It is possible that many of you are suffering from that post Halloween Sugar Rush that is known to afflict a large proportion of the earth's seven billion inhabitants on 1 November. If so, relax, put your feet up, extract those vampire fangs, wash off the tomato ketchup, unwind the mummy bandages and appreciate the archetypal Halloween Hero, Donnie Darko.
In this article, Moviefone presents the top 25 things you may not know about Donnie Darko. Admittedly, we may know more than your usual Donnie Darko observer, but even so, there is much to learn from here. It also goes to show that DD is not just a superb movie because of its acting, script and execution, but also because of all those little circumstances that, through some fate and destiny, conspired together to bring about one of the most memorable and debated about movies of the last 50 years. Or longer.
Of course, some people (naming no names but here's a link) don't get it at all.
Talking of Halloween, there's a rather spooky sounding tweet from today:
'Jake Gyllenhaal was in my soul cycle class!'
I don't know about you, but my mind is boggled.
And finally...
I wanted to post this new old video from the European premiere of The Dark Night in London because this event brings back some memories and I was there with other WDW readers. It is quite possible that one or more of us may be spotted!
There's not much more we can do now but wait and see what tonight brings. So, wherever we are, I earnestly hope that we will end the day or begin the new day with the news that Heath Ledger has secured an Oscar so utterly deserved for his reinvention of the Joker.
This moving article charts Heath's progress towards the Oscars - 'he will not be at the Kodak Theater, but his presence will be hard to miss.' One's thoughts have to be with Heath's family who, it is believed, will be attending the ceremony and perhaps collecting the Oscar, should Heath win, for Heath's daughter.
And the ceremony itself has been rearranged - to give the Best Supporting Actor more prominence by rescheduling it later into the event? - and many of the presenters are to be kept hidden, away from the red carpet.
ETA: With thanks to Monica, here's the schedule of awards, with Best Supporting Actor at 7:03pm (PT).
I also want to wish best of luck to Kate Winslet and David Fincher.
January 25 2009, Screen Actors Guilds Awards, Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger. To accept - Gary Oldman: 'I’m quite emotional now. It is a great honour to be asked to accept this on behalf of Heath. He was an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary talent, and it’s wonderful that you all have acknowledged that and honoured that talent tonight...'
'On behalf of Heath, his family and his family on The Dark Knight, I thank you.'
The awards season of 2009 continues, with every sign that Heath's name will be read out at the Academy Awards this February - bittersweet pride to follow by the shedload. Time to remember SAGs 2006, when the biggest controversy surrounding Jake and Heath's appearance on the stage was the meaning behind the posture and stance of a young man who was uncomfortable at such events but deserved in abundance the awards they offered.
Many congratulations are also due to Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep for their awards last night.
The Prince of Persia may be a year off our theatre screens but we are very lucky to have all these little snippets of information and tantalising glimpses of what is in store. And today there is more. The dastardly Vizier Nizam himself - aka Ben Kingsley - has been talking to Empire about his summer job, which involves this guy:
It sounds like Ben has been doing some serious brushing up on his videogame knowledge - a bit like Robert Downey Jr and Maggie Gyllenhaal on superheroes and it's so good to hear Ben describe how the project is coming together in a manner that is 'quite beautiful': 'We’re bringing to it all the scrutiny that a great myth would deserve... It’s quite wonderful being around the table discussing the video game – which I’m aware of but don’t know anything about.'
'It’s really quite beautiful how it's building up with all our actors, with the writers sitting there, with the director sitting there, it’s really holding up very well. Most of my stuff is with Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays the Prince (Dastan), and I’m a father figure who lets him down very, very badly in the film. I’m the villain actually. It’s interesting because his own father dies early in the film and I take over and I’m completely manipulative.'
'Well, it’s really lovely to be working on something that is obviously hugely popular... Jerry Bruckheimer, who did Pirates Of The Caribbean, obviously knows what he’s doing and Mike Newell is a wonderful director. You know that patronising attitude that some film-makers have where they dismiss people as a stupid audience? Well, Mike isn’t going to do that, he’s going to give them something beautiful.' And when you have an audience full of Gyllenhaalics, they're going to be ready for that 'something beautiful'.
The Dark Knight reaches Japan
Meanwhile, Maggie and others from The Dark Knight have reached Tokyo and, yet again, Maggie is a stunner, this time in a striking orange dress by Jean Paul Gaultier. Incidentally, in this first picture, the guy second from the left is the man we could not identify at the London premiere a week ago today, so if anyone knows who he is, I know I'd like to know.
