With a day to go til his NYC stage debut, Jake Gyllenhaal talks about acting, directing and surprising his fans

I am delighted to say that I am back! No longer are the walls around me canvas; the little flickering candles and lanterns are now bona fide lights, and instead of moths and mosquitoes I have a fridge full of beer (admittedly it has no food in it) for company. I also have a lot of catching up to do. I thought I'd get things started with the most obvious bits and pieces from the last few days, with thanks to everyone for the emails and tweets - especially BBMISwear, Susan and Mermon.

With If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet kicking off this Friday, it's not surprising that it's attracting attention. There is 'A conversation' with Jake in BroadwayWorld. I was interested to see that Jake mentions again the influence of Danny Kaye on his acting ambitions. Jake also talks about his character Terry: 'I love the way he talks, how he moves through the world. He is desperate to pull the truth out of everyone around him, but he is unable to face his own. He is a constant contradiction and like this broken, beating heart with legs.'

Especially intriguing are Jake's comments about his relationships with directors: 'If I have an idea, I will always share it – I’m not shy. I don’t believe in a dictatorship, but in the end it’s the director’s decision as to what will be suitable to their production. I like a director who has a clear and simple sense of what they want to say.' And, then, how about this? 'Variation keeps me inspired. I always like finding roles that are different from the one I played before. And I love playing intentions in scenes differently every night on stage and in every take on a movie. I always try and challenge myself and surprise my fans. It makes it fun for everyone.' It really does.

Do read the rest here.


Jake is also featured large in today's New York Times, which also includes a photo of Jake in rehearsal for the play. The interview shows how Jake has been reflecting on his career's direction, something so many of us do around these key birthdays: '“Around the time I hit 30, I asked myself if I was respecting acting as a craft,” he continued, frequently brushing his fingers through his thick hair, free of its black-on-black Yankees cap, “and if I was doing the right projects that deserved my attention and where I’m learning in a way that you might not feel at 15. So now it’s like I look at acting more as building little delicate cricket cages, with care and more thought.”'

Jake's young co-star in the play, Annie Funke, also talks a little about what it was like to work with Jake: '"I just reached a breaking point because I hadn’t quite realized before, until Jake was poking me, what it felt like to be picked on and bullied and how all of that must make Anna feel,” Ms. Funke said. “I was just completely overwhelmed. And Jake grabbed me and hugged me, and we finished the scene. He has looked out for me completely.”'



This post includes two video features on Jake from the Hollywood Reporter. If you're unable to see the videos, try here and here. There are also photos from the screening of End of Watch in the Hamptons last Sunday with Gwyneth Paltrow and the Seinfelds (with thanks to IHJ).

New project! Jake Gyllenhaal to star in Mississippi Grind? And Gwyneth Paltrow screens End of Watch

No wonder Jake Gyllenhaal's not doing much sport at the moment, how on earth would he find the time?! Previews of If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet start next week and today we learn that Jake will be attending a special screening of End of Watch on Sunday hosted by Proof co-star Gwyneth Paltrow (you remember, the co-star that cried a lot).

To top it off, we have news that Jake may well have signed the dotted line on his next movie project - Mississippi Grind, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Both were responsible for a film that Jake has named as one of his favourites, Half Nelson starring Ryan Gosling.

The Hollywood Reporter broke today's news and tells us: 'The story centers on a down-on-his-luck gambler facing crushing debt who teams up with a younger gambling addict (Gyllenhaal) in an attempt to change his luck. The two set off on a road trip through the South with visions of winning back what has been lost. The lead character would be a plum role for Hollywood's fortysomething set. WME, which reps Fleck, Boden and Gyllenhaal, is packaging the project, which would fall in the less-than-$10 million budget.'

Several things to note here: a) less than $10 million budget? It's fair to say then that it won't feature aliens or battleships; b) at long last I might learn to spell Mississippi; c) who would you cast as the 'fortysomething'? I would definitely like to see Robert Downey Jr in the role but it's quite possible that any and all of the Avengers may be ruled out by the (tiny) budget.

So, as they say, watch this space!

My review of The Hunter is now on MovieBrit.

[Updated] Nailed to be test screened tomorrow! Gwyneth Paltrow gets a grip on Jake Gyllenhaal and details of Source Code's OST

Updated to add this exciting piece of news about Nailed!

