Jake Gyllenhaal and Salma Hayek at the LACMA Art and Film Gala and an attachment to Southpaw

Quite a bit of news this week. Firstly, Jake Gyllenhaal attended Saturday's LACMA Art and Film Gala in LA which celebrated the work of two masters - Martin Scorsese and David Hockney. Thanks very much to IHJ for the photo.

The movie news is that Jake has been attached to Southpaw, a boxing drama to be directed by Training Day's Anthony Fuqua. The Wrap tells us:

'If the deal gets signed, Gyllenhaal will play a left-handed prizefighter who wins a title but suffers a tragedy soon after and must put his life back together to earn the respect of his young daughter. While the film is set against the backdrop of the boxing ring, Fuqua previously told the Los Angeles Times that “the heart of the movie is about a man learning to be a father.”... “Southpaw” is expected to start production next year.'

Any thoughts? I enjoy watching boxing movies - including those about ex-boxers having to put their lives back together - almost as much as I enjoy Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. I'll be interested to see what happens to this.

Jake Gyllenhaal has a new manager, the Golden Globes, Brokeback Vote, and not a rotten tomato

It's the New Year and you know what that means. Time to turf out the old and ring in the year. For me that means new slippers but for Jake Gyllenhaal it's all about new management. Deadline reports that Jake has now signed up to work with Patrick Whitesell of WME. I'm sure we all wish them both every success for 2012 - may the year be full of seductive scripts and irresistible directors.

The last post was typically published about ten minutes before the announcement of Jake as a presenter at Sunday's Golden Globes. This is great news, not least because we will see Jake in a tux and maybe even without excessive hair weight, but also because we can see Jake in the public eye, presenting himself to us all. Other presenters include Jake's friends Natalie Portman, Robert Downey Jr and Adam Levine. Sounds like a good night!

Talking of awards, the DGA has nominated Jake's father Stephen in the TV movies and miniseries category for Girl Fight. The winners of those awards will be announced on 28 January.

Brokeback Mountain is still in third place in the Focus Features best film poll so VOTE VOTE VOTE!!! And then vote again.

Source Code might have been left out of the gongs so far, for reasons unfathomable, but audiences and critics loved it. One could argue that their opinion matters more than any academy. Rotten Tomatoes has listed its Golden Tomatoes Awards for 2011 and at No 8 is Source Code with 91% of love.

Meanwhile, while Jake prepares for the Globes, ironing off the suit and polishing the shoes and tweaking the nasal hair, twitter sightings continue, with a spotting last night of Jake having dinner with Austin Nichols - sushi? - in LA. Here's hoping we may see them cycling together soon.

As this post has an awards theme in places, it's very apt that IHJ has published old/new photos of Jake and Selma Blair at the 2002 Movieline Young Hollywood Awards. Ten years ago - how time flies.

Thanks to IHJ for the pics. Thanks to BBMISwear for the twitter link!

My review of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is now up at MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Tribeca, some goodies from the icecap and a trip down memory lane...

Jake Gyllenhaal is continuing to do his best to be seen by 7 out of every 10 people who inhabit the city of New York City. He is achieving this by drinking an awful lot of coffee, riding around on lots of bicycles and grabbing every train in sight. You may see an example of one of these activities here. One person was lucky enough to see him and described him as 'tall' (further contribution to the height debate), 'a cutie' and 'scruffy'. One can take that as further evidence that the Face Pet is making itself at home. Jake has been seen over the last day or two in Tribeca in particular. [See below for details but this photo is not from Tribeca... or anywhere near it.]

There is a full account here of Jake's appearance at a jewellery show, along with the lead of Vampire Weekend (a band, of course, that likes Jake just as he likes them if their videos are anything to go by). It sounds like Jake may have been exercising his flirting muscles while ogling at very expensive gems. Further examples may have been noted at Sting's bash.

Meanwhile, one other girl spotted Jake last week and had this to say: 'I just remembered that I saw Jake Gyllenhaal today  in Union Square, but then I saw a really awesome dog so forgot all about it.' Thanks to Sasha for spotting that one! Gotta wonder what the dog looked like...

The wonderful pictures in this post are new old goodies from Earth Day back in 2005 when Jake and Salma Hayek visited an Inuit community. You can read about the visit here and here. Many thanks to IHJ for them.

