Jake and Peter - the family business, respect for Ang and some blue blood

Here's a link to a well-known video of Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard encouraging young people to vote - I've put this up for a number of reasons: first off Jake looks extremely persuasive; Peter doesn't look too bad either; I just saw a trailer for Peter's Year of the Dog, which also stars Laura Dern who shared some chemistry (in a manner of speaking) with Jake in October Sky; and Peter's set to join Jake on the red carpet in Toronto, two weeks from tonight. So talking of Toronto, it's looking more certain that Jake will be there, accompanied by Peter, Reese and director Gavin Hood.



Also at Toronto will be Ang Lee with his new film for Focus Features, Lust, Caution, which is set in Shanghai in the days before the war and tells the story of a young woman's involvement 'with a plot to assassinate a Japanese collaborator'. This film has been in the news today for not entirely the right reasons. It's been awarded an NC-17 certificate in the US for its erotic content, thereby restricting the size of the film's potential audience. However, Focus Features are in the news (in this case, the Guardian) because they are standing by their Oscar-winning director and have not asked him to change the content of the film in anyway, accepting the certificate. '"As with so many of his previous films, Oscar-winning director Ang Lee has crafted a masterpiece about and for grown-ups," the company's chief executive officer, James Schamus, an Oscar nominee himself for co-writing Lee's 2000 hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, said.'


I'm not familiar with how these things work, but this acceptance is being discussed as unusual, even 'startling' and is testament to the respect with which Ang is held in film making circles. And it is also testament to the respect given to Brokeback Mountain. I read a feature this week which draws attention to the iconic resonance of Brokeback, in images and language, even in countries where Brokeback Mountain is not supposed to exist. Here we can see Russian premier Putin astride a horse, almost in mimicry of Ennis, and learn that, despite all its efforts, the Chinese government has had to accept the term 'Brokeback' into its language as a synonym of a gay man.


Ferragut dream over or just another rumour about a rumour?

To add another pinch of salt to the celler, the detectives at IHeartJake have uncovered that a US rag is reporting Jake's reps as saying of the Farragut North play rumours: 'That was inaccurately reported and Jake is not confirmed to do the project'. So on the one hand we have the New York Post and on the other we have OK Magazine.... Whether this is true or not, I still want to post a link to this feature at ABC News, because I like the picture and the style of it.


And another thing...

Thanks to Cherita for pointing this little snippet out to me today. We all know that Jake has European noble ancestry (plus Golden Halls and all that), but here are further hints that Jake's blood may be almost as blue as his eyes.


Includes pictures from IHJ.