Jim Sheridan: 'You look forward to where Jake Gyllenhaal will go as an actor'. And a personal comment

This post takes the form of a little bit of a time out - the hoopla of Prince of Persia is quickening pace and there are wonders on the way (not all of them wearing a shirt). And so, while I figure out what to do with my two PoP sticker books that arrived today and before we get sucked up again into the excitement of it all, this post is intended as a big thank you to Jake Gyllenhaal - for entertaining me, enthralling me for years. My heart has beaten faster, my eyelashes have fluttered (irresistibly), I've cried, I've run down streets, I've stood up and applauded and I've been turned to mush yet inspired to write, all in the same moment. Without doubt, fun has filled my life and much of it is thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal - his talent, his character, his smile and his fans.


So this hug of a post is inspired by a number of things, but part of it is that I watched Brothers again today, on DVD and with Jim Sheridan's commentary. Listening to this, while enjoying Jake's transformation into Tommy Cahill, shows all too well how Jim and Jake succeeded in their aim, which was to make Grace, the little girls and us all fall in love with this ex-con who wants to put things right. I was going to put a lot more into the post tonight but I think I'll leave those for tomorrow.


Here are some of the things that Jim says about Jake and his role in Brothers, beginning with our first sight of Jake and Tobey Maguire together: 'I miscalculated how young Tobey looked in his eyes and how old Jake appears in his eyes - like Tobey seems like a new person to the world and Jake seems like he's been here for millennia so the audience actually had a hard time believing Tobey was the older brother.'


Walking in the prison: 'You see what I mean about Jake? He has a different aspect to Tobey, he has a different DNA structure. It was his idea, actually, to go to the jail and it changes the movie.'


Grace gives Tommy the bad news: 'It's a difficult part for [Jake] in the movie. I think he's really good in this scene. He never does the same thing twice, thanks be to God. I know that would drive a lot of directors crazy, but for me, it's kind of like... I think me and Jake occupied the same kind of space on the set, where we both wanted to be the centre of attention. So early on I was kind of in conflict with him - who's the most anarchic, I suppose.'


'Jake is very smart about what you might need and he would do shots like that or he would ask me if he could do a shot in the prison, or walking along, or in his room, or lying on the bed, whatever. Stuff that seemed so incidental but is very useful when you're editing. If he wants to be paid about a quarter of what he gets paid as an actor, he might end up as a director one day.'


The kiss scene: 'I think when we shot this I stayed on Jake for hours with the camera, like where he wouldn't do anything after Natalie left. And I suppose the mags were ten minutes long and sometimes for four or five minutes nothing would happen until eventually he kind of broke down, crying, and got upset. So you never know what's going to happen.'


Towards the end of Brothers, Jim had to work with the material he had of Jake because 'I don't think he had a moment, Jake, before he went on to the other movie.'


'You kind of look forward, I supppose, to where Jake Gyllenhaal will go as an actor. He seems to have a lot of possibilities.'


Standing up - A personal comment from me

You know that feeling you get when you can see someone you care about getting bullied or lied about by someone who doesn't even deserve to be in the same room as this person that you care for? I have that feeling right now. It's impossible to ignore the cruel lies that have rippled out of Montreal over the last few days, nor is it possible to pretend that Jake's feelings and honour have not been assaulted. A statement from his rep. to E! definitely demonstrates that this has struck deep:

'Our client is taking such strong and immediate action because of the seriousness of the issue behind the allegation. He would never harm a woman, or touch a woman in anger. Such behavior is not only criminal, but personally abhorrent to him.'

The Examiner puts it perfectly and so I suggest you read that because I find it hard to string words together about this - rage and compassion mixed together with a big dollop of fury have a way of stealing your words. But I needed to say something.

Brothers DVD out today! And a first verdict on PoP - we have love chemistry, wiggling ostriches, fridge magnets

It's 23 March and that can mean only one thing: Jake Gyllenhaal has the perfect gift for his Source Code co-star Michelle Monaghan who celebrates her birthday today - the Brothers DVD, now in your shops! Or, if you're not in America, available to order from a bunch of places. If you prefer to wait for the R2 version, that is out on 7 June. However, it's worth pointing out you may be in the cinema on that day...


To mark the occasion, I Heart Jake and Lionsgate Home Entertainment are running a competition in which two people - from anywhere on the planet with a multi-region player - can each win a Brothers DVD. Visit IHJ for details and good luck.

