Jake on Jack: 'Don't worry, man, I've got your back'

For many of us, this month and the next mark our two-year anniversary with Brokeback Mountain. I intend to do something more to mark the occasion but, in the meantime, I thought I'd share one of my favourite Jake and Jack Twist moments. In December 2005, Jake Gyllenhaal was cover boy of the Toronto Now magazine and an appreciative interview asked a relaxed and smoking Jake: 'And what if he, movie star Jake Gyllenhaal, could talk to a real life Jack Twist today? Gyllenhaal's big eyes get even bigger and that grin curls up. "I'd tell him, 'Gosh, I wish I could find a love that was so deep in my life. Oh, and don't worry, man. I've got your back.'"


Also in December 2005, Jake and Ang Lee were interviewed together for the Stanford Daily. During this interview, Jake admits that 'I’m a city kid, so I’ve never ridden a horse, and it was going to be a new experience. I think in the end that worked out for me because my character Jack is in a lot of ways always pretending to be better at things than he is.' As for the apparent violence of the love scenes, Jake says 'I think we were both dealing with it being uncomfortable, and the fighting was just a more comfortable, easier place to go. That’s how Heath and I related to each other. But there were other, harder, more tender scenes too. I have ex-girlfriends coming up to me after they see it saying ‘Hey, that’s not how you treated me!’'


Jake fends off the usual questions about kissing Heath with 'Plus, hey, we’re all human beings, we all have lips, you just get in there and do it.' When Jake was asked what it was like to work with Ang, Jake elaborated on his milk and water metaphor: 'I’ve gotta say that at times it could be very confusing. He would say things all the time... like with Annie (Hathaway) and me, he would say ‘You go together like milk and water,’ and I’d think what the heck does that even mean? Milk and water don’t really go all that well together, but then again if you pour milk into water is could kinda spread out all pretty? Is that what he means? Who knows?'


One can imagine the types of questions that both Jake and Heath had to face during the endless round of interviews for Brokeback Mountain, at the time of its release and in the run up to the Oscars. One journalist gave an entertaining, indignant and very sympathetic account of one such Brokeback press junket in which he is full of respect for the way in which Jake responded to the predictable and less than smart questions.

'Japanese man then ate breakfast until Jake came in, sat down, and the sexy Italian journalist asked, "What was it like kissing a man?" Are you kidding me? Lady, you've kissed one, you should know. And haven't we moved beyond this level of writing? He's an ACTOR. He is ACTING! And he's going to make some useless comment about chin stubble which is a waste of time. Fortunately, a smart writer across the way asked about getting into character, making his kisses second nature, which I thought really got to the point of the craft, character and story, thus a good answer was produced.'


'"Ang said he was trying to push you toward Heath during rehearsals but he went more towards Michelle," says Italy again. "Were you ever jealous?" What the hell is that? How is he supposed to answer? "Yes, and that's when I learned I was gay." I mean, what is she thinking? Because Jake was considered the romantic in the movie, she also asked, "What kinds of things do you do when you want to be romantic?" Then she says, "Can you describe the woman of your dreams?" followed by "Is there something really crazy that you'd done for love that you can tell us?" He said, "No," and I had to love him for it.'

'It's funny because journalists always complain about celebrities having attitudes, being demanding, or just being stupid, but I have to say Jake and Ang were two of the smartest, most humble people I met that weekend. And in case you're wondering, I asked Jake how it felt being a sex symbol for the gay community. He said, "It's fantastic."'


The Smell of Oscar Fever

Zodiac continues to get good reviews as the year closes and the Oscar race begins. I doubt that many critics believe that Zodiac will be able to win such an award but it's not stopping them from wishing that it could and from putting it on their lists.

Baltimore's City Paper polled critics to discover its top ten films of 2007. Zodiac is third on the list: 'Sometimes it feels like David Fincher's on a one-man crusade to move Hollywood forward. OK, "one-man crusade" is selling Fincher's cast and crew of hundreds short, but that's exactly the point: Fincher's the exception that proves the rule, the anti-Michael Bay, the rare director who works in this Hollywood of bloated crew sizes and CGI-happy postproduction yet still realizes his singular visions, telling riveting cinematic stories that reflect our time as well as a 1950s Billy Wilder or a 1970s Sidney Lumet did theirs. In this case, Fincher's tackled the dark, obsessive, rain-drenched tale of a real-life San Francisco serial killer and the people who sacrificed marriages, careers, and years of their lives in the hopes of decoding his ciphers and uncovering his identity. We can't think of a better way to spend three hours.'


FILMdetail has made its predictions for the Oscars and laments that Zodiac is ulikely to be a winner. 'Zodiac - In years to come people will (or at least should) look back on this film and wonder why it wasn’t showered with awards. But then Oscar history is filled with overlooked pictures. This was a stunning recreation of the Zodiac killings in San Francisco during the 60s and 70s and is arguably David Fincher’s finest work, complete with terrific performances from Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jnr. It deserves so much more but may only get a couple of nominations.'


Variety asked a series of experts what they thought of so-called reality-based films. 'Ex-cop Joseph Wambaugh liked what he saw in this year's "Zodiac," even if its makers couldn't corroborate every last detail as he did in his 1979 true-crime thriller, "The Onion Field." "'Zodiac' takes a strong position that the journalist (Jake Gyllenhaal) pretty much had figured who did it. Of course, that guy is dead. If he were alive, the film wouldn't have taken such a strong position. A dead man can't sue," Wambaugh points out. But is the movie killer the real Zodiac killer? "Your guess is as good as mine," says the scribe of the recent bestseller "Hollywood Station." "It's a helluva movie, but it's good that guy is dead."'

And to remind ourselves what Jake himself thought of this fine film, enjoy this video all over again.


Includes pictures from IHJ and Toronto Now.