Never mind the winners of the Golden Globes, what about the Golden Globes Dessert? According to GossipCop it was a 'chocolate almond terrine, garnished with acacia honey, caramel and fresh berries, on a lemon hazelnut crunch base and finished with the edible gold.. “There is gold dust on there for the Golden Globes.”' Nothing quite like gold dust to add pounds to you, so not surprisingly Jake Gyllenhaal spent the day after the awards in the gym working it off.
Meanwhile, Michelle Williams, who may also have consumed gold dust on Sunday night, covers February's issue of GQ. There is a simply wonderful interview with Michelle inside, honest and extremely moving, and it includes mention of Heath Ledger. You can read it all here and I recommend you do.
Many thanks to IHJ for the new pictures! There are more there.
And talking of the Globes... Thanks to Mrs JG for the picture!
Jake Gyllenhaal was back at work on 1 August, filming End of Watch with Michael Pena in LA and giving us all some tips on what to do if we should come across a bunch of burning cars. This mostly comprised taking film of it and showing his partner how to take film of it. End of Watch certainly won't be one of Jake's most glamorous roles, nor does it feature LA at its most happy and shiny, but it's clear that the film will be action-packed and gritty, just as director David Ayer likes it.
GQ Australia
As we've mentioned here before, Jake covers the August/Septmember issue of the Australian edition of GQ. We now have a quote from its editor Nick Smith about why Jake is the epitome of Hollywood style, the theme of this summer issue:
'He started out playing Billy Crystal’s son in City Slickers. Twenty years later, Gyllenhaal is still one of Hollywood’s hottest properties. His career judgment has been impeccable.. Gyllenhaal’s personal style is similarly flawless: the guy knows how to wear a suit. Tuxes are never a problem and he’s equally adept at a motorcycle-cut leather jacket, slim-cut jeans and Wayfarers. He seems unassuming, but you never forget the star power that lies beneath.'
Includes pictures from IHJ - there are many more there!
Jake Gyllenhaal is on the cover of the Australian GQ issue for August and September. Hardly a surprise because this issue celebrates Big Style and if there's one star with more than enough style to go around, it's Jake. It's not a new photoshoot - this one features hair - but it's good to see Jake on the cover. When Jake visited Australia with Anne Hathaway back in those Love and Other Drugs days, I think he left his mark.
This coming week sees the release in the US of the Source Code DVD and blu-ray. We still have three weeks to wait here in the UK but the good news is that Blockbusters will have advance copies of it in their shops on 29 July.
To mark the release, there have been some features on the disc, although not much has been said about the extras. But Home Media Magazine has an interview with Jake, no doubt recorded during the initial publicity for Source Code, and it's a pleasure to 'hear' Jake talking about this wonderful film again.
'“There were a couple alternate versions of the end that everyone was talking about [using],” Gyllenhaal says. “I loved that I didn’t know when I watched the screening how the movie was going to totally end. And also the voiceover and things toward the end, we varied a lot so there was a lot of discussion.”'
'“We shot one day in Chicago, that last scene with The Bean where the camera pulls in. I had all these weird ideas that somebody could appear, something could happen and [director] Duncan [Jones] would always go with these weird ideas I had,” he says. “I’d be like, ‘What if some weird agent showed up?’ He’d be like, ‘Get somebody in a suit. Can we get somebody in a suit? Pull that guy off the street.’ We would do a take like that.”'
'“Every Source Code has an alternate version, and every Source Code initially has a different choice made by me because I get to come in that way,” Gyllenhaal says. “I would give him some humor. He’d want something funny, and then I’d give him the serious version, and he’d be like, ‘Okay, maybe something in between.’ Then he’d ask Michelle [Monaghan] to say something different. He asked me to totally improv it and put the film together after that.”'
'“If we pay attention to our interactions with people, we can see that there’s a cycle to things,” Gyllenhaal says. “This movie seems like, at least philosophically, that idea to me. Every time I would come back into the Source Code, and as an actor, and I think every time the character goes, it’s another chance. Another chance. And it’s about even as you believe things die, they are reborn.”'
A little on the extras: 'Extras on the Blu-ray include commentary with Gyllenhaal, Ripley and director Duncan Jones, and “Access: Source Code,” a viewing mode with scene-specific featurettes. The DVD includes the commentary, a trivia track, cast interviews and science focal points.'