The Film Stage has posted this piece of hopeful news abut Nailed: 'I now have a reliable source with information that there will be a test screening tomorrow in Los Angeles, billed as “a new comedy from David O. Russell, the Oscar-nominated director of The Fighter, Three Kings and Flirting with Disaster.” While this is no confirmation that it will see theatrical distribution, it is certainly a strong hint there is renewed interest in the project. If Russell is interested in completing that final scene, I’m sure he has the clout to make it happen.'

On with the post...

We have some new pictures today from the Oscars including one of Gwyneth Paltrow holding Jake Gyllenhaal's head in some kind of fearsome Vulcan mindmeld grip.


Gwynnie isn't the only one of Jake's leading ladies to have a go...


We have some video of Jake at the Oscars although it rather unfortunately stops at the very moment when Jake draws breath to speak. Nevertheless, until we have further footage, you can at least enjoy looking at Jake while Amy speaks.



Source Code Soundtrack

I am delighted to say that, unlike Love and Other Drugs, the soundtrack of Source Code will be released. It will be out on 29 March and is available to preorder in the US and in the UK. You can read a full list of the tracks by Chris Bacon here as well as find the image below.


The tracks are:

1. Source Code Main Titles
2. You Don’t Know Me
3. Eight Minutes
4. Racial Profiling
5. Coffee Will Have To Wait
6. Source Code Explained
7. Piecing It Together
8. Am I Dead?
9. One Death Is Enough
10. Colter Follows Derek
11. A Real Validation
12. I’m Gonna Save Her
13. No More Rubble Today
14. Regret And Reconciliation
15. Frozen Moment
16. Everything’s Gonna Be Okay

Things must get serious, judging by the title of No. 5.

Thanks to Eureka for the heads up! A note to say that I don't know if the image above is the final image for the soundtrack or not. We shall soon see (and hear).

And finally...

There are also some new pictures of Jake with Robert Downey Jr. Many thanks to IHJ for these and all the Oscar pictures!

Jake Gyllenhaal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Yogi Bear, Alotta Fagina, Fruit, Baseball, Stuff

When Jake Gyllenhaal presented Gwyneth Paltrow with her Elle Hollywood Women tribute award the other week he commented that her role in Ironman 2 as Pepper Potts is the 'best character with the stupidest name' since Yogi Bear and Alotta Fagina. I have to agree, Yogi is a ridiculous name for a bear. Thanks to Mermon for the heads up!



I appreciate Gwyneth's hand motions as she describes the hilarious and gorgeous Jake Gyllenhaal.



Love and Other Drugs heats up

It looks like the publicity for Love and Other Drugs is heating up. In addition to this week's press screenings, next week the press conferences begin. Thanks to Monica for the link.


Stand up to Cancer

This is about US sports so over to the experts: 'As millions of baseball fans tune in to watch the American League’s Texas Rangers and National League’s San Francisco Giants compete in the first game of the World Series on Wednesday, October 27th on FOX, MLB will once again bring the fight against cancer to the forefront and help raise funds for groundbreaking “translational” research designed to bring new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. During the seventh-inning stretch of Game One of the World Series, a moving PSA featuring Academy Award nominated actor, Jake Gyllenhaal will play on the jumbo screens for the crowd, as well as for millions at home watching FOX. Fans in the stadium will then be asked to stand in unison as sportscaster Joe Buck rallies the crowd — and the viewing audience — via an on-air call-to-action to “launch stars” in tribute to those diagnosed with cancer.'


And finally...

There are reports that Jake Gyllenhaal's fruit thing is not diminishing. This weekend, there are reports that Jake and Taylor headed to the woods for a bushel of apples. Is this a good time to point out that there's a veritable cornucopia of autumnal fruit around here, ripe for the picking?



Thanks to IHJ for keeping an eye on Jake and his apples.

[Updated] New LAOD image... Jake Gyllenhaal in NYU Q&A for Love and Other Drugs tonight and Bruce Willis on Jake - he's one to watch

[Updated] Jake Gyllenhaal in Love and Other Drugs. I can say no more.... Source with thanks to Lady Ekster for the heads up.