As for The Other Film, we've had some more details from the top secret ShoWest screening of Prince of Persia in Vegas last week. It's very spoilery and so I will quote very little but you can read the full account at IGN and it's a goodie.


Here's a non-spoilery description of one scene: 'The scene is overrun with special effects -- high-flying acrobatics off walls, swordplay of all kinds, cinematic bow & arrow near-misses, fires, explosions and more. It's fairly epic and well-choreographed. It's clear from the start that the movie comes from Disney and director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), not Uwe Boll.'


The love interest: 'Dastan believes Tamina is a pampered princess who has never suffered a day in her life and she thinks he's a corrupted brute who lacks proper morales. Their on-screen chemistry works. Indeed, the admittedly predictable hate-turn-love story is just as interesting as some of the awe-inspiring special effects scenes because the chemistry is so tangible.'


Ostrich racing: 'Comic relief is supplied by the always-reliable Alfred Molina [see below] (Spider-Man 2), who plays a money-hungry tradesman whose first love is ostrich-racing. And yeah, you even get to see some dudes riding atop wiggling ostriches as they race awkwardly over dirt roads.'


Verdict: 'The action is big. The effects bigger. And the storyline just interesting enough to keep you watching. Gyllenhaal -- probably not anybody's first choice for the Prince of Persia; although, to be fair, he's a hard character to cast -- serves the role just fine. And Arterton has sex appeal to spare. This movie will surely be compared to Pirates of the Caribbean series and it shares much in common. Perhaps the only thing missing is the equivalent of Captain Jack Sparrow -- Johnny Depp's ludicrous, but unforgettable antihero. By comparison, Dastan and Tamina are straighter and side-players like Kingsley and Molina unremarkable. But the movie is well-produced and sparkling with polish from beginning to end, and we doubt any potential shortcomings will stop moviegoers from seeing it and doing their part in adding another notch to Bruckheimer's already-considerable blockbuster belt.'


Actually, referring to the verdict above, Jake Gyllenhaal was somebody's first choice for the role - Mike Newell's. (And also mine, but I don't think I pull as much weight with Jerry Bruckheimer.)

In other Prince of Persia news, we have fridge magnets - oh yes we do...


Wanted to finish today with a lovely picture from last weekend when NYC wallowed in a taster of spring.


Includes pictures from links and here and the coolest website in the world. Thanks to Monica for additional ostriches. Happy birthday Michelle!

Jake Gyllenhaal on Prince of Persia: 'This is the beginning of us all!' (Empire May Edition - fabulous)

It's Empire Day! The May edition has just arrived in my letter box, sandwiched between yet another pizza delivery flyer and my Sherlock Holmes DVD. Robert Downey Jr has had to wait, however, because there in technicolour print is a six-page feature on our favourite Prince 'You can call me Jake' Dastan. And there are new pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton along with the assurance that while Jake has stuntmen doubles (you can see one of them in one of these pictures holding Jake up), the parkour is all Jake.


You can embiggen these pages with a click to read it all for yourself and it's full of treats and not a little humour, plus some more info about Mike Newell - even Jerry Bruckheimer, it is revealed, speaks of his director in hushed tones.


Jake, we learn, is 'entirely comfortable as a rope-swinging swashbuckler' and is adept at exploding flaming oil on enemy troops. Mike Newell also reveals Prince of Persia's secret weapon: 'It actually has a broader appeal than you would expect... Jake. All the girls like Jake.' This is indeed as true as night following day, as 2+2 equalling 4 and artichokes being inedible. Mike goes on about Jake and Gemma: 'You have a kind of traditional star power from these two people who weren't stars when the movie started. With both of these guys we took considerable risks. There is a lot of money riding on their heads. And the audience likes them, which is great. It means I did my job.'


Jake and Gemma's characters get cosy in tents one imagines: 'The relationship's destiny is, naturally, a foregone, smoochy conclusion, but there's chemistry here. And comedy.' In Jake's words: 'Comedy is really what I enjoy the most... And it's what I find hardest. earnest is fucking easy. Finding the comedy in a situation is always the hardest thing, and I think as an actor you should try and find the hardest thing.'


'We have this kind of banter anyway, as Jake and Gemma... So that kind of transfers to the characters. There's a lot of witty remarks, cutting each other down...' Says Gemma. 'And also, when we need to be romantic...'


