Jake Gyllenhaal received quite a welcome when he landed at Berlin's Tegal airport yesterday. Not only were there lots of fans and reporters, but also the Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick was on hand to greet his juryman with a bunch of flowers and an embrace, resulting in some wonderful photos, here via the lovely IHJ.
Jake's arrival was also caught on video.
Details have emerged about the work of the jury during the festival and it begins tomorrow morning (9 February) at 10.30 Germany time with their photo call and press conference. It looks as if we'll be able to see videos here and listen to audio here. There's a general round up of what the jury can look forward to here. Without wasting anytime, though, the jury has already gathered for a photo. Just take a look at Jake! The movie star is most definitely back. As always, click and the photo will be embiggened.
Time to get the bunting out! Today is Jake Gyllenhaal's 31st birthday, which not only means he'll get a luxurious shave (I may be making that bit up), a new pair of trousers (and that bit too) and a big piece of chocolate cake, but he gets some pressies. While some people may get a DVD of a movie for their birthdays, Jake gets a whole film festival.
Deadline announced today that Jake has been selected for the jury of the Berlin Film Festival (9-19 February), beside the president Mike Leigh. Clearly, Jake enjoyed meeting me and friends so much in Berlin back in April this year that he can't wait to go back to the city. Jake put in the hours for fun at the New York Film Festival earlier this autumn so it's good he got some practice in - he will sit through an enormous number of films and eat such quantities of popcorn that he may have to get back to the Prince of Persia regime pronto.
It's worth pointing out that Jake may be unaware at this stage of the Berlin Film Festival rules which dictate that 'jury members cannot wear green trousers tucked into their boots, nor can they be unshaven.' Rules 16 and 24, I believe.
Another great interview with Jake Gyllenhaal from Germany today. I particularly liked this one because it includes some questions I would love to ask myself, not least of which is whether Jake knows about the Amy Macdonald song LA which is dedicated to him. It always puts a smile on my face when it shuffles on to my iPod. Thee are other gems here. Forgive the bad translation, that's from me and Google. The good bits are thanks to Mrs JG, for whom we have to thank for the link. I have a few things to post from Germany to mark the release on 2 June and so I'm spreading them around.
'Do you like the song, Amy MacDonald dedicated to you? JG: I don't know anything about that, it sounds very nice anyway. I just hope she pronounced my name correctly!' [She got round that by calling him J.] 'It certainly isn't the easiest name to pronounce, I'm looking forward to when people make the effort with it. In school, I was fortunately spared these problems because my sister was a class above me - and with Maggie lies down to no-one.(Laughs)'
Working with a director on his first film: 'This first film, "Moon" was just so extraordinary and magnificent that I really wanted to work with director Duncan Jones. What they offer visually with relatively little money, I found very fascinating... I told my agent that I would like to meet Duncan. We understood each other well and he said that I could definitely try to play in one of his films. Then I said that I already had a screenplay I was considering that could come to him. I sent it to him and he committed four days later.'
An unusually complex film: 'It was great fun to tell my friends the first ten minutes of "Source Code". Everyone asked, "What, the train exploded?" And "He no longer recognises his own face?". Then I calmed them down and explained that the story is much more exciting. (Laughs)'
Tricky films seem your passion?: 'I find such material very attractive. At that time in "Donnie Darko" every day of filming began with questions: "What are we doing today?", "What happened yesterday?", "Have I already this guy?". Such questions lead to the ongoing development of a story, I like that a lot.'
With Jake's last eight minutes: 'I would call my family and talk with them. I would love to find something that I could laugh about - I've always found very intriguing the picture of smiling Buddhas.'
And if you could travel in time, what would you change in the past? 'If I could dive, like in the movie, into the body of another person, then I would warn John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King about the attacks on them. Most recently, I would warn Japan of the disaster - the list is endless.'
How easy is it for you to find such projects? 'Strangely, it has become very difficult to produce short films. A cheap project with a budget of under five million dollars is far more difficult to realise than a movie that is twice as expensive. That sounds pretty crazy, but that's the reality in Hollywood.'