On with the post...

Tonight, if you're a card carrying member of NYU, you can see Love and Other Drugs for free and then put your questions to Jake Gyllenhaal and Ed Zwick. It's playing at the 'Regal E-Walk, 247 West 42nd Street' at 7pm. This tells us two things - 1) Jake is indeed back in NYC (let's hope he brought the razor back with him) and 2) Love and Other Drugs is having a rather unconventional release.


Last week, students at NYU could have seen Love and Other Drugs for free and just a cursory sweep of the net reveals a myriad of screenings across the US. After news of the gala scheduled for the opening night of the prestigious AFI Fest on 4 November we then heard that the 'premiere' would then take place tomorrow night in NYC at the CMJ music and film festival. But both events have been preceded by a bunch of Q&As and screenings of one type or another and one has to wonder if the US premiere of Love and Other Drugs will have that special sparkle of magic dust that we expect when we hear the word 'premiere'. I also wonder what the CMJ organisers will think knowing that the film is getting a starry screening and Q&A at NYU tonight, just one day ahead of its own big event.



Talking of premieres, Red was centre stage in Leicester Square, London, last night and, apart from praising National Treasure Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis picked Jake Gyllenhaal as one of the younger stars to watch and to trust. Jake and Justin Timberlake. They're 'tough', Bruce said in a John McClane kind of voice. You can see the moment here.



Of course, Jake and Bruce are tennis buddies...






Viva Gwynneth!

I know that I've been slightly critical of Ms GP in recent posts (well, in recent years, to be honest) and so, in order to try and make some amends (but not too many) it seems only right to mention the credit that Jake paid to Gwynnie at the Elle tribute for Brokeback Mountain: 'It was the experience of watching Gwyneth dressed as a young boy that immediately lead me to sign onto Brokeback Mountain.'



Thanks to IHJ for the pictures. The Jake and Bruce pics are from the 2009 US Open.

How Gwyneth Paltrow domesticated the 'gorgeous and hilarious' Jake Gyllenhaal... (it involves spandex)

Jake Gyllenhaal's movies are awash with glorious, heated chemistry. For me there is a great exception proving the rule. It will come as no surprise to you that, in my opinion, this is Proof and the (lack of) chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow. I wrote a post on it almost two years ago to the day. It seems that some ghosts were laid to rest, at least publicly - although privately things may have been settled a long time ago - at the Elle Tribute to Hollywood Women on Monday night.


Jake generously and warmly introduced Gwynnie as follows: '"Bottom line, she is not a mere mortal like the rest of us," the actor, 29, said in his introduction. "She is an Internet-savvy, award-winning, lifestyle guru, making all of us look lazy. She doesn’t just find a nice guy to settle down with -- she marries a rock star and then domesticates him. She doesn’t just cook -- she goes to Spain with Mario Batali and then domesticates him! She is not just a lifestyle guru, but she invents a whole new fitness movement and then convinces me to try it, and I do it, and I am, therefore, domesticated ... sweating my ass off in spandex, which is humbling and embarrassing."


'When Paltrow, 38, took the stage, she said she didn't have a speech because, "I kind of wanted to speak from my heart." And she was more candid than ever. See more pics from ELLE's Women in Hollywood event. "Jake is gorgeous and hilarious and when we worked together in Proof, I was pregnant and I was a f****** nightmare hormonal mess, but we managed to stay friends through it anyways," she said.


'Since Proof, she said, "I had my kids and everything really changed for me, so I feel so honored that you are honoring me because I feel like I have shifted focus so much. "I have this really great guy [Coldplay's Chris Martin], and these two great kids, and I feel like that was all a process of getting me to where I am. I am a woman in Hollywood and I am a mother in Hollywood and I come from a woman in Hollywood, my mother Blythe," she concluded. "I think that she did such a good job teaching me how to be a woman in Hollywood, teaching me god values, and I hope to pass that on to my kids." Source.


There are some videos from the event here and they include little moments of Jake.



There is another video here.

I had a relatively close encounter with Gwyneth a couple of years ago - if you can call sitting in the second row of the Jonathan Ross show during her and Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man special a close encounter. RDJ charmed me far more even though Gwynnie had a go at drinking a pint of stout. She claimed she didn't watch movies just documentaries. You can read the full account of mine and Ruby's serendipitous adventure here.


