Prince of Persia in Hollywood! Plus more videos of Jake Gyllenhaal, and Jake in the UK's OK (don't feed him sushi)

What a day! The barriers are built, the crowds gather, excitement mounts, the emotion wells, security gets anxious and the media gets frenzied. Yes - we have witnessed something momentous over the last few hours - Oxford United's triumphant procession through the city celebrating Sunday's win at Wembley and their return to the League! As if that's not enough excitement, we have also enjoyed another victory by the Prince of Persia team as they took on Hollywood and emerged a winner!


While we had Jon Voigt and Jonathan Pryce ready to come out in midfield if needs be, they weren't needed in the end as Jerry Bruckheimer pulled out his winning card. His star player, Jake Gyllenhaal, was not unprepared for the challenge of another red carpet in a different time zone. Oh no. I have it on the good authority of a friend in the wings (who saw Jake step out of the car and onto that hallowed fibrous scarlet turf) that Jake Gyllenhaal coordinated with the carpet and wore bright red socks. Goal!!!



I can tell you, after this, the World Cup will seem as exciting as a rained off Sunday carboot sale.


So what do we have today? After the play aways at London and Moscow we're familiar with the form. We have new photos, we have new videos, we have new magazine reports from London (at last print catches up with the internet). We have so much! I cannot even attempt to do justice to it all in one post today and so I won't try but I will say that my friend by the red carpet last night said that Jake Gyllenhaal was gorgeous and you know something? I'm fully prepared to believe her!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

An interview from the LA red carpet in which the stars rate their jetlaggedness. If Gemma Arterton is flying back to Cannes as we speak, she may be the winner.



What follows is in no particular order because I want to get this post out this evening and not in July. But if anything's to be learned from all this PoP mayhem and madness it's this - please don't feed Jake sushi.


Please can interviewers take note that the Jellyfish Urination Story is closed. I would also like to point out that even T4 presenters should be able to deal with the plot of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. It is not Mulholland Drive.



Following the premiere in LA, Jake was seen partying with Orlando Bloom, Leo DiCaprio and a Cigar at the Teddy.

There are two videos from The Sun. One from LA and the other from London.


Gemma was flabbergasted by Jake's body: '"I was so nervous about my own work, I was just like 'oh yeah nice body' - but I remember I was flabbergasted". A reasonable response.

Jake talks some more about having to do the Brit accent - I fear that Mike Newell was not necessarily a good example...



Jake gives the shortest interview in history:



And then one of the longest...



Jake is open to appearing in a game: '"Oh yeah. Of course. It would be an honour. If other people in the games industry are anywhere near as cool as [Prince of Persia game creator and movie scriptwriter] Jordan Mechner then without a doubt. In fact, even if they're not. I'd be totally into it. Of course, it depends on what it is and what the story is - but if game makers read this, I'm interested. It's all about the story with me." And it appears Gyllenhall isn't just flirting with industry execs. When asked if he considered video games 'art', he added: "Without a doubt - it is art. This is art, you know? Following your creative instinct is art, no doubt. Yeah, there's a big business behind it and that's for sure, but for me, it's an artistic choice."'



The Hollywood interview in this week's UK OK! features Jake Gyllenhaal.



Jake's also a bit of a talking point at Heat.


Thanks very much to BBMISwear for the fab US Weekly scan.


A WDW Oxford Interlude

To finish off here are a couple of photos that show what Oxford was like today, 18 May.




Includes pictures with many thanks from IHJ, scans from WDW and completely irrelevant pics from WDW.

The Prince of Persia Hollywood premiere - a first look!

Good morning! As Los Angeles settles down (or gets going) for the night, we wake up here in Britain and Europe to a veritable Gyllenfeast of photographs and videos from last night's Hollywood premiere of Prince of Persia. You can see below the recorded streaming from the red carpet and see Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton shine. I particularly liked Jake's Tom Ford suit complete with spotty tie.

Free video streaming by Ustream

This was a premiere with a difference - Jerry Bruckheimer was honoured with a hand and foot ceremony in front of the theatre and some big names turned out to see it, including a very casual Tom Cruise plus Nicholas Cage, Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Voigt and an old favourite of mine, Jonathan Pryce. Plus a bunch of others I have to look up.







Call me old-fashioned, but when I see a big premiere in Hollywood, I much prefer to have it all about the leading man and the leading lady - especially when it's these two. Jake and Gemma Arterton looked amazing. Gemma even had a matching brolly. There is chemistry galore between Dastan and Tamina and it's overflowing here, too.





Many, many thanks to IHJ for having the pictures so soon! I will be back!

Watch the Prince of Persia LA premiere live on WDW tonight! While you wait - more interviews (& they're goodies...)