And finally...

A real treat here, found by BBMISwear. This collection of old footage of Jake through the years is a joy and is different to the Biography clips that we've seen before. Enjoy it.

After the emotion comes celebration - Jake and Reese at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party

After the heady emotion of triumph and disappointment comes the time for congratulation and commiseration, accompanied by a glass of something sparkly and the flash of camera bulbs - the Vanity Fair party. Cancelled last year, the party re-emerged in 2009 at the Sunset Tower and we were given the always welcome treat of Jake Gyllenhaal in a tux.


Reese was one of the surprise presenters at the Oscars and, after the ceremony, she and Jake did what we all like to do at a party (second only to drinking cocktails and dancing to Abba)...




... they mingled.







This one slipped in... I suddenly feel tripdation for the Nailed red carpet (should we get one, of course).


Includes pictures from Popsugar and here.

Jake - 'We're the closest thing to an Italian family without being Italian'

It took Sam Mendes four months to decide if Jake Gyllenhaal was the right man for Jarhead. '"Yes, frankly, I did initially have some doubts," British-born Mendes says. "I pegged him as one of those drippy, sorry, American indie-film boys, a bit too doe-eyed and whiny to pull this off. Which was unfair of me."' Tony Swofford himself was impressed by Jake in an instant: "It took me almost 10 years to level with myself about the type of guy I was in Desert Shield. [Jake] got it immediately. So I see myself in the manic behaviour. But, of course, I never looked as good doing it."


It's well known how Jake failed to impress at his initial, informal audition for Jarhead, having already attracted Sam's attention on stage in London: 'Mendes thought of Gyllenhaal to play Swofford after seeing the actor onstage in London in the 2002 play This is Our Youth. The two later met at Mendes' apartment, where, at the kitchen table, Gyllenhaal read two emotional scenes. His performance fell flat. Afterward, Mendes served sandwiches and watched Gyllenhaal doggedly fight the urge to go down on his knee and beg to do the audition again. Instead, they small-talked, and the actor went home.'


The filming itself was hard, after long physical and mental preparation: 'There was usually always - like when the oil fires were going on, we had two real fires in front of us and we had oil raining on us and then in the background, and then they filled that in, but everything that we're in is all real. So it was burning hot, those fires, and they didn't use real oil, but we had like molasses, basically, so we had all of that dripping all over us all day. In terms of the explosions and things like that, they were happening, and then they would add them - the far background. The foreground and initial background was all real, and then the far background was computer-generated, so as actors, we were pretty much in the real thing all of the time. There was never a moment where they were like, "oh, don't worry - we'll drip oil all over you in post."'


To Jake, filming Jarhead, and the role of Swoff, was a step away from the kind of roles audiences were accustomed to see him play. This was partly due to the creative freedom granted to Jake by the director: '"I just tried to take risks, and Sam allowed it. He made me feel my ideas are intelligent and correct, and now," Gyllenhaal adds wryly, "you can't sway me from that."'

'These days, Gyllenhaal wants to reinvent himself. He wants to drop the loopy, disaffected image he has perfected in arty movies such as "Donnie Darko" and "The Good Girl," as well as his people-pleasing ways, and become, well, more selfish. "I think I've spent a lot of time [worrying] about how people perceive me rather than doing what I want," he says. Gyllenhaal tends to talk in circles and can be hard to follow, like the instructions on a new toy made in China. "I'll go into situations and fit right in, and that's sort of where I'm coming out of. I'm tired of fitting the way I think everybody thinks I should fit." Gyllenhaal credits "Jarhead" with setting him on that path.'


The soldiers themselves had to grow up young: 'As much issue as I have with our current situation, [as far as] the troops themselves, it's extraordinary what they do. I mean, at my age, I'm still figuring out who I am. When you're 25 years old or in your early 20s, and even younger than that, you're figuring out who you are, and when you're put in situations that they're put in and doing the things that they're doing, within that discovery I think it's just the bravest you could be.'

After Jarhead, would Jake have made a sharpshooter? '(laughs) I don't think any of them wanted to see me doing it. I mean, I dug a great foxhole (laughs).'


