Jake proud of Zodiac? 'He said that he is and I take him at his word'

In less than a week, in certain fortunate parts of the world, the Director's Cut of Zodiac will be out. What was undoubtedly the film event of 2007 may now become the DVD event of 2008 according to some sites - this DVD to beat will attract new audiences to a superb film and hopefully give various awards academies a bit of a pinch and a slap. No doubt happy that the version he most wanted to see, is about to be out and is receiving rave reviews already, David Fincher is doing the interview circuit. He's coming out with some fascinating stuff - about his vision of Zodiac, his directing methods, about future project Torso and about Jake Gyllenhaal - including some talk about Rendition.


First off, Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Eleswhere - surely one of the biggest advocates of Zodiac (to the extent that David says to him that he needs no publicist if he has Wells) - had a long and very interesting chat with Fincher. And what's even better, you can hear it for yourself, nearly 50 minutes of it, here.


There is much here that's fascinating, but as this is a site about Jake Gyllenhaal, I'll focus on some of the occasions when David discussed this actor, whom he clearly has affection for even if he sounds exasperated that Jake made such a big deal about the 'Let's do it again' issue. David says, referring to John Carroll Lynch, that he can't take credit for an actor's performance, to which Wells says 'But you have to take credit for Jake Gyllenhaal's performance'. David laughs and says: 'No, I can't even take credit for that... The editorial function of putting, recontextualising a take, taking this moment where a guy sat up, and this moment when, y'know, it's take 50 and the guy's exhausted; and this moment from take three where he's excited to be there - one will use those two things in the same sentence... thats what film making's about.'


'I don't think we averaged more than 22 takes on the movie... I'm always capable of telling people what it is that I want... In the same way that directors have to have talented actors in order to be able to tell their stories, actors need directors... they need somebody to watch their every facial twitch and respond to it in some sort of... it's an editorial function.'

Wells remarks that Jake must be immensely proud and David replies: 'I hope so, I mean he said that he is and I take him at his word for it. I've never known him to be disingeneous, but I think he is, I hope he is.'


Wells then says that he found Rendition 'enormously irritating' and 'enormously unsatisfying' because Jake's character is so passive - he does nothing for so long. David says that he's seen Rendition and that it boiled down to 'a structural issue' for him. 'It was an odd movie, I liked some of it, I thought some of the conceits were interesting' but he says that he found it unfortunate that it came down to a twist. 'Knowing Jake, I can't imagine he would say 'Y'know, in this scene, I think I'll just sit here and grimace' - he's not that guy! He's the guy who goes 'Well, don't you think I would just like overpower him and try and strangle him'. I always found the latter to be true!'


In an interview with MTV, David Fincher again mentions the 'lots of takes' issue - a real legacy of Zodiac (and remember it wasn't just Jake who mentioned it, Robert Downey Jr did likewise). MTV: 'You are infamous for the number of takes you subject your actors to. That reputation must feel a little old.' Fincher: 'It's like, who gives a sh--? It's not like it costs you an extra three bucks to see the movie. I don't know why anybody cares.' This interview also reveals that David had been associated with Black Dahlia before Zodiac. A lucky escape... I do like Fincher's humour and the start of this interview especially: MTV: 'Perhaps the best compliment I can give you is that I've seen "Zodiac" four or five times now, and it's holding up with every viewing.' Fincher: 'Jesus. I don't wish that on anybody.'


You can read another interview - and listen to snippets - with David Fincher here at Aintitcool.

The accolades in praise continue to pour in from critics for Zodiac and for the DVD. I rather liked this one. FilmStew have listed its favourite top ten scenes of 2007 and a scene from Zodiac is in second place (bearing in mind that a scene from Ratatouille is no 1): 'Dueling Belief Systems, Zodiac: The opening of David Fincher’s serial killer epic, which portrays the titular phantom’s nocturnal attack on a pair of teen lovers with bone-chilling intensity, is the stuff of nightmares. But the film’s most vital scene gets at the root of what makes us able to sleep at night. Cartoonist-turned-haggard-sleuth Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), after feverishly piecing together an elaborate string of clues, drags cop Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) out of bed and into an all-night diner, where he tries to convince the inspector of a suspect’s definite guilt. Toschi isn’t convinced, pointing to a lack of empirical evidence. The pull between faith and reason demonstrated here makes Zodiac a genuinely profound study not just of the different ways people rationalize evil, but also of the different ways we make sense of the world.'


Reviews of the Director's Cut DVD can be found here and at IGN. The latter gives a fascinating discussion, including this interesting assessment of Jake: 'Gyllenhaal's boy-next-door looks do a great job conveying Graysmith's inexperience first as a reporter, then a detective. He's one of the few young actors who seems to know how to use his looks to his character's advantage rather than just his own.'


Finally, IndieWire polled its critics and Zodiac was given the No 8 slot: 'Who knew the director of kinetic disturbances like "Seven" and "Fight Club" was capable of such profound restraint? In the unshakably haunting "Zodiac," David Fincher subdues that trademark visual virtuosity honed through years of making music videos to devastating effect. Aided by the beautiful, textured digital cinematography of Harris Savides, the director's stylistic shifting of gears imparts his period piece a perfectly suited atmosphere of dread. Tracking the ultimately stymied, decades-long search for the eponymous murderer, "Zodiac" exhilaratingly frustrates the impulses latent in its composite construction of serial killer/backstage newsroom/police procedural genres at every turn. In place of action-packed set pieces, it leaves room for existential contemplation, and real-life letdown replaces cathartic takedown: "Zodiac" upends "Dirty Harry" mythology, and turns the psychological profile of the studio epic on its head. The successive defeat of the three perfectly cast potential heroes -- the newspaper cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal), journalist (Robert Downey, Jr.), and chief investigator (Mark Ruffalo) -- unravels in a manner that shocks even if you know the string of murders remain among the most famous of unsolved crimes. There's no one to save the day here, and Fincher, in sticking closely to the facts, and refusing to provide the audience either cheap thrills or closure, creates as breathtakingly uncompromised a vision as American cinema has seen.'


Great stuff! I can hardly wait...

And, finally...

New pictures of Jake emerged of him having lunch yesterday in Joan's on Third in LA. Here's the link. I tend to think people should be able to eat inside an eaterie in peace, therefore I've left it so that people can look at the photos if they wish. Also, I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to Jake's cardigan...


Includes pictures from IHJ and Just Jared.