WDW's Oxford adventure - it was An Education

A strange thing happened on the way to the office this morning...

Little did I know when I set off for work this morning that I would be able to disprove the theory that a certain movie is only being filmed in locations beginning with W. Demonstrating (with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer) that it's a small world, I turned the corner by my office and saw a whole load of movie trailers, along with a double decker bus serving as a canteen. We're used to filmsets in Oxford (I've seen more movie stars here than I have in LA) and so I approached the security guard - the one with 'Manchester United FC' tattooed onto his neck - and asked what was going on. He said he didn't know if it was a movie or a TV show but it was called 'An Education'. You could have knocked me down with a feather.

To cut a long story short - well, I won't because I'm going to keep talking about it - several hours later, this is how it ended up. Me and Peter Sarsgaard - don't you think we look good together?


At lunchtime, having sat patiently at my desk as long as I possibly could, and dragging along a not-very-reluctant friend with me (who, being a glamorous sort, managed to get quite a bit of information from one of the movie roadies), I headed off to the trailers to find where the shoot was taking place. My friend learned that we had to go left, then right, then left, then right, then right again. This led us to one of Oxford's most familiar filming locations, the Radcliffe Camera, which, to be honest, was a disappointment to me as I thought it would be nice if crews looked elsewhere for a beautyspot as we have so many.



We went over and spent a very enjoyable hour watching one scene being rehearsed down an alley by Brasenose College. This scene featured two girls dolled up to their early 1960s' best, bouffants and all, leaning on a car, while student-types walked by. It was fascinating to see all the attention hair and wardrobe were getting - photographs were used to ensure that continuity was preserved in the arrangement of the hair. One of the girls had a lot of trouble with her shoes and she took them off whenever she could. Otherwse, there were extras passing by on foot or on bicycle, dressed as students would 40 years ago or so. To be honest, it was hard telling them apart from the observers, and I'm not kidding.



After work on this beautiful sunny day I headed back to the Camera (this is a beautiful round building which acts as a library as well as a favourite site for youngsters in centuries past to hurl themselves off the top of) and watched the preparation for a scene in which the young lovely young actress Carey Mulligan cycled past the Bridge of Sighs. She was accompanied by an extra, a student, whose friends were standing behind me and kept trying to put him off.




The sun was bright today and apparently there was too much sun in the shot and so they had to wait a few minutes before what the director called 'The Peter Shot'. That got my attention. I turned round and there was Peter standing by some old cars, by the Bridge of Sighs and an old newspaper stand. I took his picture and, because the filming was held up for the sun, I decided to walk over and say a few words to him, along the lines of how thrilled I was to see him and that I had seen him in Toronto and got his autograph.


Peter was very kind, shaking my hand, and - completely staying in character, speaking with an impeccable English accent (it was weird, I have to tell you, to not hear the beautiful voice we're so used to from Peter) - said how great that was. I asked if I could take his picture and he suggested we could do better than that and he called a guy over to take our picture together and I got an arm put round me and he got one round him. I asked him if he was in Oxford for longer and he said for only one day. I told him how pleased I was that it was so sunny for him and that he'd made my perfect day. He laughed, shook my hand again, and I went off. I couldn't beat that moment.

So they're only in Oxford for one day. I tried but failed to find out where they are tomorrow but really I don't think I care too much. Oxford is a beautiful city, especially when it's bathed in sun as it was today, but today it looked even more stunning than usual.



I realise I have written a whole post and not mentioned Jake Gyllenhaal's name. Oops - no I haven't. Thank you, Peter, for being so kind to me even though you were in character and had your mind on work. You were lovely to me in Toronto and you were just wonderful today. To say you made my day would be as banal as saying Monday follows Sunday - you absolutely made my day. Thank you!


By the way, please take pity on me - I wasn't expecting to be photographed with an international movie star today! All pictures by WDW.

