Jake Gyllenhaal has been busy. Over the last couple of days he's been seen out and about in Brooklyn and in Yale. First, there's Brooklyn and Saturday night. Jake was seen (possibly with Mila Kunis - spectacular of Black Swan fame) at Henry Public. Looking at the website it amazes me that there are mouths ginormous enough that they can wrap around a mega burger of that size. Obviously, I am a veggie and my burger experience is limited.*
Yesterday, Jake with Peter Sarsgaard and Ramona attended Tom Hanks' opening address at Yale University's Class Day (New Haven, Connecticut). You can see the video of the address here. There are a couple of photos of Jake and Peter in the crowd, thanks to @likeburney and @tomlynam
2001
July's edition of Empire has arrived and within it are memories from 2001, including the early years of the careers of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. 2001 was, of course, the year when Donnie Darko was made. Click and the articles shall be embiggened.
*Jake, when you next visit Oxford, please let us take you to the famous Atomic Burger. There's only one thing better than their burgers and that's their margaritas.
Many thanks to BBMISwear for helping me with this post when I'm up to my eyeballs in X-men: First Class. The press conference was today.
My review of X-Men: First Class is now published at Blogomatic3000.
Whenever I see Jake Gyllenhaal with a new haircut, I can't help hoping that it might be a blue flag, waving in an imminent new role. And when it's paired with a shave, then I don't just see one flag, it's a veritable display of bunting. But, that said, it's very nice to see Atticus out for a walk with a mate yesterday (29 January) in Beverly Hills. Luckily for us, they decided to take their owners with them.
Several things to note here in addition to the gorgeous new haircut (reminiscent of the Source Code look perhaps?): a) LA is having to endure another hot, sunny January, poor sods; and b) the Nike is back where it belongs.
The day before (28 January), Jake was back at everyone's favourite Medical Center, putting in some extra hours. Another hint perhaps of things a-happening? Or have I just eaten too many soft-centred chocolates?
And while we're talking new pictures - here are some more images of Jake at the Globes, where it looks like he was sitting at quite a table. I remember CZJ when she was knee-high to a grasshopper back there on Home Farm with Ma and Pa Larkin...
Many thanks to IHJ for the lovely new pictures! There are lots more there.
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.
I get back home after a workout at the gym and what do I find but pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon going home after a workout at the gym? And while my workout has left me looking like a complete wreck of a human being with distressed hair, severe leg cramps, and in dire need of a stiff gin and tonic, Jake and Reese look as fresh as daisies dancing in a cool summer's breeze. I'm clearly not doing it right. Jake also has a new hat. Please note how I'm not mentioning the matching gym outfits.
These pictures at last prove true several days of twittering. Jake has been spotted, with and without Reese, in various Starbucks, cafes, restaurants, theatres and launderettes (I might be making that one up), predominantly in NW Washington DC and especially in Georgetown. Off topic but many years ago, I spent some hours on set with Tom Hanks in Georgetown. He put a young English girl totally at ease, sitting me in his special chair to watch him film the same scene over and over and giving me my love of the movies.
MY favourite sighting was posted at Jake-g-fans: 'I was working at the Georgetown farmer's market in Washington D.C., and then he was there buying vegetables. He bought $25 worth of cherries and strawberries and greens from our stand. And he was so sweet and gorgeous and conscientious and amazing and ohmygod, I SWOOOOOON. I was like, "you look just like Jake Gyllenhaal!" And he was like, "ahh, about that. That's me." And I almost fainted. But then I wouldn't have been able to sell him cherries! He walked around for a long time going from stand to stand. I wanted to ask him for a picture or autograph but I could tell he was trying to be low-key about it, so I didn't. But I wanted to! And he was asking tons of questions about the vegetables because apparently he loves to cook and HE COULD NOT BE MORE PERFECT.'
This is such a good sighting and almost makes me forgive Jake for buying, and presumably eating, cherries, which are the most horrible, horrible excuse for a fruit and which make me feel giddy just at the thought of them.
Off topic (again) but today in Oxford I noticed that filming was taking place at one of the colleges. It turns out the college had been taken over by Bollywood! I took two steps backwards.
Jake's hat has had a busy holiday weekend. Having rustled up something tasty with tomatoes and courgettes bought at Ojai's farmer's market on Sunday, Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon attended a beach party in Malibu on Monday. This gave fellow guest Tom Hanks the opportunity to share a laugh with another of Blame It's cameo stars. Also in attendance was Robert Downey Jr - with his own hat. Please note how I've resisted the urge to mention the socks.
