Life and laughs in a bubble: the sun 'nearly burned a hole in my head'

After all this talk and excitement over the newly unveiled Tommy Cahill, I thought I'd go back and look at an earlier Jake Gyllenhaal incarnation, the one in the bubble. It might have been controversial, it might have offended almost everybody on the planet, including six-armed goddesses and the whore next door, it might have been disowned by Disney, but nothing makes me laugh outloud like Jimmy Livingston (and his mother).


'"It's a wonderful love story -- a freaky, awesome ride with crazy characters," said Gyllenhaal, who starred in 1999's "October Sky." What was it like in the bubble? "I got really hot and then really cold in there," he tells Seventeen magazine in its July issue. "The sun worked like a magnifying glass; it nearly burned a hole in my head." It was also difficult to hear inside the bubble. "I learned how to read lips pretty well -- and to yell," he said.'



Jake's childhood had prepared him for life in a bubble and the need to give it a good squeeze: 'The only problem is that growing up in Hollywood is not necessarily that close to any normal reality. It's a curse in the sense that you're trapped in a bubble that you have to become aware of in order to pop. Which is what I'm trying to do.'


Bubble Boy helped Jake pop that one bubble while arguably helping to inflate another. It enabled him to break free of college: 'But my sophomore year was a tough year for me, both intellectually and emotionally. I felt slightly schizophrenic because I was trying to live a regular college life, but I also wanted to be creative. I had no creative outlet at school, so I was thinking a lot about acting. It was difficult to juggle classes with the constant phone calls from agents offering me film roles. I was so confused, but eventually I knew I had to make a decision. And I believe I made the right choice.'


'I laughed out loud at the perversity of the script... It's funny but it's also touching and warm. It's a beautiful love story, and it's a story about a boy finding himself.' Both Jake and the director Blair Hayes defended the film's innocence against those who took offence, repeatedly repeating the metaphor of the bubble. Although not to everybody's taste, it had some killer lines in it, not to mention scenarios (I'm thinking bus stops here and the shop robbery). 'Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess?', 'and the prince climbed up Rapunzel's hair to the top of the tower and said, "Come with me, and we'll live happily ever after." Then Rapunzel left her plastic bubble and died. The end.', 'Supper time was the best! Nothing could beat Mom's homemade, vitamin-rich, soy-based, germ-free, fat-free fiber cookies.' These are some of the bubble cherries.


Jake drew inspiration for his portrayal of Jimmy from a series of films Blair made him watch: 'I used Peter Sellers in Being There, Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Buster, with his face, in silent films, says so much. Charlie, through his movement. The running in the bubble at the beginning was all Chaplin stuff. The voice came out of watching and thinking what a child would do.'


This interview also contains one of my favourite anecdotes from Jake - about the stunts and his very own Backdraft spectacular: 'They made me do a lot. I'm just a naive little boy. We did this one stunt where I come in and the building is on fire. There's a huge wall of fire and the guys who did the effects did in Backdraft. I'd say, "What is that?" and they'd say "It's gasoline. It's fine." They'd spray it on my feet. "It's fine. Trust us." Everyone is getting their fire suits on and, hey, I'm in a plastic bubble. They asked me to go in and shake the door handles. I go in with "I'm gonna be a stunt man. I'm gonna do this. I've got it." I get to that wall and I'm like "Oooh this is hot!" I put my hands out and grab the handles and I look at the bubble and it starts expanding. And then it goes whoosh.. and then flat all around me and I see the steadycam guy going "Run!." They are spraying me and they cut me out of it like an embryonic sack. I don't touch plastic anymore.'


Maggie also stuck up for Bubble Boy: 'The siblings are close, and Maggie even defends "Bubble Boy,'' the film often labeled Jake's worst. "I thought Jake was great in it," Maggie said, "and I actually thought 'Bubble Boy' was a subversive, smart film, not just another stupid comedy."'


More worrying, however, was the conversion of Bubble Boy into Bubble Boy The Musical. Written by the writers of the movie, the musical was laced with 'sweet songs' and seating was limited.


Includes pictures from IHJ.