Tomorrow (Friday) is a big day - A WDW Outing to see Prince of Persia at the multimedia screening in Leicester Square, thanks to Disney UK, kicks off what promises to be a terrific weekend! As you can imagine, posting won't be following the normal regular schedule for the next few days and so posts could pop up at any time. Also during the coming days, if you should see someone in her Red Sox cap, by red carpets, in theatres, in the streets of London, don't forget to say hello! And stay tuned for what should be an Incredible Prince of Persia Adventure...
On with the post!
You can always tell when you're in Blighty, someone goes and shoves a pickled onion down your throat. Yes, last night Jake Gyllenhaal filmed Late Night with Jonathan Ross (to be shown Friday) and in no time at all, he was being entered into that time honoured Brit tradition of a pickled egg eating competition. Next time, Jake'll be eating a hard boiled egg out of a bag of salt 'n' vinegar crisps before having a game of Aunt Sally in the carpark. Jake's pickled onion foe was Adam Lambert fan Leigh Baby, who has written all about it here - including Jake's efforts to win by distracting her through hugs and kisses. I'd like to say this wouldn't have put me off but I won't.
We have until tomorrow night to see the interview itself in the UK, and another week before it airs in the US. Hopefully, an online version may pop up in the meantime.
Jake's continues to do his bit to bring sparkle and excitement to Mayfair, with another appearance at Claridges, on his return from what seems to have been a very successful press junket.
Friends at HeyUGuys attended the junket today and posted some extremely cool pictures of the display of Prince of Persia costumes - and they even got a hold of the Dagger, but the jewel at the top was left untouched and time did not miss a beat. You can see their pictures here and the interviews will be posted there in the coming days.
Talking of sands of time, we have a third proper clip from the film and, in it, Dastan has a race on his hands.
Among the other little bits of information that have filtered their way through today is a feature from the BBC. Jake sounds like he's ready to take on any number of PoP sequels: 'I think about kids saying 'you're the Prince of Persia!' That I wouldn't mind being locked into'. 'Gyllenhaal, who shot to fame in indie hit Donnie Darko, said he wants to be taken "a little less seriously" as an actor. "I wanted to fulfil the dreams of those movies I loved watching, like Robin Hood with Errol Flynn," he added of his new swashbuckling role. "Who knows in two or three years time what other weird thing I'll do?" said the star.'
'Mike Newell, who directed Prince of Persia, admitted that he was initially unsure about Gyllenhaal in the role of an action hero. But the UK film-maker added that the actor "worked his arse off" to make it work, including intensive physical training and cultivating a British accent. "He was wonderful and absolutely took it on,".'
Gemma Arterton has been speaking to the Metro about her chemistry with Jake: 'The main bit of our relationship on screen is that we had this to-ing fro-ing of wit and we kind of had that on set. I’d take the mickey out of him and he’d take the mickey out of me but I like it like that, it’s more fun.'
Gemma is also featured in the current edition of Reveal in the UK and she has something to say about what it was like to kiss Jake Gyllenhaal and if it was awkward: 'When you work with someone for six months and you see them all day every day, in a way you get over things like that. Then when I watched him in the film, I was like: 'Oh my God, he looks absolutely incredible'... I was so blinded when I was doing this film. I remember the day I had to kiss him and I was like 'Oh yeah, I got to kiss Jake today'. Then watching the movie, when we actually kissed, I was like: 'Oh my God, I kissed Jake!' I got really giddy'.
Updated to add an interesting behind the scenes set visit from Timesonline published this evening. Apart from suggesting that Jake's hair was a little wayward during filming, and that if you want desert winds blowing on the tent special effects you can do much worse than using a bunch of helpful hands, we hear this from Jake: '“This was so unlikely to do that I had to do it,” Gyllenhaal smiles, before admitting that “running around and have sword fights is what I always dreamt of doing”. On top of the standard swashbuckling skills, Dastan is something of an extreme sports nut, climbing, abseiling and using free running techniques to run up walls and leap across rooftops. Gyllenhaal had to undergo “six months of really functional training” including tutelage from the French parkour pioneer David Belle. It left him with muscles that bulge beneath his sand-blasted robes. After performing a 30ft leap from Alamut’s city gate — created on Pinewood’s immense 007 stage in glorious fibreglass — he has earned the respect of the stuntmen who slouch around the set in period tunics.'
I'm working myself up to this post - done a run round the block, eaten a banana, drunk a Power Drink - almost there. So before we start, I suggest you eat something sugary and maybe do a few laps of your local pool. Flex those GyllenMuscles because there's so much going on, this post may take me until the premiere of Source Code to finish. However, without any more - or too much - ado, I will proceed. First off, can I just say, how great it is to see Jake in London! We love to see you here, Jake! (sorry about the weather and the cost of cabs...)
