may be my particular perversity, but for me, those films are the most interesting. I don’t think we’ll ever know the answers.’ So does Fincher suffer from the kind of obsessive behaviour that crippled and galvanised reporters like Graysmith? He’s currently editing his new film, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, for a Christmas Day release in the US. ‘I don’t think of myself as obsessive,’ he says uncertainly. ‘But you only get so many hours to make a movie. If you want to make it as good as you can, you may have to stay late.''


While Jake's relationship with David Fincher was possibly irritating at times, but definitely productive and creative, we have had concerns about Jake having to work with the notoriously bad tempered David O Russell on Nailed. But, despite the James Caan cookie moment, it all seems to have gone surprisingly well. Could this partly have been, ironically, because of the other pressures on set? In a feature this week, Nailed's ladies, Catherine Keener and Jessica Biel, were keen to show that they pulled together under Russell's leadership and for the first time we hear what it was like to have to work through all those shutdowns:


'“He’s wonderful,” Catherine Keener said. “I love him,” co-star Jessica Biel echoed. “He pulled such a bizarre cool interesting performance out of everyone. It was quite an interesting experience. David was amazing.” What’ll be equally interesting, no doubt, is how the final film, a political satire Keener called “a screwball comedy” about the adventures of a brain damaged waitress in Washington D.C winds up, given the massive delays and stoppages in production. “That was the only really sh–ty part. The shutdowns were killing us,” Biel said. But if there’s a silver lining, it’s that the stoppages have inspired an attitude of perseverance in the cast, Keener insisted. “This felt like it was happening despite all of the obstacles,” she said. “It felt like us against the man. We were like — you cannot shut us down!”'


Includes pictures from IHJ, Just Jared and Fitz News.

Jake picks a film favourite and a 'new' Cannes video interview

We all know what our favourite films of 2007 were (one may begin with Z and the other could begin with R), but now we know Jake Gyllenhaals' choice of best film for the year. The UK's Film 2007 review of the year repeated today and, thanks to Winterbird, we can still watch it. It featured soundbites from Jake's London visit back in October when Rendition featured on the programme. It also features Heath in rather more scenic surroundings. Whether through careful editing or cheerful coincidence, both Jake and Heath selected the same film: Once.


This Irish film, which is released on DVD in the UK on 25 February, is an unconventional musical. Amazon tells us 'Glen Hansard (frontman for indie rock band the Frames) plays the guy, a street musician who is playing for change when he meets the girl (Marketa Irglova), an immigrant from the Czech Republic. The pair immediately bond over their shared love of music (he is a guitarist, and she plays the piano), and the film chronicles their tentative relationship... video and handheld cameras, ONCE matches its spare visual style to its intimate mood. Each moment feels stolen from real life, and the story is at once familiar and fresh. Driven more by music than by dialogue, ONCE features a stirring soundtrack of heartfelt indie rock sung by Hansard and Irglova.'


Jake tells us: 'I saw that movie Once. I loved that movie... I just thought it was a brilliant piece of moviemaking'. He did first tell us all, mind you, that 'You should see this one!' meaning Rendition, of course. Heath also recommends Once: 'It was really sweet.' Here is the link to the programme, which I hope works for all, but, knowing the BBC... It will work for the next six days. Daniel Radcliffe - aka Harry Potter - had even better taste: he voted for Zodiac 'Because it's a thriller with absolutely no conclusion at all.'


Zodiac makes a last-minute run for it

BAFTA let us all down - the Academy has left off Zodiac and Rendition from its list of contenders for 2008. Needlesstosay, I'm... peeved and can say no more about it for the time being because I don't want to burst any blood vessels. However, there is a slither of hope from across the pond, as Paramount realises - almost certainly too late - that Zodiac was a good film after all and maybe it should have given it the backing it deserved.


According to the LA Times: 'Paramount's new "Zodiac" for-your-consideration advertisements in Friday's Variety and next Monday's Los Angeles Times arrive as David Fincher's movie keeps appearing on film critics' Top 10 lists. According to one online survey of more than 400 reviewers' favorite films (criticstop10.com), only two other 2007 movies -- "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will be Blood" -- have turned up more frequently than "Zodiac." Showing up on 143 best-of-the-year lists, "Zodiac" has claimed 19 No. 1 spots.'


'"Suddenly, everybody is waking up to the fact that this is a good movie," said Mike Medavoy, one of the film's producers. Fellow producer Brad Fischer said Paramount may have underestimated the film's critical support. "I don't think they expected 143 critics to put it on their Top 10 lists." Paramount is hoping that with no clear best picture favorite, "Zodiac," which grossed a modest $33.1 million in domestic release, might draw sufficient attention for best picture, director, cinematography and screenplay.' However... 'Paramount's biggest problem is time: Ballots for the 80th Academy Awards are due at 5 p.m. on Jan. 12. And since "Zodiac" opened in early March, the film may not be prominent in many Oscar voters' minds. (Fincher's director's cut "Zodiac" DVD arrives Tuesday, however.)'

But it's good to dream.


While I'm thinking about Zodiac, and feeling the effects of a cold and wishing I could see that Cannes sunshine and sea all over again, here is a video interview with Jake (and Mark Ruffalo) from the Dutch site Cinema.nl. Once again, I hope it will work for everyone. Jake is sitting in the same spot that he sat in for the Happy Birthday Cannes series of interviews, but with a different shirt on. I know there's no reason to notice that kind of thing, but I do.


'I think it's a human instinct to want to go into the unknown and know it. Everybody needs to know - that's a kind of human desperation, it always has been. There are people who can accept the unknown and who can live in questions and I think that there are people who desperately need to know. And I think that the unfortunate thing about that is, if taken far enough, it can be very destructive.'

Includes pictures from IHJ.