In addition to information on how Jake approached Jarhead, these interviews include other gems. In USA Weekend, Jake let on about what it's like around the Gyllenhaal family table: 'The actor grew up surrounded by creative types with "big personalities." His family was loud at the table and never short on opinions. They debated Reaganomics and environmental issues over farmer's-market-fresh food. "We're the closest thing to an Italian family without being Italian," says Gyllenhaal, whose mother is Jewish and father grew up in the Swedenborgian church, a traditional Christian faith from Sweden. "We're all verbose, so it's hard to get a word in edgewise. You have to claw your way around." Gyllenhaal learned early that in order to get attention, he would have to perform.' Jake is also informative: "if you drive a hybrid, you don't have to pay for [meter] parking anywhere."

Some time ago, I posted a link to an audio interview with Jake, in which he described how, for days after filming ended, he came across sand on his pillow - 'it invaded me'. Here is the video to go along with it, which begins with an 'exposure check'.



And while I'm posting videos, here is a video interview with Jake from a French source, in which Jake discusses how he prepared himself mentally for the role and how he worked with the real Swoff to do justice to the character.



Jake and Beth Grant

While finding information for this feature on Jarhead, I stumbled across this Q&A session for Donnie Darko, with Jake and others from the film. I knew that Jake had known Beth Grant (who played Kittie Farmer) for years, but here we discover that Jake's casting had a big influence on Beth taking the role and Jake says 'I used to play naked in their pool with [Beth's] two nieces. Two beautiful blonde twins. Things have changed. (Laughs)' Now there's a thought.


Beth says of the film 'It's honestly my most favorite thing I've ever done, it's my favorite movie, I must have seen it fifteen times, and Richard, I know I'm so Kittie Farmer right now, I loved this cut so much... Richard is a great director and he knew what he wanted in every scene and he got the freedom to try things and do new ideas.' Jake says: 'But it was an amazing experience for me and a familiar one too because this was hopefully not the last time that I work with my sister, but everyone sort of became family from that experience and I'm so proud of it.'

Earth Day

Thanks to I Heart Jake for posting New Old pictures of Jake and Salma Hayek from Everything's Cool and Earth Day in 2005.





Includes pictures from IHJ.

Zodiac impresses and Jake keeps cool

I was very pleased to hear today that the excellent magazine Sight and Sound has placed Zodiac in its Top 10 films for the year, no mean achievement indeed. Here is the full list: 1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu); 2 Inland Empire (David Lynch); 3 Zodiac (David Fincher); = 4 I’m Not There (Todd Haynes) & The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck); 6 Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas); = 7 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik) & Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) & No Country for Old Men (Ethan and Joel Coen) & Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg).


MTV 2004

Thanks to I Heart Jake for posting more New Old pictures of Jake to help us get through this wintry drought. These pictures were taken at the MTV awards in 2004.




Jake and Salma dress up in Iqaluit

Fittingly for the time of year, IHJ also posted recently pictures from the Earth Day that Jake attended with Salma Hayek in Iqaluit, in the Canadian Arctic, back in the 'spring' of 2005. We heard recently from Jake himself how much he loves the snow, and you can read more about this adventure here in The Washington Post.


'So when the yellow all-terrain vehicle carrying Hollywood celebrities lumbered down the snowy hill onto Frobisher Bay's sea ice (you can't really do a red carpet here) Friday, the crowd of several hundred well-bundled Inuit were eager to see who was inside. "Is Brad Pitt there?" one shouted. But Hayek and Gyllenhaal (say: JILL-in-hall) emerged from the truck to riotous applause, apparently ready to brave sub-zero temperatures to make an artistic statement about how global warming is harming a traditional hunting and fishing culture that has thrived here for centuries.'


