Jake Gyllenhaal gets some cast mates for his Off Broadway debut, ping pong and Maggie continues to shine for Hysteria

If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, Jake Gyllenhaal's imminent Off Broadway debut, is getting nearer! Previews start on 24 August before opening night on 20 September. It's quite possible that the butterflies are starting to flutter. But, unlike An Enemy in which Jake plays both the lead and the co-star, there are other people in the play and yesterday Variety announced a couple of them:

'Brian F. O'Byrne and Michelle Gomez will join Jake Gyllenhaal in the Off Broadway play "If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet." O'Byrne ("Brotherhood," NBC's "Prime Suspect"), who won a Tony for his role in 2004 outing "Frozen," will play the environmentalist father of an overweight teen girl who befriends her drifter uncle, played by Gyllenhaal in his Off Broadway debut. Gomez, who appeared in "Boeing Boeing" on the West End, stars at the teen girl's mother. The role of the daughter has yet to be cast.

Design team includes Beowulf Borritt (sets), Susan Hilferty (costumes), Natasha Katz (lights) and Obadiah Eaves (music and sound).'

Michelle Gomez is a Scottish actress, possibly best known in the UK for Green Room a few years back, while Brian F O'Byrne, an Irish actor, is a regular in Prime Suspect and also featured in the US series Flashforward. Could be quite a mix of accents here with the only English one coming out of Jake...

Jake will no doubt be rehearsing soon as only an actor about to have his NYC Off Broadway debut can. But, at the moment, Jake continues to film An Enemy and move between Toronto and NYC. The most memorable recent sighting is the one of Jake 'Playin' ping pong like a madman' at Spin Toronto on Friday night. I'm sure I'm not the only one to be reminded of Jake's near miss with a ping pong tournament back in January 2010.

Maggie, meanwhile, continues to make TV appearances to publicise Hysteria. Last week she was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. If you're in the US, you can watch it here. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a link that works on this side of the pond. Maggie did cause a stir looking rather wonderful outside the studio. I do like this retro glamorous actress look of hers.

Sarah Gadon on comparing Pattinson and Gyllenhaal fans on Twitter and Maggie talks about Gloria

A brief little post this evening, in the absence of news. The twitter sightings of Jake Gyllenhaal (and his beautiful eyes) filming around Toronto continue. There is even a photo of the set which, apparently, is pretending it's Washington DC.

Jake's An Enemy co-star Sarah Gadon also appears in the new cinematic release Cosmopolis with Robert Pattinson. In an amusing interview today she discusses her method of comparing her co-stars, Jake and Robert and it has a little something to do with us:

'"It's interesting," Sarah mused, "every time I get a new co-star, I sign up for Twitter and I get all their fans. And so it's kind of interesting to compare Pattinson fans and Gyllenhaal fans. You get to see what kind of fans they draw".'

No pressure then...

Gloria

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, Maggie made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, during which she revealed that the name of her new daughter had been inspired by watching Patti Smith sing Gloria! You can watch the interview below or, if this link below doesn't work for you, here.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Rufus Wainwright in Toronto

Jake Gyllenhaal continues to accrue airmiles as he flies between NYC and Toronto where he's filming An Enemy. On 8 June Jake was back in the Big Apple where he was snapped leaving a restaurant...

...but last night (Monday 10 June), Jake was back in Toronto to watch old friend Rufus Wainwright play at the Luminato Festival. Tweets were excited (there were glimpses) and they continued when Jake and K'naan were spotted waiting for a table later at Terroni. There was even a photo. A little bit more info here.

Updated to add that Jake's An Enemy co-stars Sarah Gadon and Melanie Laurent were also at the concert. Thanks to Mermon for the link.

Jake has regularly been spotted at Rufus concerts over the years and it's now almost five years since that most momentous of nights when Jake actually joined Rufus on the NYC stage to do the speaky bit in Between My Legs. Rufus plays Oxford almost every year. This year will be the third time I've seen him play here and every time I can't help but take a look at the wings... Time for a memory lane trip.