An appeal by Rachel Dawes, and Jake's degrees of separation from the X Files

Hot on the heels of new pictures of the Joker, we now have a television appeal by assistant district attourney Rachel Dawes on behalf of Harvey Dent and in support of his campaign to be District Attourney for Gotham City. Apparently, this is in response to some scurrilous slurs made against the good name of Dent (alternative video link).



The hunt for someone (Peter Sarsgaard) not too distantly related to Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has grown warm again. Although no stars were in evidence, an IMDb poster today revealed how An Education has transfigured the streets of West Ealing, London. 'The parade of shops where I get my fruit and veg weekly has been transformed into the 1960s. All very well done, with old-style shop fronts and a huge period billboard. Some nice old cars, too, and I saw extras being bouffed up into teddyboys.' And the signs are they'll be back.


A week from today, Nailed begins filming in South Carolina and Jake Gyllenhaal (or Howard Ryder, as we shall soon know Jake as very well) will be back at work. Not surprisingly, the excitement is mounting in the neighbourhood at the prospect of an invasion by a high profile movie and its stars. Local site, The State, reports: 'When Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel come to town to film a movie, that’s kind of cool. So what if that movie is about a receptionist who has a nail shot into her head “eliciting wild sexual urges” and meets a congressman who takes advantage of “her sex drive,” as The Hollywood Reporter described the film in November? Not exactly the kind of stuff you tout to the Palmetto crowd. “Nailed is a political satire in which Sammy Joyce (Biel) ... goes on a crusade to Washington to fight for the rights of the ‘bizarrely injured’ and meets an immoral congressman (Gyllenhaal),” is how the S.C. Department of Commerce described the movie in a news release last month. The Commerce folks say they got the G-rated description straight from the production company. Guess Jake and Jessica, on their own, are sexy enough for most folks.'


The more one hears about Nailed, the more bizarre it seems, and the more one wonders how Jake will breath life and interest into the 'immoral' Howard Ryder. At the moment, it is still unclear how the script will play out, and I will confess to some bemusement. I hope that not all the compensations from such a film with such a storyline are the obvious ones (although those do go a long way, I admit).

Today's challenge

I'm always up for a challenge - especially if my mind has been sufficiently lubricated with Merlot - and today's was to include X-File's Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in a post.


Gillian was relatively easy. Jake and Gillian both took to the boards of the West End at around the same time and when Jake received his Evening Standard Newcomer of the Year Award (for This is Our Youth) at London's Savoy Hotel on 25 November, 2002, Gillian was a natural choice for presenter. Jake wasn't the only familiar winner that night, Sam Mendes also won two awards. These were for productions of Uncle Vanya and what is quite possibly my favourite Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night.


In 2003, the What's On Stage Theatregoers announced their awards for the year and both Jake and Gillian Anderson were winers - Gillian won best Actress for What the Night Is For at the Comedy Theatre while Jake won London Newcomer of the Year for his performance at the Garrick. Sam Mendes was nominated twice but, this time, unsuccessfully.


Jake has since admitted his unease at attending ceremonies in London. He had admitted to the Daily Mail back in January 2002: 'I'm a little scared to be doing theatre in London.' When he was interviewed by Martha's Vineyard radio (along with Brad Silberling for the promotion of Moonlight Mile), Jake said that he had been 'at an awards show. I made a fool out of myself in London. I was the only American amongst a lot of Brits' ('surprise, surprise' interrupts Brad), 'I was actually bookended by Tony Blair and Mick Jagger... I don't know what I was doing there,' Jake says, '...You guys have great food.'