In this video, you can see Maggie on the theatre stage discussing the film and her character. This looks like a very different affair to the London event.
Tonight, I'm letting the Joker do the talking (oh, and the man in the black cape), because I have just returned from seeing The Dark Knight and movies like this have a way of robbing one of words. Also, I know many of you have yet to see it (I see IMAX tickets with some of your names on them this weekend) and so I'm staying schtum. But I will say two words, which can apply both to The Dark Knight and to Heath Ledger, 'bloody marvellous', and, as Jake Gyllenhaal would say, 'Don't wear mascara and take plenty of tissues'.
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Christian Bale and the Batmobile have reached Spain - the premiere there was held last night at the Barcelona Coliseum Cinema and Maggie looked just sensational. Apparently, The Dark Knight has now taken more at the box office, in a little less than a week, than Batman Begins did during its entire run.
Before Maggie left the British Isles, she recorded an interview with Vernon Kay (British presenter and husband of Tess Daly) for Radio 1 of the BBC. You can listen to it here. If anyone has trouble listening to the interview - especially if you're overseas or if you're Twisted Logic - do email me. Interestingly, Vernon plays Mad World, the theme of Donnie Darko, and asks Maggie if she enjoyed making that film. She did - it was 'fun' and 'wild', mostly because it was made with her little brother. And thanks to Sheba for the link to a Sky video interview with Maggie on the London red carpet - I have still to find the one that I saw recorded but great to see this.
A timeless art
Inspired by a great conversation about the theatre in the comments to the last post, I wanted to do a link to these two articles from the Telegraph, which date from he days that Jake Gyllenhaal was striding the boards of the West End. Despite the critic's stated belief that Jake was in Jurassic III, which I believe he was not (I think we might have noticed), he declares that the influx of three hot American youths was just the thing to rejuvenate London theatre.
Jake played Warren: 'Just the sight of Warren's awkward dancing and over-eager snogging reduced me to tears of laughter and poignant recognition of my own distant youth. Laurence Boswell directs this marvellous trio of actors with both confidence and an illuminating attention to detail. Gyllenhaal seizes all his chances as Warren, a beautiful and befuddled loser. But he also movingly suggests a lovable, vulnerable character just beginning to grow into maturity.'
And here, you can read another reporter from the Telegraph write about the 'extraordinary thing' happening at the Garrick Theatre. She concludes: 'I discovered theatre in that way. I arrived in London on cheap day returns, bought student standbys and began to explore this strange world where you sit quietly in the dark and let someone take you by the hand and tell you a story. I was quickly hooked, but sometimes, even now, I am struck by the oddity of the habit. When a play is dull, or the production doesn't convince, and the queue for the loos stretches all the way to out to the street, I wonder why I am wasting my time. But then I see a play like This Is Our Youth, and I am entranced all over again. So, to all those first-timers, I say stick with it. You may suddenly find yourself in love with this timeless art in which people pretend to be someone else and touch a chord in your own heart.'
As someone who, as a student, did line up for returns at London's theatres every Saturday afternoon and saw duds as well as some amazing performances I'll never forget, I love to hear that Jake is seen by some to have played a part in the rejuvenation of a much loved art form and source of enormous pleasure and satisfaction, for both audiences and their actors.
Jake himself has said of the theatre: 'I just think I’m fed by it. I’m sucked dry by film and I think I’m fed by theatre. There’s a start and stop to film where you give and you give and you give, and you don’t have that give and take like you do in the theatre, and I think it’s just necessary. I get rid of bad habits, but it just fills me.'
What a day - and, the day after, all the bruises, aches, pains and fatigue feel well worth it - Premiere Syndrome. All day as you're crammed into a space that is so small that you literally cannot retrieve a thing from the bag wedged between your ankles without everyone around you bracing themselves and each other to avoid collapsing like a coil of dominoes, you think you won't do this again. And then, after 6 hours, 8 hours or longer, you watch the carpet going down, you play games with some of the security and other attendants, the special effects are tested and you hear the noise of the Batmobile revving somewhere outside the Square and you know you'd do it again.
The security was a mess and we were manhandled into an unmarked area where the barricades would go. Because it was unmarked, many people who'd been there since breakfast time were left without a place and ended up behind huge screens and the press, with no chance of seeing a thing. Apparently, the security guy responsible is known for his unpleasant crowd control at London's premieres and has a reputation, preserved on YouTube apparently, that he feel he must maintain. So I got separated from the others and was wedged in, fortunately in a place with a great view right opposite the Odeon entrance, to the right of the press and just where the interviews took place. I was luckily attached to a group of Harry Potter fans who kept me well entertained and fed with chocolates.