As for the 'Is it really Persia?' thing (it does, after all, say a lot more about video games than it does about history and geography), Gemma says: 'But it's completely detached from reality. It's a completely fictional world.' And Jake: 'It's not necessarily one culture... I think that's what so wonderful about it. That's actually what Mike said to me from the very beginning: this is all different cultures. This is the beginning of us all!'


Interestingly, the feature says that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time must have a sequel because it has a colon in the title. This is even more reliable than having 1 or I in the title.


Meanwhile back in the real world of moviemaking in Montreal, Jake was seen out about in the city on Saturday (narrowly avoiding BBMISwear and Ted who spent the weekend in Montreal wine tasting) with Atticus. You'll note there's no Atticus in the picture below...


... this is because Atti is taking a comfort break in order to let Jake have a little time to himself to whistle and pace for the cameras. Here's a different view.


Pictures from Empire and iPhotoLive; scans by WDW.

Jake Gyllenhaal - 'tender and hopeful and just so subtly wounded' ('I want an audience that wants to see the films that I’m in')

Today has a bit of the lull before the storm feel about it (not least because The Day After Tomorrow is on tonight in the UK - 9pm on E4), so this gives me what has become a rare opportunity to take some time out. Time to climb up that mountain, breath in some country air (upwind of the sheep) and admire the view. Think Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, smelly tents, grumpy horses and big blue skies. (I'm also hoping that doing this post will distract me from a big bag of tangy haribo sweets...)


This interview from the WDW Dusty Archives begins with one of those introductions that wins me over from the very first syllable. If you're going to interview Jake, be prepared to have him knock your socks off: 'Not falling in love with the very concept of Jake Gyllenhaal is a difficult undertaking. There is, first, his appearance, the blue eyes fringed with lush black lashes, tender and hopeful and just so subtly wounded. At nearly 25 — his birthday is Monday — the few underwhelming films he’s made (The Day After Tomorrow, Bubble Boy, Moonlight Mile) hardly suffered because of him. And the many very good ones he’s been part of have only been improved by his presence. Think Donnie Darko, Lovely & Amazing, Proof — and now, Brokeback Mountain.'


I could spend a long, long time trying to recreate that 'tender and hopeful and just so subtly wounded' look. Maybe I'll have a go.

'But despite his triumphs, the actor admits he’s had second thoughts about his line of work. “I think I always wanted to be an actor,” he says when asked if there was a defining moment in his childhood that led him to the craft... “It’s only now when I’m thinking maybe I don’t want to be one,” he laughs. “It’s only now that I’m questioning it.” Likely endearing himself further to legions of fans, he doesn’t hesitate for a second when asked what he’d do if he weren’t an actor. “I would be a chef and I would open up a restaurant with my best friend, who’s brilliant,” Gyllenhaal said firmly.'

'When he signed on for Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal hadn’t yet read the Annie Proulx short story on which it was based, but he quickly remedied that. “Annie will work weeks, if not months, on certain sentences,” he marveled. “You know everything she’s writing has a very particular meaning, just like a poem or something … every word seems to be so important, and the movie, just the images, are kind of like word for word. To me, what I think what the movie’s saying, or what I find most interesting about it, is … it’s like Annie was walking through the forest and found some myth that was never told. It’s redefining a love story. We’ve gotten so bored, or frozen, with a normal love story between a guy and a girl, which is like guy gets girl, guy loses girl, guy gets girl again,” Gyllenhaal said. “This is a sort of a way of redefining that. It’s more about the idea of intimacy and love than it is about two guys having a love story together. That’s what I really related to. I was looking for a story that was about some kind of intimacy, you know? Nowadays, they’re not making those movies, or they’re not writing those movies so much.”'


'“It’s actually become very clear to me that people don’t really totally believe love has no bounds, because there are people who actually have a problem with this film,” Gyllenhaal said. “And it’s about a different type of love than we’re used to seeing … and they don’t feel that it should be that way. So if we say love has no bounds, we don’t really believe it.”'


'“In my opinion, these are two lonely people, and they find each other, and find comfort with each other, and fall in love. They feel alive,” he said. “And isn’t that all we’re asking for in our lifetimes down here, is to feel alive, and to feel like we’re moving and growing somewhere? That’s what these two people feel. They feel that way with each other.”'

These excerpts are from an interview with the SunSentinel back in December 2005. As always a pdf is available on request in return for chocolate.


