Jake and Reese to save the world in Roland's next blockbuster?

Another week, another rumour... This time a Vancouver site suggests that Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon are to star in Roland Emmerich's next guaranteed blockbuster disaster movie 2012, which is due out in little more than a year, on 19 July 2009.


'One of Hollywood's hottest couples may soon be headed our way. Rumour has it, none other than Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal will be here to star in an epic new flick called 2012. It centres around a group of people who face natural disasters, such as typhoons and volcanoes, that coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. Filming is expected to get underway in Los Angeles and in Vancouver in late June. 2012 will hit theatres next year.'


I'm a bigger fan of summer blockbusters than perhaps I should be, but even I took a start at this one, hoping that this is merely just another rumour. Neither Jake nor Reese appear to me to be the kind of actors who would appear in such a film (plot according to IMDb: 'With the Mayan calender ending in 2012, a large group of people face natural disasters like volcanoes, typhoons, and glaciers'), even though Jake's name does have a tendency to pop up in Roland's interviews. Roland was, of course, the director of The Day After Tomorrow. During the publicity for 10,000 BC, Roland mentioned that he needed to have unknown actors, no longer could Jake Gyllenhaal be seen running after a mammoth (a shame, in some ways, I thought). In another recent interview, Roland said that he and Jake were still good friends.


The Day After Tomorrow gave Jake a chance to talk about global environmental issues. The destruction of the world in 2012 - due to the alignment of the planets or whatever other reason - may be less easy to explain. However, I doubt even Jake has the ability to film both Prince of Persia and 2012 in June. Time will tell and we'll know soon enough.

I'd be in London

Talking of The Day After Tomorrow, here is a brief interview with Jake, from the London premiere of the film: 'He and Dunst are keeping a low profile in the British capital, though Gyllenhaal does marvel at the offbeat kind of attention they attract. "We don't even get photographed at pubs," he told reporters. "We get snapped at the coffee shop. Maybe they think we're smuggling something in our coffee cups, because we do nothing that interesting." Although Day After Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich assured the press that the film's dark premise about vicious global warming should not be over-interpreted, it still seemed fitting to ask Gyllenhaal what he'd do if he had one more day left on Earth. Gyllenhaal said he would spend the day with his family, or else "I'd be in London, doing press."'


Here's a picture of Jake arriving in London, just for encouragement, and it needn't be the last day on earth - any old day would do... I would also point out that, in London pubs, people are too concerned with trying to get a round in and the price of a pint to get their cameras out. Coffee shops operate at a slower and more gentle pace, allowing more snapping opportunities.


Another project still on the cards...

Doug Liman, the director of what, for some time, appeared to be Jake's next project, The Unnamed Moon Project, has just been subjected to a Q&A at a screening of Jumper. As this blogger recounts: 'I went to a screening of Jumper at The Symphony Space in their downstairs Thalia Theater. Doug Liman, the director, spoke before the screening and shared he is currently working on two projects: the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame and a moon mission flick with Jake Gyllenhaal. He's also planning a third project, Knight Rider, and described this eventual remake as being made purely to entertain in this era of insanity. He stated, "It's like chicken soup, something that this particular audience will understand."'


One wonders if Doug has too many irons in the fire. Chicken soup?

Pictures from IHJ.