We talked about Heath Ledger a lot. I wore my green stripes with pride and one of the HP girls wore a Heath t-shirt. They had planned, a year ago, to be here to see Heath. We'd done just the same thing. The sense of someone massive and important and loved being missing was extremely palpable and made the whole affair emotional and I think it affected the mood on and off the red carpet.
The interviewer rehearsed to camera and did a rolecall for those attending and said Maggie Gyllenhaal but with a hard G. I wasn't having that! So I yelled out 'That's Jill-enhaal, not Gill-enhaal!' And he got it right for the rest of the evening.
One thing I couldn't believe was that right up until the barriers went up, people, especially tourists, were asking us why we were there! This was despite huge lettering on the Odeon saying The Dark Knight European premiere, the fire special effects, the sound of bats and the huge posters around us and the security - 'Are you waiting for a film?' In a manner of speaking.
At last they got the carpet down - red with a black bat. We heard it before we saw it - the Batmobile came down the carpet, fire shooting out of its exhaust and making a sound like you wouldn't believe. Then the audience began to arrive and the HP fans with me were very lucky because there seemed to be a neverending supply of Harry Potter 'kids', including Draco, Luna and Neville.
The girls also pointed out a long line of Hollyoaks actresses and Bob Geldolf daughters in very high heels but at least I had heard of Mcfly. Not surprisingly, Doctor Who's nemesis The Master, John Simm, attracted a lot of attention (as did Kelly Osbourne's new haircut).
Personally, I was pleased to see Gary Lineker but I couldn't get a picture of him as Michael Caine was being interviewed right by us and I was trying to avoid having my eye poked out by TDK pictures which were being shoved past me for Sir Michael's autograph.
We'd been told by a guy there that Gary Oldman was a no and there was a 'question mark over Morgan Freeman' - neither of whom turned up. Michael Caine was the first to arrive but he took such a great amount of time signing autographs (while being shadowed by the bodyguard from Jake and Reese's Paris weekend!), Aaron Eckhart was the first of the cast we saw and Christian Bale was the last.
Finally I could see Maggie a little down the carpet, signing away, with Peter Sarsgaard keeping a little distance, towards the centre of the carpet. She looked gorgeous, tall and pale in the flowing black and backless cat suit. She walked past me and headed straight to the press a few feet away to pose. I called her name and she said she'd come back - unfortunately she wasn't able to as everyone was being called into the theatre. Ruby remembers that someone called out 'Maggie, your brother is hot!' No argument there...
After everyone was in we were hoping that the cast would appear on the balcony but they didn't. Instead after doing some photographs inside the foyer and after quickly popping into the auditorium, they were out. Big silver cars parked on the red carpet outside and they were out like a shot, Maggie waving as she got into the car. Helsbells got some pictures of Peter at this point, and also got some other pictures of Maggie - and here they are (thanks Helen!)
Finally, at about 7.30, it was all over and we were released from our pen. We headed automatically to the bar across Leicester Square and I downed a pint of Peroni in one. We all toasted Heath.
I must thank Ruby, Anouska, Winterbird, Helsbells and Freetraveller for sharing the day, although for some of that day communication could only take place through shouts and wild arm gestures. (In this blurred picture below, you can see Peter to the right of Maggie in the background - I did call his name and he looked over but this was very much Maggie's night and he went nowhere near the barriers and crowds - Edited to add, I see from a YouTube video that Peter did sign further away from the Odeon.)
This YouTube video, shot just a couple of feet from where I was standing, gives some idea of what the whole affair was like. Seeing other YouTube videos of the event makes me appreciate just how close I was and how lucky I was. I also see from one of them that it looks like Christian Bale was attended at one point by our old favourite 'Officer K', Jake's other BG!
Pictures from WDW and Helen. Prince of Persia begins filming today and Jerry 'finally got' Jake!
Jerry Bruckheimer has been talking about the Prince of Persia: 'The trademark feature of all the games is the playable character's jumping across a gap and grabbing a ledge with his hands to pull himself up. Will fans see that signature move in the movie? "Well, we'll try," Bruckheimer said... "We're starting Prince of Persia on Tuesday [July 22]," Bruckheimer said. "We're prepping all the locations right now. The actors are rehearsing. It's very close. I leave tomorrow to go up there."... Bruckheimer shared his excitement for making a movie with Gyllenhaal, who has been on the producer's radar for a long time. "I've always wanted to work with him," Bruckheimer said. "I've been chasing him for a while, so I finally got him, finally found something he liked."'