Roll out the red carpet! Tonight Prince of Persia has its American premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. This evening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and a host of stars from Jerry Bruckheimer's other runaway successes will walk the red carpet and celebrate the career of this great producer. Jerry himself will also leave his mark on procedings in the shape of his hand and footprints, a perfect and permanent reminder of what will be a fantastic event. And you can watch it all right here on WDW. Just keep an eye on this video below as the time approaches for the stars to arrive (between 5 and 6pm Hollywood time).

Free video streaming by Ustream

But in the hours to come before the premiere, there are yet more PoP goodies to keep us entertained. And to all those fans who have made it to Hollywood to watch and gain memories of their own, we are with you in spirit (and indeed, as the night draws on, in spirits). So let's put smiles on our faces first - in this interview, Jake and Gemma find themselves interviewed by their own son! Dastan Jr. I think he's been overindulged. Fortunately His Royal Highness Nizam is there to terrify him appropriately. Intriguingly, Dastan Jr is German.



I must say, these PoP press junkets seem a million miles away from those we saw for Rendition, when the most Jake had to joke about was piecharts and how this was his first torture. Admittedly, these two films are not comparable, but even so, it must make a change to be interviewed by someone dressed as your early medieval Persian/German son who has his own spangly dagger of time and some salt.


We also have an audio interview with Jake Gyllenhaal and absolutely everyone else who was involved in this film, ever. You can listen to that here.

Disney has sent me a new clip from this most magical of films. Take a look and count those days until we're all in the theatres. Another self-plug coming up... I have written my own (non-spoilery) review of Prince of Persia and you can read it here. I hope you enjoy it.



NME may be a serious music mag but it recognises that in Jake Gyllenhaal we have a serious lover of British music - he has publicly supported a number of Brit bands in the past, including the Guillemots and, more recently, Mumford & Sons. Therefore it's great that they had their own interview with Jake and asked him about other British bands that he enjoys: '"At the moment I'm really into Mumford and Sons," he said. "I really love them, and Laura Marling. I think I may go see Florence And The Machine, which I'm really looking forward too."' I'm not familiar with Laura, although I'll check her out, but Florence and the Machine's Lung is a fantastic album and it's good to hear Jake likes it.


What else does Jake say in NME? Jake's name has been (loosely) connected to a Kurt Kobain biopic and here Jake says: 'I don't know if I'd be the right choice – but the hair from Prince of Persia could translate somehow. We could just bleach it!' Please don't! You can read more at NME.


We also have an Italian interview with Jake. It is, not surprisingly in Italian. Nevertheless, I studied Latin for two years and if I can cope with Catullus and Juvenal, I'm sure I can deal with Jake speaking Italian. Perhaps not... Anyway, it has some interesting moments, including Jake saying that he only 'went out to dinner' with Isabel Lucas (this does not make him engaged). He likes being single and it's all about 'beer and junk food' (I think he's joking - but maybe not!). And when you're in a couple, this can mean you shut others out and neglect them 'I'm trying to fix this' and that he's spending his time with his family. Jake also speaks of his goddaugter Matilda Ledger: 'I see her whenever I can, when she comes to Los Angeles with her mother.'


Jake's favourite fairytale as a child was 'The Sword in the Stone' - a tale of Arthur and a boy called Wart by T H White - and it still is. 'My father always read it to me and my sister before we went to sleep.' Many thanks to friends for this link.

Now this is strange... Imagine you're waiting for your bus - trying hard not to get distracted by the glorious full-colour posters of Jake Gyllenhaal and his arms at each end of the shelter - and then suddenly they speak to you. Yes, if you have an iPhone and the correct App, this will happen. Read more here. Let's hope they don't do this with Piranha 3D.


So! The countdown is on and soon Jake Gyllenhaal will shine his way across the LA red carpet, just as he did in London a week ago. Bring it on! And remember, you can watch it all here, live on WDW. Just refresh that first video. Next week Jake will be appearing on a number of US talkshows - stay tuned for details and look out for their listing on the front page of WDW.


Pictures from links, Disney and IHJ. More info on the film itself from the official Prince of Persia site. You can also watch the livestreaming at the Prince of Persia Facebook page.

A WDW report from the Prince of Persia red carpet in London and Jake Gyllenhaal discusses washing his hair to fitness (and ostriches...)

It has actually taken me longer to download and upload videos and photographs this evening from yesterday's astounding world premiere of Prince of Persia in London than it took Shakespeare to write his complete works or for Britain to decide who did win the General Election after all. But, finally, I can present a post - first in a series because there's so much going on I need at least ten more heads, not to mention a dozen more hearts to take the strain of all this Jake! I digress...




Yesterday evening, I was at the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time premiere in London and Jake Gyllenhaal was on a stage a few yards from me and he took notice of my hollering (Jake, I would like you to know that normally I wouldn't say boo to a goose - it's just when - if you pardon the analogy - the goose is Jake Gyllenhaal...) and looked right at me and smiled and told his people he was coming over. I caught the moment. It's not pretty - in camera terms - but it's perfect.




