A catch up with Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman in Atlanta and more on Prisoners

Oscars come, Oscars go and it was not to be in 2013. While Jake Gyllenhaal (and myself, come to think of it) gave the awards a miss, no doubt he was watching, cheering on his Prisoners co-star, the Well-Voiced Hugh Jackman, and cheering along with the rest of us as Anne Hathaway and Ang Lee won their Academy Awards. Many congratulations to Anne and Ang - Brokeback Mountain's representatives did very well indeed.

A few years ago it was very different and back in 2008, I headed over to LA to share in a little bit of the Oscar excitement, doing my best to gatecrash the biggest party of the year, The Night Before Party, at the the Beverly Hills Hotel. I won't forget it as long as I live. Here's the link for those who haven't seen it. More of that Oscars roadtrip is here.  Happy days!

Jake is, of course, hard at work making Prisoners in Georgia. You can find some more information and photos from the set here. Just a couple of days after singing on stage in LA, Hugh Jackman was back on set with Jake.

There is plenty of information here on the film itself and the team behind it. There are big names, not least cinematographer Roger Deakins. There is also more on the story and Detective Loki's part in it.

'How far would you go to protect your child? Keller Dover (Jackman) is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but a lack of evidence forces the only suspect’s release.

Knowing his child’s life is at stake, the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. The desperate father will do whatever it takes to find the girls, but in doing so, he may lose himself, begging the question: When do you cross the line between seeking justice and becoming a vigilante?'

Thanks are due to IHJ for some new old photos of Jake, which do so much to us keep us going at these relatively quiet days. Rendition Jake is always a welcome bonus!

Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy Rossum melt the ice

At the New York premiere for Beautiful Creatures this week, Interview magazine asked the lovely Emmy Rossum for embarrassing memories from when she was 16 years old:

"I was filming The Day After Tomorrow, it was my first big film, and I had to kiss Jake Gyllenhaal, so I was really nervous. The night before, I got a big zit and, stupidly, I picked at it, so then it was bigger and infected and had a scab over it. Jake called it my ‘third eye,'" Rossum recalled. Her 16-year-old self was crushed —"He's never going to want to kiss me now!"

In an earlier interview for USA Weekend (the link now no longer exists except in the WDW archives), we were told: 'This 19-year-old is no wallflower. When she met hunky star Jake Gyllenhaal one morning a few years ago, Rossum pulled a move worthy of the Phantom. "I went over to him and said, 'Look, I know it's 9 a.m., but is it OK if I kiss you?' " Rossum recalls. When he consented ("He said, 'It's never too early!' "), she obliged. "I knew if I didn't do it, it would seem like I was scared. And I wanted to kiss him. He's very, very cute."'

There's more from A Girl's World on what it was like to work with Jake.

'Fantastic! He’s a fantastic guy. He’s very intelligent. It was funny because I was kind of like the only girl on the set. There was Mark Gordon, our producer, Roland, Jake, Dennis Quaid and me. So, he’s like the big brother I never had. So it was really nice. We also work in kind of a similar way. We both put a lot of emphasis on preparation but then we get there and we kind of let it rip and are intuitive in a lot of ways within the bounds of the character and the arc. I think we work really well together.... He’s quite goofy in reality. I think we were so cold and wet and shivering most of the time that nobody had enough energy to pull pranks after running through that tank 500 times in one day with Roland going ‘do it again’! But he’s very much positive. He has a lot of positive energy.'

There's another account of the audition with less kissing: 'I definitely auditioned. I went in and sat on the bench next to all the other girls that were auditioning. I wasn’t given any kind of special treatment by any means. I got a meeting with Roland and Mark, went in and read for them, got a screen test with Jake, went in and I did that. I knew that that screen test was the moment when I had to prove myself. That’s when you’ve gotta show it. You’ve gotta bring it. I think that anybody can run through water but not necessarily anybody can run through water while bringing the heart and emotion to the character.'

As for making chemistry: 'There was no choice for me. It was gonna be there. It also wasn’t difficult. He’s terribly attractive. So it wasn’t like the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my whole life but, at the same time, I think the heat had to be there. Somebody had to melt the ice! (laughter).'

Thanks to IHJ for the last new old picture from the Berlin photocall for The Day After Tomorrow.

My review of Lincoln on MovieBrit.

Keeping up to date with Jake Gyllenhaal - BAFTAs, Santa Monica, AIAF, Prisoners, Prince of Persia, This is Our Youth and more!