Today I went to the movies and saw I Love You Phillip Morris and there in the foyer was the huge new UK poster for Prince of Persia, proclaiming once and for all its release date here of 21 May. I very subtly and artfully took a picture. The old poster has now been relegated to outside Screen 13. Excuse the bad picture - this was caused by the light reflecting off Ben and Jerrys.


But to connect this with Brokeback days, it reminds me of a quote from Jake in the outtakes of Out magazine, about whether he saw his future as an Indie It Boy or as a Hollywood movie star (as if one can't be a little of both and a lot more besides): 'I want an audience that wants to see the films that I’m in. I want to be able to have recognition, and have people go, “Oh, his movie’s coming out this weekend, and I want to see it, because I know every time I go into a movie, into a journey, it’s going to be an interesting thing.” There are actors that I look up to that do that. Like Tom Hanks does that. I’m interested in seeing his movies. Regardless. It’s not only to be entertaining. There’s going to be something cool in it. No matter what. There are people who’ve done that for a long time. Paul Newman… Those types of people that I really look up to as men that I want to be like. And that’s the type of career that I want. I want a lot of people to want to see my films. It doesn’t have to be enormous. But I do want that. I put a lot of thought into the movies that I choose and I do. It’s for a reason.'


Thoughts going out to friends down under in the path of that cyclone...

Includes pictures from IHJ and WDW.

Jake Gyllenhaal answers fan's question (while looking hot) and 'dropped like a hot potato' Ottawa to strike back?

Just call me Erin... Until next Thursday, that is. Yesterday, the first much anticipated video was published in which Jake Gyllenhaal answered a fan's question. Sitting on that exotic Prince of Persia set we saw the other week - the one with an elephant - Jake told Erin why he wanted to play Dastan in as handsome and gorgeous and sexy way as it is possible to be. We are promised video answer number 2 next Thursday. At a rate of 40 seconds a week, it could be a fair few weeks - nay, years - before we all get our questions answered but I can wait... You can see the answer to Erin's question here (and below).



Prince of Persia had its first screening yesterday at ShoWest but we're not hearing very much about it, just a few tweets, a few brief blog reports here and there. Considering that one blogger mentioned that he was searched for all electronics before being allowed into the theatre, one wonders if there is an embargo. It also makes me wonder how people can still tweet when robbed of their essentials - through blinking?

The few comments that have come out have been mixed, not unexpectedly, and suggest that there are a few people out there who expect more from a big summer blockbuster than fine scenery, great cinematography, fabulous costumes, exciting stunts and Jake Gyllenhaal leaping around (with a British accent) in various stages of undress but wearing very tight trousers and with beads in his hair. I'm not sure what they expected - iambic pentameters? However, reading through the soundbites, the view seems to be that if all you're expecting is a good, fun, action-packed spectacle of a movie then you won't be disappointed.


You may, however, be disappointed if you live in Ottawa. The Ottawan railway powers that be have decided to turn their backs on the $200,000 that filming Source Code in their station could have pumped into the area - the fee wasn't high enough. But now the local government is not happy and they're making plans to strike back: '"I was really struck that Ottawa was dropped like a hot potato from a major feature film," said Ottawa South MP David McGuinty. He said the federal government should have intervened to keep the film project from moving away.' And efforts are underfoot to allow Duncan Jones to blow up Ottawa's railway station after all instead of Montreal's.

And finally

You won't have forgotten the stunning photoshoot pictures that have recently appeared, thanks to IHJ. They are not for the April edition of GQ (that features Shia LaBeouf), so maybe May? Sounds more promising.

With thanks to IHJ for the lovely stickers!

PoP Art and Mike Newell on Jake Gyllenhaal: 'a really wonderful, subtle, sensitive actor with terrific emotional range'

I don't know why it is, but everytime I hear the word ShoWest I feel the need to add an exclamation mark while listening to a certain Village People song. However... today Prince of Persia screens before the critics at Bally's and Paris in Las Vegas (around 4pm their time). After the screening, Jerry Bruckheimer will receive his lifetime achievement award.


As threatened yesterday, this gives me the perfect excuse to post a couple of pictures from my trips to Las Vegas. Fortunately, I am sparing you my detailed photographic catalogue of the Star Trek Experience, although I was quite tempted by the picture of the blue barmaid with stalky things on her head serving in Quark's bar.



