Why Jake Gyllenhaal appeared in the Time to Dance video and news on tickets for If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet

So, what should an actor do, when he or she doesn't want to make a full length feature film but they still want to remind all of us out here that they're still about while also impressing directors and earning points for looking cool? Music videos! Just as directors like Zodiac's David Fincher have honed their craft with music videos, actors too like to dabble, especially Jake Gyllenhaal.

(As it's Wimbledon time it seems fitting to lead with Giving up the Gun:)



Jake is no novice to music videos having featured in more than his fair share over the last few years (think The Shoes, Vampire Weekend and Jamie Foxx, not to mention appearances in SNL videos and Rufus Wainwright stage performances). The media is noticing that Jake is not alone and Jake was interested enough in an article appearing in Reuters and Chicago Tribune today that he chipped in with an email about why he appeared in Time to Dance. Of course, this particular video was a little different than most - it was extended and gave Jake plenty of scope to explore, without words, a character and a story.

'"I did the video because it exists alone, by itself. Like a question mark at the end of a sentence," Gyllenhaal wrote. In the video, directed by British filmmaker Daniel Wolfe, Gyllenhaal, 31, plays a homicidal fencer who stabs and beats people to death. The Shoes dreamed up the concept with Wolfe, who then called in Gyllenhaal. "We needed a great actor to do it as we didn't want (gratuitous) violence in our video. We wanted this as a piece of art and not a buzz video," band member Guillame Briere told Reuters. Briere said that for Gyllenhaal, the video was a "really different experience from what he is doing normally" and a chance for him to show people "how good he is" as an actor.'

Not bad for a product lasting a little over 8 minutes.

If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet - ticket information

All is quiet with Jake as he spends the final days on An Enemy before heading to Comic-Con in San Diego to publicise End of Watch. However, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, Jake's NYC stage debut, is getting closer. 

I'm grateful to a source and reader who has informed me that you'll be able to buy tickets from the Roundabout Theatre website and Audience Services number: 212-719-1300 from (and including) 23 July.

My review of The Five Year Engagement is now on MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal in NYC and a WDW London Interlude

You've got to love the summer, especially when it means that Jake Gyllenhaal gets out the white t-shirt and shorts. If he were in the UK he'd be in wellies with a brolly. On 30 June Jake continued his pattern of spending weekends in NYC, taking his regular breaks from filming An Enemy in Toronto. On this particular Saturday in the Big Apple, Jake was seen sharing a very animated discussion with a friend.

Many thanks to IHJ for the wonderful pics, of which this is my favourite.

WDW London Interlude

Yesterday, taking full advantage of some warm sunshine, we headed off to London to spend a few hours walking along the busy Thames, which is a river transformed from its stretch that flows through Oxford and is known as the Isis. While there were clues to the upcoming Olympics, we also had a look at the Golden Hind, the alarmingly small vessel on which Sir Francis sailed around the globe in the 1570s before being knighted on its decks by Gloriana, Elizabeth I herself.

In 1921, Shackleton's ship The dock where Shackleton's ship The Quest was fitted out at Hay's Wharf before its great journey south. This dock is now preserved as the striking and elegant Hay's Galleria (tasty bagels).

Other landmarks old and new stood proud and round or tall or taller.

Finally, thanks to Borough Market, there was cake... (thanks to Mr WDW for the final shot!).

My review of Ice Age 4: Continental Drift is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal to appear at Comic-Con in San Diego on 14 July

An Enemy is now into its last couple of weeks of filming in Toronto; its last scheduled date is 13 July. The indication is that as soon as Jake Gyllenhaal wraps, he'll be ready to move on. With no time to waste, Jake will  be heading down to San Diego to to publicise End of Watch at Comic-Con on Saturday 14 July.

Bleeding Cool has published the entire schedule for the event at San Diego's Convention Center and it includes:

'Saturday, July 14 – Open Road panel in Hall H at 12:45 p.m. with Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña and writer/director David Ayer.'

Good news! We'll have the first opportunity in quite a while to hear Jake talk about his work. If it's half as good as what came out of San Francisco's WonderCon in April 2010, then we are in for treats. Of course, back in 2009 Comic-Con gave us our first tantalising hints of Prince of Persia.

Talking of An Enemy:



Thanks to BBMISwear for the heads up!

Jake Gyllenhaal bound for Puzzle Palace with McG? And all in the line of duty...

Amongst all the twitter sightings of Jake in Toronto, there was one today that stood out by a mile. Hollywood's The Tracking Board tweeted "Jake Gyllenhaal enters Puzzle Palace'. This is the first indication that Jake is about to take on a role in an action adventure described by its likely director McG as having a 'Die Hard tone'.

As McG explained in the Playlist, it's about '"A kid who has to clear his father’s name by breaking into One Police Plaza in New York, which is the most secure building imaginable in a post-9/11 world. It’s a smaller picture, it’s designed for a [Ryan] Gosling [type actor]. It’s not as small and antithetical as ‘Drive,’ but it’s not a big giant over-the-top action picture, it’s meant to be a fun, intelligent action character study.”

We've been saying for quite a while in the comments here that Jake and Ryan may have been going up for similar, if not the same, roles. This is further evidence that there is that Gosling type out there that film makers want and audiences love. This is excellent news. It's also early news, so expect to hear nothing more about it for quite a while. No dates are set. Very little is set.

But does it mean we'll see Jake in a white vest? And will he get a catchphrase? Or not. Clearly, Jake's End of Watch training will stand him in good stead for breaking into a secure police station. Man Vs Wild won't hurt either.