Good job to all the Toronto tweeters for being on active Jake Spotting Duty!

Talking of rock and roll, my review of Rock of Ages is now up at MovieBrit!

Official poster for End of Watch released - 'Every moment of your life they stand watch'

Summer may have decided to pack its backs and go away on holiday for the foreseeable future but there is light amongst the gales and rain and it comes in the shape of the release of the official poster for End of Watch. Good to see Jake's name at the top of a poster again.

The image is via Fandango and the End of Watch facebook site.

Jake Gyllenhaal rushes back to set and a WDW Interlude with added bunting...

Never one to let the dust settle beneath his feet, Jake Gyllenhaal is back on set in Toronto filming An Enemy. It looks like he's still in a rush.

In an interview with the Toronto Standard, another star of An Enemy, Sarah Gadon, has been talking about whether or not she would like to read the novel by José Saramago on which it's based before shooting. Her answer may be a teeny spoilery so be warned:

'I am curious. Sometimes I am wary of reading the source material before I craft my ideas about a character. Because I find that I don’t want to be couched and confined by that description because I’m a person and I will ultimately bring more to that character than a character description. When Denis was showing us some of our camera tests, there was a shot of me pregnant and standing in this lighting he had devised. He said, “This, you can’t write.” And I think that you can’t write certain things that you can show in film. That’s clearly my defence of cinema, and my argument for why it’s a singular artform.'

WDW Jubilee Interlude

This weekend, in the UK we have been celebrating the Queen giving us an extra day off work - that and the fact that it's her Diamond Jubilee. It was difficult walking around Oxford yesterday without stumbling into a street party. They became especially easy to stumble into after a few pimms. We visited a couple yesterday, the first being at one of our very favourite pubs, where we were entertained with the most delicious little cakes and Oxford University's Gilbert and Sullivan singers, who were superb.

Secondly, we went to a street party in Jericho, Oxford, which, for some reason, was attended by an awful lot of pirates. This party included barrels of beer and a full line-up of singers, no doubt rivalling the Queen's Concert. We didn't stay too long due to fears that all that Hook Norton ale might make me pass out.

And it didn't even rain...

Jake Gyllenhaal relaxes in NYC after a busy week filming An Enemy in Toronto

Jake Gyllenhaal is not one to hang around between scenes on An Enemy. This weekend, Jake decided to pop back to NYC where it is hot and sunny instead of hanging around London in the pouring rain to watch a 1000 boats for the Jubilee. Possibly a wise decision. Yesterday Jake was seen out and about in the city with a friend and smiles were the order of the day.

It sounds like Jake could do with the rest. A tweeter on the An Enemy set mentioned this week: 'Spent the other night on a camera car with Jake Gyllenhaal doing 70km/h along Lakeshore shooting a car crash sequence' and then mentioned 'JG having a Bale-esque moment'. Sounds like long hours.

Thanks to IHJ for the new pics!

My non-spoilery review of Prometheus is now on MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal busy in Toronto working on his cinematic 'existential crisis'

Jake Gyllenhaal's working visit to Toronto has most certainly caught the attention of the local media. The Toronto Life has been mapping Jake's movements across the city as well as keeping an eye on where his character's clothes are from. The photographers can barely keep up with him and even the commentators are commentating on the fascination of the Toronto's dailies with Jake's movements (if  you pardon the expression).  Rather fittingly, we have new pictures of Jake on set on 31 May with co-star Melanie Laurent.

Another of the co-stars Sarah Gadon briefly mentioned An Enemy while in Cannes: '"The way Jake describes it,” she says, “it’s about a man having an existential crisis who leaves his mistress for his wife.”'

In the light of Jake's upcoming NYC stage debut, you might be interested in this article about the risks producers take in casting stars in their plays. Thanks to BBMISwear for the link.

There are other pictures here.

I put up my non-spoilery review of Prometheus on MovieBrit today.