To find a connection between Jake and David Duchovny was more of a challenge, but Ruby helped me out, and told me that they appeared together - with Shakira of the hips - on Last Call With Carson Daly back in September 2002. Not much is known of this show, but an eyewitness account survives. 'I tuned in just once so that I could see one of my favorite actors, Jake Gyllenhaal, who isn't really interviewed much (and this was summer 2002, so he was interviewed even less than he is now). I have never felt sorrier for another human being. Jake, I mean. That poor guy was trying to talk about his movies (two of which were out at the moment, with another coming out soon), and all Carson wanted to hear about was his love scene with Jennifer Aniston. That was IT. THEN Carson asks Jake about his sister Maggie's nude scenes in the movie Secretary. Jake shot him what can only be described as a "death glare," and Carson shut up. (Come on, Carson, that's his SISTER! He doesn't want to talk about her being naked!) And not ONCE did Carson mention October Sky or Donnie Darko! No, it was "Bubble Boy" and sex scenes...'

I'm not aware that Jake ever made a repeat visit. I'm not certain how David fared...





Includes pictures by IHJ and Getty.

Getting around and about and making films

More pictures of Heath Ledger's Joker have been unleashed and they are extraordinary. I don't know how it's possible but this Joker is terrifying, menacing and sexy all at the same time. And when these images will be matched with the voice, the effect will be amazing.



At one time, the idea of playing Batman himself appealed to Jake Gyllenhaal, as he told the Chicago Sun-Times back in 2004: 'It's a character I would have loved to do and it would have meant working with Christopher Nolan, who is such a genius.'



It's a small world

Maggie Gyllenhaal left the cast of The Private Lives of Pippa Lee to spend time with Peter and Ramona in England as Peter films An Education. However, Maggie intends to travel much further than that. It's been reported that Maggie is to star opposite Paul Bettany (who plays a shell-shocked soldier) in the 'romantic drama' South Solitary. 'Solitary follows the story of Bettany's character when he is recuperating in Tasmania. The lensing of the movie is expected to start sometime in 2008 and it will take place in a remote lighthouse off the coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania.'



Paul Bettany will be familiar to many of us from a couple of roles. In Wimbledon, a film I am unable not to watch each June/July, Paul played opposite Kirsten Dunst and Jake's The Day After Tomorrow co-star Austin Nichols and Jake was a visitor to the set (see above - September 2003). Not only that, Paul was a joy to watch as Chaucer in Knight's Tale alongside Heath Ledger. And now he is to play opposite Maggie. I feel like I say 'It's a small world' with disturbing regularity.



An Education

This week, the Daily Mail featured Carey Mulligan, a young actress, who, although 22 years old in real life, plays a 16 year old in An Education, in which she attracts the attention of Peter Sarsgaard's wheeling and dealing character. 'Carey's character, Jenny, 'lives this dull beige life in Twickenham'. Until, that is, an older man drives into her life... Everything changes when she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man with fingers in many pies who drives a red Bristol car.' Here is another picture from the set.


Jake getting around and about

New pictures of Jake walking to a gym on 4 April reveal that his bad ankle has not affected his walking-backwards-to-avoid-paparazzi skills. A video of Jake and Reese walking to a car on the same day also confirms that, although Jake's ankle is well strapped up, he does seem to be moving much easier on it. That is a big relief, not least because there is now only a week to go before Jake goes back to work.




And thanks to IHJ for more pictures from Cabo - that Game Ready looks a heavy load to me.


And finally, snow skills...

And just because I woke up today to a very unusual site for southern England in April - thick snow - here is Jake building an igloo.



Includes pictures from IHJ, Photolicious, Entertainment Wise and the Daily Mail.

Remembering Heath Ledger - 'he was so physical and beautiful and strong and masculine'

Today, 4 April 2008, if all had been right with the world, should have been Heath Ledger's 29th birthday. But, because things are broken in a way that is impossible to fathom, Heath isn't here. Speaking as someone who was not fortunate enough to have met Heath in person, but as just a movie-lover, changed forever by Heath's embodiment of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, today's words for Heath are better coming from someone who was lucky enough to have had that privilege. This is what Brokeback screenwriter Diana Ossana said about Heath in the March 11 issue of Advocate:



'Heath was an old soul in a young man's frame, extremely masculine, extremely competent in all things, and yet sensitive beyond belief. In person Heath was animated and kinetic and full of life, far different from the character he portrayed in Brokeback Mountain. He was always disheveled, unconcerned with his appearance, because - like my writing partner, Larry McMurty - Heath lived in his head. Heath was a pure actor, much like Larry is a pure writer, and I was moved by the similarities between these two seemingly very different men.'