You were a candidate for "Spider-Man, " "Batman" and "Superman" - are you happy in retrospect that the commercial popcorn heroes passed you by? 'I have absolutely nothing against these movies. They have huge success, which is certainly due to the quality of the directors. For me the difference is always whether someone simply makes a very expensive film or a film that has a premonition. Entertainment also has an obligation: it must tell intelligent stories. Therefore, Duncan was the perfect director for the perfect big budget film.'
How important is the balancing act between art and commerce to you? 'To me that's not important. (laughs) In the end it doesn't matter how big a project - as long as the story is right, a film also finds its audience. I had this experience with "Brokeback Mountain" as well as with "Donnie Darko" - which at the start broke no records, but in the long run, was highly successful.'
If the success of complex films such as "Winter's Bone" and "Black Swan" just coincidence or has the image of America changed in Hollywood? 'It has certainly been a change that I think is wonderful. "Pulp Fiction" and Robert Redford's Sundance independent productions have given it a boom, and the mood has returned. For actors, this is a great development.'
Does Jake take a film like Prince of Persia as seriously as Source Code? 'Absolutely! I take all my roles very seriously, always. When I play a character, then it means everything to me - otherwise I could not work at all.'
Wouldn't you like to act once again with Maggie? 'Why not? However, we've never talked about it much, we talk about family matters. But it would certainly be tempting to act together again in the theater.'
Thanks to Mrs JG for the scans from SKIP. Berlin photos from friends Christina and Sandra.
Last Thursday, not content with the Banksy print on his own walls, Jake Gyllenhaal went to have a look at more at the opening of the Art in the Streets exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA last Thursday. A bunch of celebrities were on hand, including Donnie Darko friends Drew Barrymore and Seth Rogen, the latter is photographed with Jake below. Picture thanks to Seth Rogen Online.
Talking of Donnie Darko, during the publicity for Source Code, Jake was asked why he picked Duncan Jones to direct the film and not Richard Kelly, the director of scifi classic Donnie Darko: '“I thought Duncan might not do it because he writes the things he wants to direct, and Richard is the same way,” he says. “Richard is always doing something odd, but Duncan kept coming up to me saying, ‘Make it weirder.’ Maybe Richard’s stuff is already too inherently weird. “As a person, Richard is more mysterious than Duncan. With the press, Duncan is so outgoing, but when he’s on set, he reminds me of Ang Lee. He’s very quiet. He hardly says a thing, and when he does, it’s very simple and specific. You’d think English was his second language, but it’s not. Being British, he’d probably argue it’s our second language.”'
'“Obviously this is entertainment, but I hope there’s a 13-year-old kid who sees this movie and it inspires him to invent something like [the source code],” he says. “It’s weird, wishful thinking. But if I had only had a minute to live, I think I’d call my family and try to have a good laugh. It’s nice to laugh entering and nice to laugh exiting.”'
On London Marathon day, I was interested to here in an interview with the LA Daily News that Jake was distracted by the LA marathon taking place outside the window as he spoke. 'I love endurance athletics'. Jake also talks about how he would like to direct one day: '"I loved playing this role because I love thinking about the audience every step of the way. You feel like you're part of the storytelling process, which is really fun," he said. "I would love to make movies someday, but the acting thing is going pretty well, so I'll stick to that now."'
Jake likes to read books on eastern philosophy and this brings out a comment from Jake which I've heard before, about entering into the dark to watch a film. It's a special time: '"I like the concept that there is sort of relative reality of gravity and that I can't necessarily put my hand through this table," he says, gesturing. "But there are other things at work, like an absolute reality where people do have the ability to walk through walls. It's not outlandish when you see it in the movies, and movies in my opinion are a representation of the unconscious and how we work in a dream state. We go into the dark to watch them."'
This post contains stunning pictures from the Berlin screening on 7 April, with many thanks to Sandra, who sat to my left. It was great to meet you!
A WDW Prehistoric Interlude
It was a beautiful warm Sunday today and so out came the Triumph and off we went into the heart of the beautiful countryside of Hampshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire. After visiting the Iron Age hillfort of Inkpen (we broke down there once so I had the shivers), we headed off to find a pub garden for lunch and came across the village of Ham. Further down the road we came to Eggs. That may or may not be true.