And finally... a WDW Interlude
Today on what was, rather surprisingly, a hot summer's day I took myself off to Blenheim Palace for the annual Game Fair which has nothing to do with the games I like to play and a lot to do with games that I don't -'country sports'. As a veggie, this isn't exactly my kind of thing, but I followed the other 140,000 people who visited the show this weekend to park so far away it wasn't even in the same village as the event. Such was the walk to the fair that nearby residents had left out water for the dogs while vendors helped the walkers on their way with coffees and ice cream. Finally, I made it in and realised that I was going to need a second pair of legs.
I did manage to sit by the lake to read for a little but I seemed to be in the way of the fly fishing judges so, fearing my sandwich might get hooked, I wandered off. There was a pond in which one could practice coarse fishing but this had been adopted by a lot of very hot and soon to be wet and smelly dogs.
Talking of smelly animals.
Fortunately, there were plenty of real ale tents to make up for the lack of veggie nosh, and I made it back home with only a few blisters. Needless to say, I do now look like a big ripe red pepper, such is my sunburn and the rubbishness of my suntan lotion. Luckily, I could spot my car in the massive field because it was the only non 4 wheel drive.
While everyone's off in the theatres getting their first good look at the Prince of Persia (today was my fifth look and I've just about taken my eyes off Dastan enough to notice PoP's set in the desert), I thought I'd grab the opportunity to catch up a little bit. This also seems a good time to thank everyone for all the scans, pictures, videos and links that I've received over the last few weeks - thank you! - I realise I've not included everything yet, but I will. If you've not checked out Ted, Lisa and Jake's Amazing Adventure in the last post, please do! Without more ado, because Jake Gyllenhaal's been extremely busy of late, let's get on with the post. And what better way to start than with this...?
Jake was interviewed by Cinematical at WonderCon and the interview has just been released. It is fascinating. Just listen here to Jake divulging that being an actor takes work and hours of training and practice: 'I was at Sundance Writer's Lab many years ago, and I was just an actor there so you would go in and they would have first-time filmmakers who have their script and they would have mentors who would come in – like my year, Katherine Bigelow was there and Ed Harris was there and they have like an acting guru, and Delroy Lindo was the acting guru. You would go and act these scenes out for these first-time directors and they would film them and they would get advice from their mentors. Delroy Lindo sat us down because a lot of the actors were saying, wow, they were like 'put your hand here' and 'do this' and we were like, jeez, they've never directed anything before and they're telling us [what to do].'
'He said it's interesting with first-time filmmakers because if they've written it they'll say 'I've been sitting with this forever by myself; it's been 2D for this long' – and please don't read into the 2D, 3D thing I'm about to say – 'but then it gets up on its feet and it's living and breathing and coming out of someone else's mouth not the way you expected it to'. You always expected it this way and now it's this way, and it's hard not to feel because you have a sense of ownership to let something be created on its own because you've lived with it for so long.'
'So it's interesting because I've translated that now interacting with the gaming world and seeing how everybody has an intimate interaction with this character and this game and what it means to them, and now that it's basically become Jerry Bruckheimer's and he said 'now I'm going to try and put my idea of what a great, entertaining movie is' on it, people are going, 'wait a second!' So I understand that response, but I have always thought, I want to make those people happy. I want them to be psyched for this movie, so the bar has always been high, which is why when I was on set I would have the game on all of the time and I would come in the trailer and I would play a little bit. If there was a cool move, I would bring in the stunt guys and go, 'can we try this?' Because I would always think, we had a great story, but we've got to satisfy the way people see us, and there are many moves in the movie that came out of me playing the game and bringing the stunt guys in. So there was always that pressure.'
[Jake Gyllenhaal is interviewed in this 'odd' video below - eventually! Move those sands of time forward to around the 2:36 mark... and then there is a kind of French, kind of...]
'...When we were designing the wardrobe for the character, it was down to the last hour of shooting essentially, and I was like, 'I don't know if this buckle seems real,' and all of a sudden they would take to coat off and go running and they would have to run it up to there and back to this person and they would muck it up or take it off. You didn't realize what one little choice [impacted] – it had to be approved by this person and this person and 'was it like the video game?' 'No, it's not, but that's okay.' So that was definitely different for me, and to stay creative in an environment where there are so many people to appease.'