'One of my most endearing memories of working with Heath on set was the day we filmed the final scene in Brokeback. Before the first take, Heath walked over to me, a big smile on his face, and said, "I think you're going to like what I've done with this scene." Then he headed inside that bleak little trailer house, and the cameras rolled. I watched the monitor as Ennis opened his tiny closet door and revealed the two shirts he had found hidden inside Jack's childhood bedroom, like skins, one inside the other... and realized that Heath, as Ennis, had chosen to reverse the order of those shirts, with his on the outside, embracing Jack's. Such was Heath's commitment to the truth of our story and to the rawness and depth of his portrayal. Afterward our grizzled and thoroughly macho first assistant director marched over to me, bent down, and whispered in my ear, "Diana, I've worked in this business 50 years. This is the first time an actor's brought a tear to my eye."'


'Heath was generous and dear, painfully shy and gifted, and I will miss him for the rest of my days.'


Michelle Williams was quoted in the April issue of Interview: 'I think that the interesting thing about Heath, which maybe people have only really fully discovered in his death, is how vulnerable he was. You can pick up on it in his performances, but it's easy to overlook because he was so physical and beautiful and strong and masculine. But there was always that underlying sensitivity. That's who he was.'



To mark Heath's birthday, and a TV showing of Brokeback Mountain, a New Zealand site today listed 'Ten things you didn't know about Brokeback'. One of them was new to me: 'After completion of the movie, Brokeback writer Annie Proulx sent both lead actors an original, autographed copy of her story. When she signed Jake's copy she wrote "To Jake...", but when she signed the copy for Heath, she accidentally wrote "To Ennis…" After continuing her personal message, she realized her mistake - but decided to leave it there. In a private screening later in Hollywood, she reflected that she left his signed copy that way because she felt Heath Ledger had embodied Ennis in every way she had wrote him.'


Includes pictures from The Advocate and IHJ.

Jake - 'Every actor wants to be a rock star and every rock star wants to be an actor'

The other day we were talking about Jake Gyllenhaal's musical credentials - including his time in a band and the days when Jake used to write songs. We've seen pictures of Jake playing the guitar (although one tends to brush over this particular Interview outtake), blowing the trumpet, and we've seen that, at more than one awards ceremony or public event, Jake likes to belt out a bit a disco anthem, preferably in falsetto.





And then there have been the times when Jake has taken to the stage solely to sing and entertain. Jake may have missed out on the role of Christian in Moulin Rouge but there is a musical in Jake and it needs to be brought out. If one should have any doubts about that, watch this, Jake's performance on SNL. And while we're talking of SNL, there was also this.


At times Jake has told us of his obsessions for certain songs - for the Travis song on the Moonlight Mile soundtrack and for Candy Shop by 50 Cents. He has also mentioned his appreciation for showtunes, even re-enacting on Conan his enthusiasm for The Edge's rendition of Send in the Clowns during a performance of Miracle Drug at a U2 gig.



That Jake enjoys a good gig is clear and this is surely a perk of having an A-List name - Jake can be there in the wings for any act he chooses, and not always just in the wings.



This seems like a good time to repeat one of Jake's musical quotes: 'Well, I think every actor says they're a singer. I don't know any actor who doesn't. They claim to be, every actor wants to be a rock star and every rock star wants to be an actor, which is probably true. But I've been singing all my life. My band, which broke up, was called Holeshot, and it was like rock, fusion kinda like, a little bit of like, I guess you could say influence like jazz. I love to play music.' What music do you like listening to? 'I love Tom Waits, I really love Tom Waits, I love Radiohead, I love Belle and Sebastian. I love so many and every time I remember answering this question and I go to my CD collection, I'm like, 'Oh! I should have said this, and I should have said that!' Because there are so many bands that I love so much, but those are the ones that are in my head.'