'That's where Hayek and Gyllenhaal, who pass all the litmus tests, come in. Hayek gave up her car for a year and a half in protest of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, then bought a Ford hybrid sport utility vehicle. Gyllenhaal, 24, starred in the environmental-apocalyptic "Day After Tomorrow." While they dressed down for the occasion -- Hayek sported a long underwear-like slate-colored hoodie and gray wide-legged pants, and Gyllenhaal weathered the cold in jeans and a blue button-down shirt -- they radiated a serious level of glamour compared with the earnest environmentalists surrounding them. Sans posse, the two stars exuded a sense of playfulness throughout the weekend, breaking into song at points (Inuit throat-singing and Spanish-language Christmas carols). The Frobisher Inn's suites were booked, so each star stayed in a modest single room. And at one point, when it looked like the event's organizers couldn't secure a private jet, Hayek offered to fly coach and stay overnight in Ottawa in order to make it. (Her handler also told organizers that schlepping to the Arctic meant Hayek turned down a chance to be a judge at the Cannes Film Festival, a post that apparently includes a $100,000 gift bag as compensation.)' [Now that's what I call compensation...]


'The environmentalists found another plane provider -- the stars arrived on a Millionaire Airlines Learjet -- and Hayek and Gyllenhaal did a full tour of Inuit country. The actress, who shares a manager with Gyllenhaal, called to invite him a day before the plane took off: At first, he recalled, "I was like, what?" but he quickly concluded, "You don't pass that up."'

'"This is, unfortunately, an opportunity for the world to see the face of global warming," Gyllenhaal said during an interview over dinner after an afternoon dogsledding on the sea ice. "In helping these people, we help the world."... Gyllenhaal said he welcomed a chance "to be inside the culture" of the Arctic, "which is full of darkness and full of perversity, too. . . . I'm interested in a people who have a lot of pain underneath but still offer hope."'


I did a brief feature on this event and the cause some months ago, but I don't think it would hurt to relink to this video, which gives some idea of how Jake looks all bundled up against the cold.

Newsmax has another quote from Jake from that day, and it contains a classic example of Gyllenspeak: '"Global warming is an abstract concept to most people; we know it's happening, but we can't really visualize its effect," Gyllenhaal told the press. "Unfortunately, the Inuit people put a human face on global warming, they are literally melting away. They are the canary in the coal mine."'


Brothers in Las Vegas, NM

Filming continues apace on Brothers, with some shooting at least going on in Las Vegas, New Mexico. A resident reported on IMDb that 'Roughly 30 minutes ago, I think they were filming in front of the Spic 'n' Span because cops had the whole block barricaded. Pretty exciting. You wouldn't think such big names would hit little ol' Vegas.'

The cast now includes Mare Winningham, who has been spotted shopping in Santa Fe for boots - vital at this time of the year, I would have thought. 'Multiple Emmy-award and Oscar winner (Best Supporting Actress for Georgia) Mare Winningham) and producer Zach Schiff-Abrams stopped by Back At The Ranch last week to check out the boots. The two visited the store at separate times, but both are in town working on Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. According to IMDB, Winningham also worked on the recently completed Kevin Costner film, Swing Vote. She's the mother of five and even went to high school in Los Angeles with Pecos-area resident Val Kilmer. Small world.'


Includes pictures from IHJ.

Everything's Cool - Especially Jake Gyllenhaal

This month a limited edition DVD of Everything's Cool has been released, described by its makers as a ' "toxic comedy" about the most dangerous chasm ever to emerge between scientific understanding and political action - Global Warming'. Comedy is a tool the film makes use of to spread its message. However, a far more effective weapon is Jake Gyllenhaal.



In 2005, fresh from filming Jarhead in the deserts of the South Western United States and Mexico, Jake went to the 'couldn't-be-more-different' environment of the Arctic. He didn't go alone. Fellow actor with a conscience Salma Hayek went too.



Everything's Cool follows the life and death struggle between the "good guys", those who warn about the imminent arrival of the warming, and the "bad guys", the public voices that have lulled the United States - and not just the United States - into thinking that they can turn a blind eye. What will it take to make the United States lead the world in the fight against global warming? Why and how have humans allowed themselves to have had such an impact on nature?

Few themes are bigger - in more ways than one - than the fight against global warming and Jake, as a Gyllenhaal, clearly took much more away from filming blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow than a raised profile.



More of Jake's involvement on Inuit Earth Day, and his part in art on a grand scale, can be seen in a publicity video for the Inuit Earth Day Event, the film and the DVD. Watch the video here and learn more about the whole project. The locals' verdict on Jake? "Dead sexy! Totally worth freezing my ass off." No arguments there.



Pictures from IHJ