The Brothers' schedule, Jake thanks BAFTA, Zodiac's London nominations and much more

There's quite a bit to get through this evening, so consider yourself forewarned - I recommend you pour yourself something warming, get out some nibbles, put your feet up and forget the snow or ice outside your window. To get straight to the point, let's transport ourselves to New Mexico and take a look at Brother's filming locations for the next week, thanks to a poster at IMDb today. The signs are that Jake's going to be busy over his birthday, which is something he may well be accustomed to - Jake regularly films at this time of year.


Here's what they say [abbreviations are mine]: 'Filming has begun in Glorietta/Las Vegas and in at the Greer Garson studios in Santa Fe. Filming in Los Alamos will begin next week, December 16-21, 2007 near downtown and on Barranca Mesa. "Base camps" will be set-up nearby each of the geographic filming areas. A "base camp" is the staging area where the film crew put all the big trailers (hair, make-up, wardrobe, actors, etc.) and equipment, with a dining hall/kitchen/restroom area nearby. One of the base camps will be in main parking lot and in the Parrish Hall of the Imacculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church. The other base camp will be at the Los Alamos Golf Club parking lot and meeting facility.

Sun, December 16 (afternoon): Trucks/trailers arrive Los Alamos and set-up base camp* in the parking lot behind and around the Immaculate Heart of Mary parking lot.
Mon, 17 (all day): Filming at United Church; base camp at IHM.
Tue, 18 (all day): same as above and then moving base camp to Golf Course.
Wed, 19 (all day): Filming at residence on Barranca Mesa; base camp at Golf Course.
Thur, 20 (all day): same as above.
Fri, 21 (all day); same as above and then leaving Los Alamos.'


You can read an interview with David Benioff, the writer of Brothers, here.

For your consideration - Brokeback Mountain

I am very grateful to a WDW reader who sent me a download of a Brokeback Mountain video, which I believe to be an Oscar 2006 For your Consideration video. Although some of its interviews with Jake, Heath and Ang were recorded at the same time as those in the infamous DVD extras, much is new, including a wonderful section from the BAFTAs 2006 when Jake shows just how thrilled he is to have won his award: 'I totally didn't expect it. It's premature I think but I'll take it!'


Elsewhere in the video, Jake reflects on his filming relationship with Heath Ledger: 'It's been really wonderful creating an intimacy with him - he's like a genuinely nice guy and I just feel like I'm not that afraid of it... Normally, you feel uncomfortable around people or you feel weird, but he's just, I don't know, maybe it's his Australian background, I don't know what it is. He makes me feel comfortable.' You should be able to download the video here (just follow the instructions) - thanks very much, friend, for doing this for us. Any problems let me know.



Zodiac's fortune

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today and, not surprisingly but nevertheless disappointingly, Zodiac was not among them. Rotten Tomatoes and Cinematical ('And where's Zodiac?') are among the sites that have duly noted the absence of Zodiac.


However, the nominations for the London Film Critics awards were also announced today and in these Zodiac fared much, much better. Zodiac has been nominated for Film of the Year and David Fincher is up for Director of the Year. Although, unfortunately, there's no mention of Jake, the good news is that Maggie Gyllenhaal is nominated for Actress of the Year for her performance in Sherrybaby. The winners will be announced on 8 February next year.

Zodiac continues to feature in the top ten lists of film critics. MTV has placed Zodiac amongst its top films: 'David Fincher's inquiry into a spate of serial killings in Northern California at the end of the 1960s (the Summer of Love was definitely over) exhibits a master filmmaker's control of complex data within a highly evolved thriller narrative. The Zodiac case was never solved, but the movie offers persuasive closure with the chilling performance of John Carroll Lynch. And Robert Downey Jr. gives one of his most pungently hilarious performances as the sour, hell-bound reporter, Paul Avery. (Fincher says he just got out of the way and let Downey do what he does — it feels like the actor is pulling his acidulous lines out of the ether.) A lot of people were put off by the picture's 158-minute running time. Personally, I recommend the slightly more expansive "director's cut" DVD — the rare post-theatrical artifact that wholly justifies the restoration of excised material. Special mention: the spookiest use of a Donovan song ever.'

The Orlando Sentinel places Zodiac at No 5: 'A crime mystery benefiting from a dazzling, showy turn by Robert Downey Jr. as a reporter, and the usual solid, ultra realistic work from Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo, all on the trail of an infamous serial killer. David Fincher's best movie ever.'


An overlooked list at 411mania pays tribute to Zodiac: 'Another casualty terribly hamstringed by early release, David Fincher's astonishing Zodiac was run over in March by Wild Hogs. This event, you readers with mildly far reaching memories might recall, is what finally sent me over the edge with the American moviegoing public... As mentioned previously in another column, Zodiac is one of the few times where the marketing people got it exactly right, at least with its tagline. "There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer." David Fincher has told us that story. A story of desperate men doing desperate things, each for their own wildly desperate reasons. Each performance quite strong (with special notice going to Robert Downey Jr.'s addled portrayal of Paul Avery), each depiction part of the kaleidoscopic nature of investigation. Just when you begin to see something solid, the turn comes and the pebbles frustratingly fall into a hopelessly new pattern.'


'The film may be called Zodiac, but it's truly about three men - Robert Graysmith, Dave Tocchi [sic], and Paul Avery - who drove themselves to the brink (and in one case over) because of simple need. Downey's Avery, his need for a story. Mark Ruffalo's Tocchi, his need to catch. In the case of Jake Gyllenhaal's Graysmith (and ultimately them all), the need to know. The things these men sacrificed to that need left them shattered and no more satisfied than when they began their journey. And in that way, those three men were no more or less victims of the Zodiac as anyone else. Lives lost entirely, or lives lost endlessly chasing windmills in the dark. Your choice.'

Maggie and Peter out and about and more lunchboxes...

Maggie, Peter and Ramona were seen out and about in a very sunny and crisp NYC on Tuesday this week.



Their lunchbox is still up for auction with Peter saying about it "I wanted to dip it in wax and then light it on fire to see how it would turn out. But Maggie said that we only had one box and I wasn't allowed to do that." I see Maggie's point here. As we're talking lunchboxes here are three of them, the first is Maggie and Peter's, the second is Reese Witherspoon's and the third is Natalie Portman's. You can see all of them here (and/or bid on them) and you can do the lunchbox guessing game here. It seems WDW favourite Michael Stipe auctioned off his lunchbox, along with many photos, for $35,000. What does one do with a lunchbox that pricey?




Includes pictures from IHJ, Popsugar, the Lunchbox Auction.