And just in case you were wondering, Jake's quite a mover as well.



Pictures from IHJ.

Jake - 'anybody who spends any time with women knows how extraordinary that particular sex is'

Two quotes from Jake have just popped up. In the first, Jake reveals that, a couple of years ago, he took a few days off from his world to don chef's clothes and work with his best friend in a restaurant kitchen. "I've always loved cooking. My best friend is a chef and we've cooking together for years. I love food. A couple of years ago, I was in New York, and my friend was working in a restaurant there. Because he works such crazy hours, the only time I could hang out with him was when he was working. So I put on some chef's clothes and worked with him for four nights. It was the best time I'd had in a long time." If only there were a picture or two of Jake in his white chef's jacket, cap and checked trousers. In the meantime, I'll settle for a picture of double-handed wine-drinking Jake.


In the second quote, Jake pays tribute to the power of women, an attitude he developed because of the strong women with whom he grew up, Naomi and Maggie. 'Well, between my mum and my sister, I definitely grew up with a particular sort of woman. They are strong women who really know what they believe, and I like that. They also taught me to respect a woman's mind. Growing up with them, I've always known about the power and the energy that women hold - anybody who spends any time with women knows how extraordinary that particular sex is!" I think a large number of that particular sex find Jake rather extraordinary as well.


With filming on Nailed due to start in only two weeks, a Columbia paper has outlined the difficulties facing the South Carolina film industry and the concerted and dedicated efforts of local officials to draw an ever-growing number of projects to the streets and beaches of the state, including Nailed. This also reminds me of the similar efforts that have had such success in New Mexico, as we saw during the preparation for, and filming of, Brothers.


We now have more pictures, thanks to IHJ, from Jake Gyllenhaal's Mexico spring break. But these come from the beginning of the trip, showing Jake, Reese and entourage passing time by browsing the shops, possibly avoiding eye contact with the magazine covers and treading the First Class carpets of LAX on 24 March.



A theatre workshop beginning in Los Angeles on 7 April features four new musicals and one of them, reports Variety - I could hardly believe it - will be a musical adaptation of Bubble Boy, Tuner. 'Based on the 2001 pic of the same name, "Bubble Boy" follows Jimmy Livingston, who was born without immunities and is confined to a plastic bubble room. After he finds out the girl of his dreams is getting married, he builds a bubble suit and sets off on a cross-country quest to stop the wedding. Tuner, with a book by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and music and lyrics by Paul, bows April 9 and is presented again on April 28.'


Includes pictures from IHJ.

Jake Gyllenhaal's summer break and April Fool!

It must be summer - or at least a summer break for Jake in Mexico - because here we have pictures of gorgeous Jake Gyllenhaal in shorts on the sandy beaches and deck chairs of Mexico. It's clear, though, from these photos that Jake's ankle is giving him some serious gip - in some photographs it's well bandaged, while in others it's exposed, swollen and bruised. I really do hope it's on the mend soon.

All things considered, the sight of Jake in shorts on a hot sunny day is something to be savoured, cherished and re-examined - and re-re-examined.






After yesterday's post on Jake's potential superhero roles, today I woke up to the announcement that Jake had signed on to be the next Spider-Man. A new film (3D no less) would be released in 2012 featuring Jake and a digitised Christopher Reeve. I fell for it, I'll admit it. And I wasn't happy - although Mr WDW's laughter did block out my cries of anguish. I got to the office, rechecked and discovered this was one of the many April Fools that had preoccupied Hollywood bloggers over the last 24 hours -Spielberg was also announced to be remaking Jaws, Harrison Ford was to revisit his role as Solo while Colin Farrell was to star in a sequel to Once - now there's a thought.


Includes pictures from IHJ and here.