Other pics of mine show a group hug where Mike Newell and Jerry Bruckheimer look like they like to keep a professional distance while, in others, the affection between Jake and Mike and Jake and Gemma and Jake and Gemma and Sir Ben and Jake and Gemma and Sir Ben and Mike is plain to see. Also, when the cameras moved off to focus on a clip from the film, there was some great airpunching from Jake. More photos of all this to come.






Here is my first very shaky video (you'll be delighted to hear there's another to come) and I'm sure very few other people have had such a good and extended view of Gemma's back. But, please excuse my wobbliness - I had nothing to lean on and even when I calmed down, muscle fatigue kicked in.



Interestingly in the upstream red carpet video (which you can now watch again if you go back a couple of posts here), there's a clip of Gemma and in the background there's me with my Flip.


Talking of other videos, here are a bunch of them. My favourite is not from the premiere itself, but from press conference day when Jake and the rest of the cast pronounce and spell that most incredible and formidable of names: Gyllenhaal. As Jake explains, it's top heavy with ls.



And some quotes from an amazing day: '“They would say, ‘Don’t make any noise around the Ostriches. They’ll tear out your eyes and rip out your heart.’ So I was naturally terrified. They look like their innocent, but they’re really not.” Even Jake’s co-star, Gemma Arterton saw the fear in Jake’s eyes… “He ran away, and the look on his face- it’s not acting. It’s real” she said.'



Gemma on Jake: 'We didn’t have time to socialise. He was too busy in the gym – although we did go to dinner. It was all very civilized. But he’s so much fun. He’s gorgeous.' Hmmm... I recognise more than one person from this video below!



Co-star Richard Coyle (one of the 'ugly' brothers) on Jake: 'You know… he was really good. He was lovely, brilliant. He had a lot to do and he did it well. He was brilliant. Magnificent.'



Plus a video from Hello. And lots more from HeyUGuys. And more pictures from them than you can shake a Persian cat at.



Jake explains how he got his muscles and I like his reasoning - may I also say it was well worth the effort? 'The secret was his new long locks, he said. ‘It took me six months to grow [long hair], which was the hardest part of it all,.. It was harder to grow the hair than do the accent or to sword-fight. It’s almost harder than acting!... It was shampoo and conditioner – not a two-in-one – because the physique was developed by vigorous scrubbing and rubbing of the scalp with shampoo... That really worked the bicep area and if you really focus on your core while you are doing it, your abs get totally ripped up... A lot of shaping the abs with just a bar of soap while bathing. Over months of vigorous and rigorous scrubbing, I developed a chiselled physique and have become the Prince of Persia... My shoulders got so big that sometimes I couldn’t reach to grab things... I don’t think it’s an American kid’s dream to be Bond... I think it’s more an American kid’s dream to be Indiana Jones.’



Pictures by WDW. I ran out of time and so I'll be back tomorrow with more pictures, videos and with the winners of the little competition!

The Prince of Persia London premiere will be 'one of the biggest movie events the UK has ever known!''

Thanks to HeyUGuys, here is part of a press release from Disney regarding the London premiere on 9 May. Take some deep breaths, friends, this is gonna be BIG! I need a sit down...

'WORLD PREMIERE ON SUNDAY 9 MAY, 2010 IN SIX COUNTRIES

Film talent attending include:

JAKE GYLLENHAAL, GEMMA ARTERTON, TOBY KEBBELL, RICHARD COYLE and SIR BEN KINGSLEY

Producer JERRY BRUCKHEIMER and Director MIKE NEWELL


On Sunday, 9 May Disney will create a global first for the World Premiere of PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME by crossing five time zones to host multiple premiere events around the world in keeping with the time twisting themes of the film. The global event will start in Australia before moving to Asia and then onto Europe and Central America with the stars of the film satellite linked in to every event live from London.

The world premiere of PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME will be the first ever to take place in London’s most exciting entertainment and leisure and shopping destination, Westfield London with the screening at the Vue Westfield, the UK’s number one, newest and most innovative purpose built all digital cinema complex. The event will kick off within Westfield’s Atrium, a unique event space located under a spectacular undulating glass roof, which will tie-in with the breath-taking stunts as featured within the movie.


Audiences in Australia and Asia will experience the movie first, with the cast and filmmakers beamed in to introduce the film. At 6.00pm GMT countries including Mexico, Germany and Italy will all connect to London to simultaneously experience a spectacular live entertainment show including a stunning free-running display. The world premiere and red carpet extravaganza will also be simulcast to twenty cinemas across Britain, for what will be one of the biggest movie events the UK has ever known!'

And I'm seeing Rufus Wainwright tonight - could this day get any better?!