Jake supports the strike - Jake and family on the Brokeback red carpet

Despite the Golden Globes ignoring Zodiac, and despite the Golden Globes not nominating a certain young actor for his portrayal of Jack Twist, Jake Gyllenhaal was to have been a presenter at the awards that were due to have taken place next Sunday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. But like so many other actors, Jake was one of those who refused to cross a picket line of writers - not so surprising, not least because of the occupation of Jake's mother Naomi Foner.


It was good to see a picture of Jake with Naomi yesterday and, thinking of Jake and his family, here is a video of Jake at the LA premiere of another great film - Brokeback Mountain. Looking for all the world like this was recorded after the showing of the film, here you can see an emotional looking Maggie, Peter and Stephen congratulating Jake on what must have been quite an experience to watch - both triumph and ordeal. Proud Stephen has a camera and looks keen to capture this event.


For further atmosphere of a 'Jake red carpet' watch this fan film of Jake at the Brokeback premiere; it's just like being there.




David Fincher's Zodiac Triumph

But, I'm still in a Zodiac mood and, thanks to IHJ, here are screencaps of one of my favourite moments from the making of documentary - here you can see what it's like to do 36 takes of a seemingly simple scene. Despite all the stories that came from the set about Jake complaining about the number of takes (and the rage he jokes about in the commentary during one scene), there is ample evidence here that there were good times, even if they could be frustrating. Judging by the documentary, one would be forgiven for thinking that Jake giggled his way through the shoot. This is what Jake is like when he finally nails it (followed by a picture of what Jake's like when he's been told he hasn't...).



David Fincher is keen, and rightly so, to do all he can to promote this new DVD. As a result, David has been doing some interviews. This one is with CHUD. I do like how David asks the interviewer at the end if he's seen the DVD and if he likes the Arthur Leigh Allen features. This is fascinating stuff and this is such an interesting interview. When asked about the release date (obviously not his choice), David says:


'I'm the last person to ask about that stuff. Would I have liked to have seen it out last year? Yeah. At the time the prevailing wisdom was, it's a very crowded market place, we don't have enough time to get really really good materials and put them in place to sell this movie at the end of 2006. We said okay, if you don't think you have the time to do as good a job as you think you can do... it's the same thing with me, I don't want the studio coming to me and saying, 'We know you say you need 26 weeks to finish this, but really we want to give you six.' That doesn't serve anybody's best interest. At the end of 2006 both studios felt like the best place was what we later heard referred to as the dumping ground of March [laughs]. You agree to this stuff and then you hear somebody go, 'Wow, they're dumping your movie in March?' You go, 'Well... yeah... I guess so.'


And on the controversial (but never long enough) length: 'You could do it as something compressed, where you get the gist of it, and we would have shots of Jake [Gyllenhaal] half asleep and you would have those obligatory shots where the boss says, 'You look like shit.' And in the end I still don't feel like you get enough of what happens with his family, we don't get enough with his wife and kids, but it was all we could do to get it in at under two hours and forty minutes. I feel like we took about as much time as you can really expect an audience to sit still for and we tried to make them feel what it was like to be invested in this circuitous run down the rabbit hole.'


Everyone agrees that cinematographer Harry Savides did an amazing job with Zodiac - just look at the film - and it's so interesting to hear David say that Harry was extremely suspicious of this new digital technology: 'He was happy with it. I mean, it's hard to gauge with Harris. Part of his humor comes from being the guy where you're not going to hear about what's amazing, you're going to hear about what's totally fucked up. He's harder on himself than he is on anybody else, but he's never going to say, 'I love it,' he's going to say, 'It's totally fucked up. I wish I had never gotten out of bed. I wish I had never answered the call.' Look, I think his assessment of it is absolutely correct: this technology is in its infancy. We're not talking about it walking, we're talking about can it hold its head up. We're at that stage.'


The reviews of the Zodiac DVD are excellent and abundant. I particularly liked this one from Filmjerk. This is a great review and, even though they were not fans of Jake or Anthony Edwards before (why ever not?), they were won over: 'Jake Gyllenhaal and Anthony Edwards... well, frankly, I could do with or without either of them, and Mark Ruffalo bugs the living daylights out of me, yet here they are, not only not annoying me but keeping me vested in the story. There is nary a misstep when it comes to the acting. Every role seems to be perfectly cast, although I guess that is what happens when you surround yourself with actors like Brian Cox, John Getz, Philip Baker Hall, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, John Carroll Lynch and Dermot Mulroney.'

And finally

Maggie is busy again. On 16 January, Maggie will be the 'very special guest' at a night of literature to raise money for a children's writing centre in Brooklyn. The event will take place at 2537 Broadway (at 95th Street).


Includes pictures from IHJ.