'But I really feel ultimately like my preparation was much different. I kind of tend to always start on a physical level; I always ask myself in what form would this character take shape, and how would he be successful in the world that he's inhabiting in a physical way. Like on Jarhead I did that, and on Brokeback our characters were smoking and we were riding horses and I just deteriorated, but on this I went, if he does parkour, because Gary said to me from the beginning he's going to do parkour, I'm going to have to learn how to do it, and then my body and my physicality just changed to do that. But it wasn't different.'
'Ben Kingsley is dramatically trained, traditionally trained, and a lot of British actors are, and as soon as I did the accent, it really did change everything. Because I recognized with a British accent that things become more ornate and humor becomes a different thing, so you don't have to do as much, and your voice translates so much more. I mean, look at me gesticulating right now; I wouldn't do that with a British accent, because you have to have the confidence of your voice. So I kept in my mind at all times that I was acting as if I was telling a child a story, which was so helpful for me. And then I would watch Ben, because there were moments at the beginning of this movie where I would walk around going, what movie am I in? What am I wearing and what is everybody else wearing?'
'But it became so fun and it became very theatrical, and actually I enjoy – it's funny when people say to me 'you're a very naturalistic actor' because I'm like, God, man, I'm loud! Ask anybody who hangs out with me, I'm a loud dude! So it played to that side...' Much more here.
This ABC interview is hysterical! I never thought flipcharts would sound funny... Thanks to a reader for the heads up. If the embedded video doesn't work, you can see it here, but I think I've fixed it...
This video, which I can't embed so just click here, takes us back to Jake filming at Pinewood - I do enjoy seeing Jake interviewed in full costume, now that I know the film. Now it's the American accent that sounds unfamiliar!
Director Mike Newell has been filling us in on some of the finer points of filming an epic in the desert with a huge number of hot and thirsty and sandy cast and crew. At last, along with lots of details about weather scouts, sandstorms and those 14 pesky ostriches, we hear more about Snake Dude.
At the beginning of the glorious PoP mayhem we had GQ - remember the excitement of Jake being seen at the centre of a large and growing crowd in Times Square? Here's a video that sets the scene.
Just call me Erin... Until next Thursday, that is. Yesterday, the first much anticipated video was published in which Jake Gyllenhaal answered a fan's question. Sitting on that exotic Prince of Persia set we saw the other week - the one with an elephant - Jake told Erin why he wanted to play Dastan in as handsome and gorgeous and sexy way as it is possible to be. We are promised video answer number 2 next Thursday. At a rate of 40 seconds a week, it could be a fair few weeks - nay, years - before we all get our questions answered but I can wait... You can see the answer to Erin's question here (and below).
Prince of Persia had its first screening yesterday at ShoWest but we're not hearing very much about it, just a few tweets, a few brief blog reports here and there. Considering that one blogger mentioned that he was searched for all electronics before being allowed into the theatre, one wonders if there is an embargo. It also makes me wonder how people can still tweet when robbed of their essentials - through blinking?
The few comments that have come out have been mixed, not unexpectedly, and suggest that there are a few people out there who expect more from a big summer blockbuster than fine scenery, great cinematography, fabulous costumes, exciting stunts and Jake Gyllenhaal leaping around (with a British accent) in various stages of undress but wearing very tight trousers and with beads in his hair. I'm not sure what they expected - iambic pentameters? However, reading through the soundbites, the view seems to be that if all you're expecting is a good, fun, action-packed spectacle of a movie then you won't be disappointed.
You may, however, be disappointed if you live in Ottawa. The Ottawan railway powers that be have decided to turn their backs on the $200,000 that filming Source Code in their station could have pumped into the area - the fee wasn't high enough. But now the local government is not happy and they're making plans to strike back: '"I was really struck that Ottawa was dropped like a hot potato from a major feature film," said Ottawa South MP David McGuinty. He said the federal government should have intervened to keep the film project from moving away.' And efforts are underfoot to allow Duncan Jones to blow up Ottawa's railway station after all instead of Montreal's.
And finally
You won't have forgotten the stunning photoshoot pictures that have recently appeared, thanks to IHJ. They are not for the April edition of GQ (that features Shia LaBeouf), so maybe May? Sounds more promising.
On Saturday, Jake Gyllenhaal was photographed walking into Katz Deli for the Famous GQ Bring Times Square To A Halt Shoot.