And finally...

It looks like Jake Gyllenhaal is definitely back for business as a tweeter from MTV movies this evening mentions that he will be interviewing Jake and Ed Zwick tomorrow. You could send along some questions!

And even more finally...

The WDW GyllenForum Pub opened for business last night. This very informal and small forum aims to continue all those conversations that we always seem to cut off every time Jake heads out to another restaurant. So, if you're in the mood for a chat with some like-minded Jakers, pull up a chair.


Many thanks to IHJ for the pics!

Jake Gyllenhaal shines at Elle's Tribute to Women in Hollywood, 18 October 2010

Wasting no time at all after his arrival back in LA, Jake Gyllenhaal took the earliest opportunity to look into the camera and shine and dazzle. The occasion was Elle's 17th Annual Women in Hollywood Tribute held yesterday (18 October) at The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Women in Hollywood are a fortunate bunch indeed.


As well as taking to the stage (was Jake the prize I wonder...), Jake was able to catch up with Hilary Swank and, showing that he's managed to block Proof completely from his mind, there were kisses for Gwyneth Paltrow.


Admittedly they were funny kisses...


And there was much beauty. It's not known if there was any food available.







Many thanks to IHJ for the spectacular pictures! There are many more there.

Mix and match - Jake Gyllenhaal's Proof

My Proof issues are well-documented. While some Gyllenhaalics are adamant that Proof was a sensitive examination of loss, depression and trust, others - well, me - have trouble getting past the sleepy lack of chemistry between Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Gyllenhaal. Fortunately, the film's sex scene and the general dreaminess of Jake in Proof means that there are some scenes that we can all agree upon being endlessly rewarding. I just need the fastforward button to get to them.


I raise the topic of Proof because a) I don't discuss it very often, b) I have regular attacks of Proof-guilt, and c) this week a site listed Proof as one of the top five Gwyneth DVDs : 'While this film isn't as popular as the others, Paltrow turns in a tight performance, starkly frightened by the very real possibility that all she has loved will be taken from her. Jake Gyllenhaal falls into place amiably as a fellow mathematician investigating the elegant mathematical proof, and it is through his gentle prodding and support that Paltrow finds herself, as well as the truth of her father's life and work. For a film that deals with longstanding familial drama as well as the complexities of paranoia, disbelief and acceptance, the potential for disaster is always high. Yet, Proof falls squarely in the hands of the capable Paltrow, and it is unconditionally one of her best performances.'


Realising that I should talk about Proof more, I now turn my attention towards the mysteries of past roles that were once auditioned for and are now callously cast into the rubbish bin of fundless movies. A google message today advised me that Jake and an old chum, Matthew McConaughey, were in talks with Robert Altman to appear in his movie The Widow Claire opposite Winona Ryder. Further investigation revealed that these talks dated to 2003. Not only that, it was revealed that Jake was in talks to star in a movie - 'The Rip' - about the plot to steal diamonds from the Millennium Dome in London. The mind boggles.


Confusingly and perhaps intriguingly, the plot of The Widow Claire sounds very familiar in a Brothers way: 'Set in the backdrop of World War II, a young widow with two children is caught between the affections of two men. One is a sweet soldier about to go to war and the other is the town's most sought-after playboy.'


And finally...

As the winter continues relentlessly, the need to keep warm is paramount. While Jake has the advantage of being in LA, where frost and snow are known only from Weather Channel reports, I am sincerely grateful to Ruby for her most helpful suggestion for unshaven Jake, should he risk the wintry climes of less amiable spots. The mix and match element is particularly convenient.


Includes pictures from IHJ.

Jake Gyllenhaal bringing Thanksgiving to London Town

Jake Gyllenhaal brought Thanksgiving to London last night - to Chelsea, to be more precise. After what seems like an age, we have a new photo of Jake, thanks to IHJ. Yet again, for as long as the hair and the cold nights grow, Jake shows that no-one wears a beanie and scarf quite like he does. We've missed you, Jake!


The party took place at the Chelsea home of Richard Rogers and Jake wasn't the only American there. Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow were also there - in shoes with extraordinary heels.



Pictures from IHJ and link.