Last weekend, London was soaked in torrential rain and sleet - that can mean only one thing: BAFTAs. And while Jake Gyllenhaal was not in attendance this year (probably just as well because when I saw Jake on the famously soapy BAFTA red carpet back in 2007, it took a good week before I could rid myself of lingering hypothermia), his Prisoners co-star was, the Well-Voiced Hugh Jackman. Hugh might not have beaten Daniel Day Lewis in the race to the Best Actor Gong but he did provide a very pleasant distraction from Helen Mirren's new pink hairdo. I don't want to say anything too harsh about the pink do because I still feel a little bit of guilt for yelling at her to get out of the way back in 2007 when she chose to linger right in front of Jake. Obviously this is understandable but it did little for my view.

   

You can read about my experience of the 2007 BAFTAs in strictly unnecessary detail here. The shaky nature of some of my photos can be blamed on extremely localised seismic activity. With Well-Voiced Hugh busy in London, this no doubt left Jake with a bit of leisure time and so last weekend Jake was seen arriving at a hotel in Santa Monica. Was he in LA for the Mumford and Sons Grammy Victory, I wonder...? Many thanks to IHJ!

   

But while the filming seems remarkably low key, this week we got a very good look at Jake in character as Detective Loki when he was snapped being given the Heimlich Manoeuvre.

   

Filming, though, continues apace and very politely.

   

Otherwise, on the filming front, we have the little piece of news that the music is being recorded for An Enemy at the moment and it involves 'scary strings'.

Arts in the Armed Forces

Back in November, we were lucky to have our very own reporter, Lisa, at the Arts in the Armed Forces event in NYC, which Jake attended and gave a reading at. You can read Lisa's exclusive report here. This week, Lisa emailed me further photos from the event which not only show Jake but also Lisa and Ted! Jake is in full Face Pet disguise... It is well worth keeping an eye on the website for further photos. Thanks so much, Lisa!

  

 

King of Persia

The King of Persia has been speaking about the Prince of Persia. Richard Coyle reveals here that he and Jake are still good friends. With this brief interview, the happy memories come flooding back, a fair few of them involving ostriches. 'I did a play in the West End called 'Proof' with Gwyneth Paltrow, and then John Madden - the director - made a movie of it with Gwyneth Paltrow. And Jake played Hal [Harold Dobbs], my part. So Jake had been to see the play and we chatted. We sort of bonded over it. When we met again on 'Prince of Persia' there was a kind of dynamic of older brother, younger brother. Probably just because of that but also because I had played his part and he'd come and watch me do the original. I suppose there was a mutual respect and that already helped us together. And we have a lovely dynamic now, we still speak often.' Click and this pic shall be much embiggened.

  

And finally...

Stephanie has kindly uploaded new old pictures from a photoshoot for Jake's appearance in the West End production This is Our Youth back in 2002. There are lots more there, so thanks to IHJ.

 

End of Watch tops the charts, Jake Gyllenhaal in Atlanta and Mississippi Grind off to Berlin

This post must start with a disclaimer. I am writing it on an alien laptop, my own having decided to pull its own plug yesterday. Therefore, there is a high likelihood of a) typos; b) curses; c) violence. Actually, talking of curses and violence, this brings me on naturally to Jake Gyllenhaal's latest R-rated watch-from-behind-the-fingers movie, End of Watch, which is top of the US DVD sales chart. It is wonderful to see the film repeatting its box office success and this bodes well for the UK release in March. The film may have been rushed over in the theatres but it could come into its own on the smaller screen.

The other good news this week is the news from Deadline that Mississippi Grind, Jake's next film, is to start shooting in the spring. So straight on the heels of Prisoners, Jake will be back at work. Whether it's anywhere near the Mississippi is another matter. It's also good to hear that Mississippi Grind will be proffered at the Berlinale this year, just twelve months after we had the excitement of watching Jake notch up some jury service duty at the German festival.

Jake, meanwhile, continues to film Prisoners in Georgia mising it with visits to Whole Foods and NYC. We also hear that Jake is back doing his Spin classes, known in the gym where he's been seen in Atlanta as Fly Wheel Sports. 'He looked like he worked out hard'.It looks as if photos may be few and far between.

Some time ago we had a poll on WDW in which we put to the vote what type of film we would like to see Jake. The winner was a historical drama (possibly something to do with the white billowing shirts and tight trousers). With the UK gripped by Richard III following his discovery in a Leicester car park, more or less in one piece, the time is ripe for Jake to bring the past to life. I can just see him as a chivalrous knight fighting wrongs and blackguard lords. That or a pirate. What do you think? Any preference?

Thanks to IHJ for the pics.