But while Jake is here wearing an undoubtedly very expensive parker - perfectly suited for the winter NYC conditions - it was soon shed for a leather jacket. 2009 may have been the Year of the Hat, but 2010 is turning into the Year of the Leather Jacket (although a friend did email me today asking if I thought Jake was wearing PVC - as if...). Studs are optional.
I'm wondering if the leather may be nostalgia for a) saucy scenes from Love and Other Drugs or b) Jake's Prince of Persia days, brought to mind by modelling for an array of leather clad figurines. There are now new photographs of these figures which I think I may have ordered.
And finally...
Source Code began principle photography today. Director Duncan Jones tweeted at lunch time that things were going well, followed by the comment that if he gets the music for the film that he wishes, it will be the Dog's Proverbials. I have a feeling that the whole movie will be the proverbials.
[Update] Some of the GQ shoot took place at the Spin table tennis/ping pong club where Jake had been due to compete in a charity tournament. So we may well get to see Jake play a game after all!
Jake Gyllenhaal was in New York City yesterday, ostensibly to do a shoot for GQ. The real reason was so that he could be photographed with every single person in and around Time Square. Not surprisingly, there was a Jake Scrum in the streets and a lot of excitement on Twitter, with pics here and here. No doubt, this GQ will coincide with Prince of Persia, as can be seen with Gemma Arterton's own GQ release. Jake looks like he'll be a little bit more wrapped up in his... Source Code director Duncan Jones, meanwhile, celebrated at a pre-shoot party.
Looking great, Jake! Here is just one of the tweets: 'Just saw Jake Gyllenhall in Times Square. Mob scene. But he is a good looking man!!' And another fun picture.
Updated to add another couple of great pictures from yesterday from here showing how Jake may have been aware he might have to get up to Montreal at some point...
Disney has released some more beautiful stills from Prince of Persia (here via IHJ), giving us another look at Clothes Line Jake.
We have another account of Love and Other Drugs from an early screening. We are promised (by an Anne Hathaway enthusiast) 'significant deep-down feeling plus some heavy love scenes with ample nudity'.
'It's pretty ambitious story about the mid '90s Viagra boom and selling pharmaceuticals for Phizer. Hathaway, Hank Azaria. Oliver Platt plays Gyllenhaal's mentor, and it's probably the best role he's ever had, and perhaps his best performance. He teaches Gyllenhaal the ropes, and he has a really great speech toward the end. The story line, which is basically about Gylenhaal becoming a pharma salesman, is fairly complex. George Segal and Jill Clayburgh play his parents. Josh Gad is the fat younger brother -- the Jonah Hill character.'
The reviewer doesn't have eyes for much else than Anne Hathaway but he does mention: 'There's some lame orgy in the middle of it with Jakes accidentally overdosing on Viagra...girls at a party make him swallow too much of it, and he won't go down, resulting in priapism.' 'Lame'? LAME???
There was only one place not to be last night, and that was the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Awards in Los Angeles. Jake Gyllenhaal was not there - due to a prior engagement to avoid Twitters and Tweeters on any side of the Atlantic. Neverthless, his absence was a highlight of the glamorous event due to his appearance in a video that also featured the similarly absent Tom Cruise.
One person who did attend the event reported: 'I thought the most hilarious bit of the evening was the video made for GQ creative director Jim Moore in which Jake Gyllenhaal had a cameo where he acts like he was very unhappy for not being on the cover of GQ. It was priceless!'
It is always good to hear Jake's comedy powers praised and I hope we get to see this video ourselves one of these days. I also hope GQ take note and put Jake on their cover at least every other month.
Jim Moore was once interviewed for an article in USA Today about Hollywood men sporting a stubbly, rugged look and he had this to say about Jake: 'He can handle the five o'clock shadow and the full beard and still look cute. He looked like the ultimate movie star at the Oscars. He looked like he could be the next James Bond.'
GQ is a big fan of Jake's, with its Editor in Chief Jim Nelson singling out working with Jake as a high point of his time with the magazine: 'Nobody is more down-to-earth and genuinely cool than Jake Gyllenhaal. I just like him a lot personally. I feel that he has not been affected much by stardom.' GQ, of course, co-hosted a screening of Zodiac, with afterparty, in NYC, which Jake attended.
