Jake - 'This movie will [bleep] your mind - and bleep me out, cos it's true'

While we look forward to the release of the DVD of Rendition (see below), today I've been watching a UK MTV documentary about Zodiac, focusing on the perspectives of David Fincher (the meticulous director with a vision), Mark Ruffalo (the relaxed, easygoing actor who 'got' David) and, above all, Jake Gyllenhaal who speaks more honestly than ever about the process of filming Zodiac, a process that made him feel frustration and pride in equal parts. There is a good chance that this video (in 6 parts) won't work outside the UK (in which case I will try and get round that shortly because this is too good to miss), so, just in case, this is what Jake had to say, and there were things here that surprised me.


Casting Jake

First off, it is well known that David Fincher wanted noone other than Jake for the role of Robert Graysmith and, even more, Jake was a significant reason for David even pulling the project together at all. But what I didn't know is that David wanted Jake for the role because Jake had a great reference - Jennifer Aniston. 'She gave me this role, so no problem...'

David: 'Jennifer Aniston cast this movie because she was saying 'Oh my God! Jake! You'll love him. he's fantastic! He's so charming, he's so great!' Jake: 'She can be one hell of an influence.' David: 'I had seen Jake in Donnie Darko and I'd seen Jake in The Good Girl and I liked that he could be part of something that was dark without having to play dark.'


It weighed heavily on Jake that David wouldn't do Zodiac without him. 'Ach! It's so hard, it's so hard. I've got to tell you, I mean the hardest thing... I mean one day when we have more time, I'm going to go into it with you because to be... it's just tough, really tough. No. It's a nice story when you think about it now because that's the way David is. David gets something in his mind that he wants. It's wonderful when you're the actor that he wants and a lot of people at the time may have not had a lot of faith in you and he'll fight for you. He wanted me. He wouldn't make the movie without me. It was essential. That is what you want from a filmmaker.'




This makes me wonder - did Jake really feel that other people didn't have faith in him at the time? Was this a real motivation for Jake - to do Zodiac because a director wanted him so strongly? It's got to make you feel good. And then the reality of actually doing the project may then have been a bit of a shock - this was easier for Mark Ruffalo to deal with because he was older and there was less pressure on his shoulders. No such luxuries for Jake.


Why Jake took the role

'David was veering away from what he did in Seven and what people would expect from him, particularly because of the same genre of movie. I love to be a part of that. I love to be a part of people coming into a movie expecting a certain thing that they've already seen and being totally blown away and surprised by the the fact that this director who had done this quintessential serial killer had now just mucked it all up and turned it up on its head - I'm always up for a little rowdiness!'


On the case

Jake: 'Robert Graysmith works at the San Francsico Chronicle as a cartoonist and he happens to be in the editorial room when the first cipher comes in and becomes fascinated by it immediately. And I think just first as... fun. And then slowly, as they start coming in and as the city of San Francisco becomes obsessed with the case and once it's printed and it's public, he just becomes fascinated like any kind of obsession.'

'He definitely looks up to Paul Avery. He was sort of like very charismatic and very funny and at the same time had a real dark side, I think. Robert just wants to be part of their cool team - cool kids.' Is it just me or does Jake look exhausted here?



The case that couldn't be solved

Jake: 'What happened was because everybody needed a warrant and there were different counties and there were different... and the red tape that followed, you know, I think that it was impossible for these men to solve the case and the reason why someone like Robert Graysmith gets as close as he does is because he doesn't have to deal with all that stuff.'

David: 'These guys didn't know what they were dealing with and didn't know profoundly.'


Jake: 'I remember talking about this on set, that this movie's about the advent of the cell phone. That was kind of a joke the whole time because I think that if there had beeen cell phones at that time, this case would have been solved pretty quickly.'

'There's a great moment and I remember David focusing on it. He wanted for Robert [Downey Jr] to dial on the rotary phone the whole number. he was like... [phone noises] - I remember thinking like this has got to get cut out of the movie. Like there's no way. They're going to cut right into this part, right when you finish it. But David keeps it and just sits there while he dials the phone cos that's the movie.'



A new school of discipline

Jake: 'Oh, I am never going to make a movie about obsession again, as it's like [exhales] I don't even know... yeah [laughs].'


'Some directors spend their time going like 'I'm going to work with my actors before hand for six months and we're all going to get to know each other and, when we get on set, it's gonna flow. David works in a different way, when he almost like drills it out of you...'



'I don't think I fully appreciated everything he gave me. I could open a drawer on set and there would be the things already for me, my character was mapped out by David. All of the pens that Robert Graysmith had, the type of paper, the erasers he used, he's meticulous. I remember having pens in my pocket and I had picked up a pen and we did a couple of takes and David was like 'Is that a ball point?' as there's like a little click on the top of it. I was like 'Err, yeah, I think there's a...' He was like 'He wouldn't have a ball point then, he'd have a felt tip. Can somebody take that out? Can we delete the rest of those last takes?' And you're like [hand on head] 'Oh my God!' I get why he does it now! [laughs] If you were to talk to me a couple... six months ago, I don't know if I would have understood why he was doing it. He paints with people and it's a frustrating thing sometimes to be an actor in that process, but ultimately the end result when you see something that he's done is really extraordinary. It's an extraordinary painting that he's made.'



The twist [with bleeps]

Jake: 'There is a twist - it [bleep] with your head - that's the twist. Cos when you leave a movie, you know, it gives you the perfect answer? It's perfect, there's no twist. This movie will [bleep] your mind - and bleep me out, cos it's true.'





Rendition caps from That Scene

I wasn't going to post these caps because Rendition is not yet out on DVD. However, these stills are now whizzing round the net and so I thought why not? If you don't want to look at them, please go no further...