This billboard was spotted (quite possibly from a very great distance) at Westwood, LA, reminding me of those giant LA Zodiac billboards back in the day. Jake Gyllenhaal - BIG!


IHJ has wonderfully posted gorgeous pictures from the Visual Guide to PoP. I realise that not only do I have this book on order, I also have sticker books coming, 3D poster books, various behind the scenes books (aimed at every age possible), jigsaws, figurines - everything but the Prince himself. We're gonna need a bigger house.

Obviously one thing about these new pictures caught my attention straight away.


The second thing that caught my attention - apart from the gobsmacking beauty and virility of Jake Gyllenhaal in these pictures (promising such wonders for the film - think IMAX) is the extraordinary headgear that we will see in Prince of Persia. Therefore, that is the focus this evening. The words around the pictures come from an interview with Mike Newell.


'I was very anxious to give it a kind of modern-epic edge, so I knew I had to reference all of those George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films, particularly the Indiana Jones series. But I also hoped to take the audience further than that, further into an ancient world, and to try and make them believe what the people in that ancient world believed. The movie's story depends on that trick. It's all about myth made reality, which is so fascinating in a tale like this. And audiences these days are cynical; they know you can do almost anything with CGI. So you have to make them forget about all that and believe absolutely in the world and the characters that they're seeing onscreen. One of the things Jerry and I always agreed upon was that we wanted to take the audience somewhere they've never been before.'


'FJI: Did the videogame serve as a point of reference as well? Newell: It did. I'm not a gamer, but I played the game and I made sure that I understood the game. I was hopeless at it, of course. [laughs] I got to be very close with the guy who created the videogame, Jordan Mechner. He would explain where certain things in the game came from and I would say, "I think we need to make the weaponry look more savage and dangerous than it does in the game." But we never said, "We can't do that because the game doesn't" or "We must do that because the game does." We wanted to use it as a point of reference but not be slavish to it. Then again, we knew that the gamers are a very important part of the audience and we tried to keep the spirit of the game. That was our primary goal—finding the spirit of the game and respecting it.'


'FJI: How did you come to cast Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular prince and Gemma Arterton as his love interest, Tamina? Newell: I know Jake's parents, so I've known him since he was a small child and I've watched him grow up to become a really wonderful, subtle, sensitive actor with terrific emotional range. That's what I wanted for this character, but at the same time I had to have an action hero. So I took a bet! Jake's a strong guy and he's immensely hard-working, so I knew that one of the things that would set him on his mettle was actually performing these stunts. A lot of the fighting in the movie is Jake and a fight routine has to be learned to the inch or people get hurt. What you have is this tremendously energetic and youthful man of action who also has a wonderful sensitive side under the surface.'


'I saw a lot of girls for the female lead; I looked at Iranian actresses, Israeli actresses and was about to go to India to look at Bollywood actresses. But Jerry kept pushing me towards English actresses because he had had such luck with Keira Knightley in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. As soon as Gemma walked in, I fell for her. She's very energetic and very feisty and very intelligent and she's wonderful at being the tough girl who can stand up to Jake's character.'


'FJI: Most of the exteriors were shot on location in Morocco. Did you enjoy your time there? Newell: When you're making a modest film, you scout lots of streets and lots of houses. The wonderful thing about making a film like this is that you get to scout lots of different countries. We looked at a number of places, including Jordan and Spain, but I kept coming back to Morocco, because it has a wonderful, epic look to it that isn't like anywhere else. It has deserts with huge sand dunes, it has rocky deserts, it has the Atlas Mountains and it has wonderful, ancient cities. There's such variety there. One of the things that all the guidebooks say is "Don't go anywhere near Morocco during the months of July and August." And, of course, that's exactly when we shot the film! So there were difficulties that came with that. But when it was done, we all felt like we had done our time in the desert—that we had fought our own battle and won.'


'FJI: Speaking of battles, Prince of Persia marks your first experience directing large-scale battle sequences. Was that one of the more challenging aspects of this assignment? Newell: Well, yes, because before this film, nobody had ever given me 400 cavalry and 100 camels and said, "Now stage a battle." Fortunately I had a brilliant first assistant director and a marvelous second unit director. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted the sequences to look and they helped me achieve it. I'm eternally grateful to them for that.' Read more here.

Some great news today - my Brothers DVD arrived! Thank you PlayUSA...


Includes pictures from IHJ and WDW.