Jake Gyllenhaal and his Queen Amidala doll, Speedy Jake and congratulations to Gemma Arterton

"I first met Natalie at a Star Wars convention waiting in line for her to sign my Queen Amidala doll and I'm really hoping she wins the Oscar... Because if she does, then that doll is going to be worth a shitload of money!" And so Jake Gyllenhaal introduced Natalie Portman at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on 8 January. I'm particularly impressed because Jake could pronounce Amidala. Take a look at the videos below to see Jake presenting the award as well as being interviewed with and without Natalie about what the festival means to him and if he'll be at Natalie's baby shower.



Despite hailing Natalie as 'the Audrey Hepburn of our generation', she's not quite perfect 'She's a vegan, which makes it really frustrating when you're picking a place to eat.'





After causing some discussion at the Festival with his shoes (and button), there is further opportunity today to discuss Jake's footwear. Before heading down to Palm Springs, Jake went out for a run in LA with some nearly not there running shoes. No button issues this time, though.


Congratulations to Gemma!

The nominees were announced today for the BAFTA Orange Wednesday Rising Star Awards and it was great to see another co-star of Jake's get a nod - this time Gemma Arterton. To further add to the Jake connection, Peter Sarsgaard and Mike Newell were among the selection panel.


And finally...

Jake was also seen out and about at the Hollywood Farmer's Market.



Includes pictures from IHJ.

My review of Season of the Witch is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal presents Natalie Portman with her Desert Palm: 'She is elegant, graceful, has amazing eyebrows...'

Last night, Jake Gyllenhaal was back on a red carpet, this time at the 22nd Palm Springs International Film Festival where, at a glitzy Cartier gala, he presented Natalie Portman with her Desert Palm Achievement Award. 'She is elegant, graceful, has amazing eyebrows, is talented, really short, funny, smart, dedicated, incredibly kind and Jewish.'


Jake apologised to the audience for having lost a button off his jacket 'But apparently Mary Hart [the MC] isn’t wearing any underwear.'


The LA Times reported: 'And a tie-less and expletive-dropping Jake Gyllenhaal said of Portman, “She has recently announced that she is gonna have a baby, who will probably need therapy after watching ‘Black Swan.’"'


While hopefully a video of the speech itself will showup, at the moment we have a brief interview with Jake on the red carpet. The interviewer doesn't get many points for his questions...



There is also a brief glimpse of Jake here:



Many thanks to IHJ for some wonderful pictures from last night! Here are just a sample of some of my favourites, there are many more there.






I was delighted to see a picture of Jake with another of his Brothers co-stars Carey Mulligan.


I'm sure that more details will follow...