End of Watch

We might not be hearing much yet from Jake himself about End of Watch - that will no doubt come - but his fellow cast members continue to reveal little glimpses. This week actress Cody Horn has been discussing her role in the film to the Hollywood Reporter:

"It's a total guy’s movie. And I got to scratch an itch of playing a tough cop. I was shooting guns, I even got tased!," she says, a little too enthusiastically. She got what? “We had gone to this training facility for a tactical challenge and fitness test where you run, grapple, shoot to become a police officer. To pass the test to become a cop, you have to get tased and get pepper sprayed so you know what it feels like."

Her character, a former Marine turned cop whose dad is the head of the police force, is a real badass. So of course Horn raised her hand first for the tasering. “Then Jake had to do it and then we ended up tasing the entire cast."

Her descripton is pretty chilling. "It feels like it's ripping your bones out of your body and simultaneously hammering your bones with a jackhammer. Cops have to tolerate it for five seconds. They did it to everyone else for one second. But they did me for three seconds because I was screaming so much, I forgot to say 'Stop."

Clearly the cast earned their money on End of Watch. Although there is a tip here - if you get tasered, best to say stop.

Thanks to IHJ for the pictures!

Jake Gyllenhaal goes back to school!

There are rare occasions when it's a good thing when Monday comes round again, when you can't wait to get back to work or school. If my workplace or school were turned into a filmset for Jake Gyllenhaal it's fair to say I'd never leave the place. Not  that I think it would do my work ethic much good... The lucky students of UTSC (University of Toronto Scarborough) are faced with such a dilemma: work diligently, taking only brief respites for a cup of tea and a slice of cake, or get that Jake Radar spinning and track him down. For yes! UTSC has become UGT, the school in An Enemy at which Jake's character teaches.

There is a no photo rule on set - isn't there always?... - but that hasn't stopped a little bit of sneaky subterfuge amongst the students. Here is a goodie and there is another one of the set here. There are tweets galore. Jake has also been spotted at Poutinis, the local home of chips and gravy (and there was me thinking that was English fayre).

There are some more new old pictures of Jake, thanks to IHJ, including photos from the 2009 Global Green event in LA. Has Jake ever looked more stunning? Discuss.

There are also more from the set of End of Watch back in August 2011. You know what they say about men with big guns? Big feet.

Keeping up to date with Jake Gyllenhaal and a WDW Peaceful Interlude

All is quiet on the Jake Gyllenhaal front, with filming on An Enemy in Toronto steaming ahead. This week, it's tweeted that the filming has moved to a local school for a few days. Although, Jake's largely managed to avoid being photographed by anything other than the film camera, a shot did emerge of Jake working out, possibly not the best of places for sneaking a pic. Jake is certainly keeping the local media busy with the sightings.

Early last year, Jake hitched a ride on the Mumford and Sons Railroad Revival Tour. We've mentioned the documentary about the tour before - Big Easy Express - but now we have some dates. You'll be able to JakeSpot on iTunes on 26 June. It will be released on blu ray and DVD on 24 July. Thanks to BBMISwear for the dates!

Several of Jake's films have the most amazing and memorable soundtracks - Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac, Moonlight Mile and Donnie Darko to name but four and in no particular order. On 1 August a special re-mastered blue vinyl edition of those most incredible Donnie Darko sounds is to be issued.

WDW Peaceful Interlude

This weekend, we grabbed a gap in the rainy clouds to venture out to Peace in the Park, an open day at the Global Retreat Centre a few miles south of Oxford. They have the most beautiful gardens and as well as enjoying those we were able to listen to music, eat cake and drink tea, with the most marvellous views over the countryside. Lots of red kites about too. We had lunch in a pub with a red kite nest in the tree above us, visited constantly by the calling parent birds. Lunchtime entertainment.

End of Watch to open in UK on 23 Nov, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rufus Wainwright, a WDW Interlude with Aung San Suu Kyi in Oxford

Some good news for the UK arrived this week, distracting us from our rainy sodden drought, in the shape of the release date for End of Watch on these shores - 23 November. This might be a couple of months after the US release but it's not too shabby, especially as this is not necessarily a film that travels especially well across seas. I'm hoping to be proved wrong on that. I'm also hoping for news of release dates for other countries soon.

Last night in Toronto, Jake Gyllenhaal was back in the company of Rufus Wainwright and Jorn Weisbrodt, a week after the concert. This time they ate together at the Harbord Restaurant in Toronto. As it's dinner time in the UK (an I'm hungry) I thought I'd post a link to their very tasty menu.

Lorene Scafaria is the writer and director of the imminent Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, a comedy starring Steve Carrell and Keira Knightly that looks for the bright side of the end of the human race and the annihilation of the planet. When asked about her inspiration, Lorene had this to say: "I was always more interested in the human relationships and the minutia of the people in the films, like 'The Day After Tomorrow' where I'm finding myself more invested in Jake Gyllenhaal's crush on a girl, not necessarily what was going to happen (to the planet)." Clearly, she has her priorities right.

A WDW Oxford Interlude

One of Oxford's most famous annual ceremonials took place today, the Encaenia. Conducted almost entirely in Latin, this 'Parliament of Dons' at Oxford University's most glorious and steeply-seated Sheldonian Theatre bestows honorary degrees on the wise and the good. They were particularly wise and good today. Crowds turned out in their hundreds to welcome Aung San Suu Kyi, and I was among them. These are history-making moments and I don't want to miss them.

Also in attendance were the Chancellor of the University, Chris Patten (whose robes were carried by a pageboy) and another honoree thriller writer John le Carré. More details of the visit here.

Pictures by WDW and Mr WDW.

Happy Solstice everyone!