Has Jake's Giant Leap taken two steps backwards? And Jake dances to Rufus' 14th Street

Jake Gyllenhaal may have only just stepped off the set of one film but now we're waiting to find out what's next - will it be Nailed or will it be the Unnamed Moon Project, which may be named afterall, just not named very well, as Giant Leap? When Jake was interviewed for the UK's Channel 5 News back in October 2007, he affirmed that his next or next-to-next project was on the moon (as it were). And so I thought that maybe UMP maybe next for Jake after Brothers.



But then we hear that Nailed has a startdate of April 14. Not only that, it's actual production, according to IMDb, began in January. It is due to film in South Carolina and Connecticut and, possibly not coincidentally, the ACLU charity site had this prize on its bidding list a short time ago: 'The winner of this auction lot will visit Gyllenhaal on the set of his latest film in Connecticut, at a mutually agreeable date from the end of March through April 2008.'


No more has been heard of the Unnamed (or Badly named) Moon Project until this week and the imminent release of UMP director Doug Liman's new film Jumper. This UGO feature on Jumper was published this week:

UGO: What can you tell me about your upcoming moon colonization project?
DL: It's with Jake Gyllenhaal. We're in development on it. It's a script I wrote about ten years ago. I think the greatest accompanishment in our lifetime really was the Apollo program. And rather than just tell the history of the first lunar landing, I want to make it relevant to a young audience by having the group today recreate what the Apollo program did forty years ago.'


In another interview, with Coming Soon, Doug was asked: 'What's next for you? The writers' strike is over, and while I assume you want to rest because this has been a long journey, do you think you'll jump right into "Untitled Moon Project" next and will you actually go to the moon to stay in line with how you made this movie? Liman: Yeah, I'm thinking very seriously about that film, and I basically have two approaches to it. The movie would cost about $100 million to make, so how much would it cost to actually go to the moon and make an IMAX documentary instead? Could I spend $99 million going to the moon and a million dollars shooting an IMAX movie or is it going to be a fictional story. I think ultimately, it's going to be cheaper to make the movie than to physically go (to the moon).'


And to add further confusion on the projected start date for UMP's production, MTV's movie blog seems to indicate that Doug may be first doing a biopic of CIA agent Valerine Plame, starring Nicole Kidman.

So I'm completely none the wiser and as confused as ever. I'm beginning to think that we may have to wait for Jake in Space until after Nailed. But with filming to start on Nailed in April, we'll know soon enough. I don't know what it is about UMP, but it brings out the October Sky and Moonlight Mile in me.


Jake dances along to Rufus

One thing we do know is that Jake went to see WDW favourite Rufus Wainwright again, a couple of nights ago, with a couple of buddies, at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. According to one account: 'The crowd was fantastic. At one point in the middle of the show, Rufus was standing at the microphone trying to say something, but we are screaming so loudly and wouldn't let him speak. He loved it. He said, "I feel like Obama." The LA crowd definitely made him feel loved.'



'It was a seated venue, but a lot of the crowd got on their feet for 14th Street and Beautiful Child. It was fun to see Jake Gyllenhaal two rows behind us standing, dancing and singing his heart out to 14th Street. After Beautiful Child Rufus said, "when I wrote that song I thought how the hell am I going to sing that!......I sing it every night now."' Jake's certainly seen Rufus enough to have all the words learned by heart but it really is so good to hear of Jake having such a good time - and to a track as great as 14th Street too. This picture shows Rufus attending the Zodiac NYC party back in the Spring of 2007 - almost a year ago. The picture below that is gratuitous.




Includes pictures from IHJ and Getty.