Maggie Gyllenhaal continues to charm the chat show hosts of the US - last night it was the turn of the Gyllenhaal favourite, Jon Stewart. Fortunately, whichever our side of the pond, we can now all see the interview, during which Stewart expresses his own opinion on The Dark Knight - 'this thing is just gonna tank' - or not.
Coincidentally, when Jon here laughs about his own movie career, it's interesting to see on IMDb that he is listed as one of the cast of the one and only Nailed, in which he plays himself. Intriguing to think that we may get to see Jon Stewart interviewing Howard Birdwell, aka Jake Gyllenhaal - that, I really want to see.
Following all the news reports about the NYC premiere of The Dark Knight, it's good to get some moving pictures:
You can see another video of interviews on the NYC black carpet here.
And finally...
Another of my favourite ladies, Anne Hathaway is featured in the magazine for the forthcoming Sunday Telegraph and she has this to say about the awakening that she underwent during the process of filming Brokeback Mountain:
'In 2005, though, she performed something of a handbrake turn, trading glass slippers for cowboy boots and a topless scene in Brokeback Mountain, and experienced a kind of professional awakening. 'It wasn't until Brokeback Mountain that I was, like, '"OK, this is what I want,"' she says. 'I want to tell stories that move people, and if I'm not moving people I want them to be so entertained that they forget about their lives.''
While all has gone quiet on the Jake front again - no doubt he's brushing up on his parkour and trying to make amends for a weekend of crepes - Maggie Gyllenhaal has more than made up for it. Hot on the heels of her appearance on the Late Show with Letterman, Maggie has just completed her stint on the obligatory Regis and Kelly and thanks to Pop Crunch we can already see the interview ourselves.
Maggie has also been talking some more about Heath Ledger: 'I knew him some before we did the movie together (her brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, co-starred with Ledger in ‘Brokeback Mountain’). Heath hit a stride that was absolutely free, which is rare for an actor. The scene I did with him was very scary and full of tension and horrible in a lot of ways. But I actually had such a blast shooting it with him because anything I did, he would roll with me, and he threw all sorts of things at me.'
Meanwhile, according to Variety, Maggie has signed on to star with Jeff Bridges and Robert Duvall in 'the music-based drama "Crazy Heart" for CMT Films and Informant Media. Scott Cooper wrote and will helm the film, which is based on the debut novel by Thomas Cobb. Story centers on a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic country music singer (Bridges) who is able to get his life and career back on track through his relationship and experiences with a female reporter (Gyllenhaal).' This sounds like Maggie will be able to film closer to film and family than she would have done in South Solitary, which is to film in Tasmania.
The Prince
But what about Jake...? Variety also reports that, with fears of a screen actors' strike 'Studios have decided to sit out the summer, and the fall, for that matter. There are a few exceptions: Sony just began production on the Roland Emmerich-directed "2012," Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer expect to begin production in Morocco on "Prince of Persia" on July 24, and Universal is set to push the start button Aug. 19 on the Ridley Scott-directed Russell Crowe starrer "Nottingham" in London.' So July 24, a week today.
Things are getting ready to go in Morocco and it's hot! One of the last places I expected to find information on the Prince of Persia shoot was Leek, Staffordshire (and I can say that as I have very close family there - I can also report that Leek has more speed cameras than any other place in the world) but it turns out that a sculptor from Leek, Robert Bean, has just returned from his stint on the Moroccan set and it was hot, damn hot. He's now back at Pinewood - presumably the other place where scenes are to be shot - finishing the set there:
'As a freelance polystyrene carver and model maker, his work involved sculpting models of the the full-scale sets which decorate the film, which will star Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina. The former Leek High School pupil and Leek College of Art student said: "It may sound glamorous, but in reality, working on an industrial site on the outskirts of Marrakesh wasn't easy. Temperatures hit 45C daily and after a month of that, it was a bit of a relief to return to the UK and this awful wet summer. The Prince of Persia, like Tomb Raider, is based on a successful computer game and as you would imagine, that leaves great scope for set designers and sculptors alike." The 42-year-old is currently working back at Pinewood Studios finishing various scenic pieces for the film.'
And with my mind on the Prince, a big thanks to Zodiac for links to the amazing HD trailer for the new Prince of Persia game (the source of the stills here). This may be something different from Jake's prince but it does give us a flavour of the feeling and passion and beauty behind the whole franchise. Give in to it and enjoy!