The target for the day was Avebury, a unique Neolithic landscape, more than 6,000 years old, which comprises the largest manmade prehistoric mound in Europe - Silbury Hill (we saw a rat running by - Silbury rat), processional avenues of monoliths, long barrows, barrow upon barrow along the horizon, many covered in trees, the superb henge with its ditch and mound, and the inner circle of massive stones. With sheep. A most lovely day.
Judging from the picture below taken at Reykjavik Airport (courtesy of vf.is), it looks like Bear Grylls was given some entertainment as he skinned and boiled snow snakes in the lava pools of Iceland. Yes, Jake Gyllenhaal decided that for his Man vs Wild episode travelling light was not an option if it meant that he could lead a singsong round the campfire. Admittedly, looking at this photo does give me some rather painful flashbacks of volunteers singing kumbaya late into the night at a certain archaeological dig I had the mixed pleasure to work at. However, according to vf, Jake visited the Blue Lagoon before he left Iceland. That is much better to think on.
On the plane itself, there are more photographs of Jake and Bear Grylls himself from Such a beautiful waste.
Talking of Jake on a plane, I thought it had to be some kind of kismet that Jake looked up at me from every single one of the plane seat pockets on my flights to and from Berlin last week. Jake covered the April edition of Voyager, the flight magazine of BMI or British Midland. I would like to thank the people next to me on both flights who decided to donate their magazines to a good cause - me. The photos may be the same as in the recent Telegraph magazine but the interview is different.
It includes a statement from Jake about the best way to survive the attention that being a superb and handsome actor attracts: 'You've got to plug your ears, tie yourself to the mast and beg the people you love not to untie you.'
And finally...
Many thanks to Eureka for sending me a scan of her autograph from Madrid. Very nice.
We have another report of Jake Gyllenhaal in Iceland at the weekend. A 'hot guy' was spotted in a restaurant who turned out to be none other than our Jake, wisely filling himself up with calories ahead of his intrepid trip with Bear Grylls. Jake 'sat there for like an hour and we were chatting to him, he’s on some Adventure trip here in Iceland with his Friend, and he is going on a glazier trip tomorrow'. Jake didn't mention however that he would be living off glacier flora and fauna (but more likely fauna) during this trip. The 'tomorrow' referred to there was Sunday and so who knows where Jake might be right now. One thing's for sure, though, this is not a good time to be an Auk or porpoise.
Back to this second catchup post. The photo above was taken by Mrs JG and as you can see it features Jake Gyllenhaal. What may be less obvious to you is that it also features my head. This picture shows the moment after I thought I had better let go of Jake's hands and he walked off, laughing. I like to think with me, rather than at me (I may have mentioned something about doing a blog for him...). Thanks very much to Mrs JG for capturing a perfect moment. I would also like to congratulate her on the presence of mind to take a photograph of Jake's footwear. The Famous Boots.
Here are some more of Mrs JG's wonderful pics from Berlin on 7 April.
There was another talented photographer with us that night, Christina. And here are some of her fantastic pictures. Christina also sat on the front row but at the left hand side (Mrs JG and I were slightly to the right) and so this gives us a chance to see Jake from a different angle. Not that there are any bad angles...
Christina also took some great pictures of Duncan Jones and Rodene. I really like these.
Madrid Photocall!
We have another treat from Madrid! Carlota captured some video from the Source Code photocall and I'm delighted to present it below. Great stuff!
It was wonderful to meet so many Jake fans in Berlin, including friends from Elijah Meets Jake and Gyllenhaal.de. I can't thank them enough for their kind and generous welcome to Germany.
This is by no means not all from Source Code's week on the continent. And so the catch up will continue.
Nailed gets (another) composer!
Playlist are reporting tonight that Nailed has a new composer! John Swihart has apparently been hired in place of original composer Squeak E. Clean in what may be an effort to finish this film off for once and all. The saga continues...
And finally...
A little bit of a WDW Berlin Interlude courtesy of the comfortable hippos of Berlin Zoo and some nesting cormorants and fishing herons.
I arrived back in Oxford to be soaked in very warm spring sunshine.
Many thanks to Christina and Mrs JG for the use of their magnificent pictures! We did good, yes?!