At the risk of being accused of going off at a tangent before I even start, I just want to draw attention to PoPSugar posting that Jake Gyllenhaal had a pub lunch in London today. Whether this is true or not, reading the words Jake and Pub in the same sentence makes me feel as toasty as an old English inn on a winter's evening with a fire roaring and real ale flowing freely through the pumps, to be served in pint glasses with handles, while everything I eat is served with pickle or custard. I must say that if I do go off on a tangent, it's not my fault. It's the pushmepullyou of being a Jake fan.
So, while fearing that this post may need updating before it's even finished, here is a bit of what we got today.
We've had featurettes and we've had trailers, but today we got not one but two real, proper, unclipped clips from Prince of Persia. The first one puts us right in the middle of a chase scene in which Jake shows us just why he was so well cast for this role - agile, fit, dextrous and nimble. And that's just for starters. Whoever said that walls and chasms are barriers? Not a bit of it.
In the second, we have a tent scene, in which Dastan and his brothers discuss the battle ahead (with Dastan clearly at odds) - We attack at Dawn. Thanks to Sweetpea for the heads up.
The Ninjas are back! Today we have part two of their interview with Jake and it is full of goodies, not least some info on the film that I am so keen to see made - that film with the most memorable of titles, UMP (that's Unnamed Moon Project to those who don't know). Here are some snippets, surrounded by some wonderful pictures of Jake from last night and today around our fair city of London, courtesy of IHJ. Love that jacket!
Jake talks about the mistakes that made it into the movie - acting on the edge like this, with stunts just a step or inch away from dangerous reality: 'I remember this one scene where I got pulled from first unit to second unit really, really quickly, and we had this big fight scene with Toby Kebbell, who plays my brother in the movie. We had it choreographed, and he had worked on it a lot, but I had had very little time to work on it. But my character was sort of, you know, up against the wall at that point. And so I was literally just defending myself from his entire choreographed fight. I would remember it piece by piece kind of, but not really the whole thing, and the whole thing has the feeling of me going like, “Holy Shit!” The whole thing is me just being like, “Got it! Made that! OK, back over here, OK, we’re here, holy fuck! Wow, I punched him! Wow! Okay!” You know? It’s all real. There was one moment, too, where my stunt guy — I had practiced with him a lot of the time, and then I come in and when I was doing it there’s one wipe across my face where I’m supposed to duck, and he has an ax, and the ax comes at my face –'
'JULINA: Oh my God! JAKE: – and, like, literally with two hand-held cameras, [second Unit Director]Alexander Witt got the best angle: With nothing enhanced in it, you see he actually almost cut my face off. It’s great.' I need to have a brandy and regain my composure...
If anyone were ever to ask me why it is that I have followed Jake Gyllenhaal for years, I could give them 1000 answers. And one of them would be this paragraph from Jake encased in gold with diamond knobbly bits on it. 'It all feels like that, and I was game for that, and that’s what’s fun. [Laughs] I think I even remember, we did the big wide shot of it, and by the end I had made so many mistakes every time I would do it that I would just, I just ended up laughing at the end. You know, it was ridiculous, but all those things had that feeling. I would get to set and they would be like, “Okay, so, um, follow me up to the top of this building,” and I’d be like, “What are we doing?” and they’re like, “You’re jumping off of it!” and I’d be like, “What?” [Laughs] So then I had to [jump]. And then here come the guys on the opposite side, and I’m — this is the second time I’ve tried this jump, and I’m just gonna do it. And that’s the feeling of the movie. It’s not, “I know exactly what I’m doing all the time.” Not at all. Not in any way. And I think that’s why it’s superfun. I took a photograph of myself after I did my first huge jump. Because I didn’t know on that day that we were gonna do the jump, and I was ecstatic that I had done it, and I was like, “I got it, I got it.” I just took my phone and took a picture of just, like, this massive smile on my face.'
And, at last, we hear something about UMP, the project that we've been listening out for - is it decades? And with it, Jake talks about when he likes his commitment to a project to begin. For anyone who's been interested in how Jake is motivated as a career, this is fascinating stuff: 'I think, ideally, I do like to be with the material for a long time. And I liken it to rehearsing fight choreography or trying to figure out an accent. I’m definitely not an actor that picks it up immediately and can roll with it. I need to go over it over and over and over again, and that’s something I’ve learned [about myself] over time. I like to be there for a few drafts before it becomes the final shooting version because, particularly if you’re in a majority of the scenes of the movie, you’re part of the steering of the ship, so you just need to know that ship really well and where it’s going. I get off on that too — that’s what I enjoy. That’s why it’s been fun working with Doug, and with Simon [Kinberg] on [the Untitled Moon Project] developing this movie together, because they’re really collaborative and we’ve been through different versions discussing things all the time, and all of that discussion goes into whatever the final version is. Even if the scenes you’ve discussed for years don’t end up in the final version of the movie, somehow they’re there, you know? So I like to be a part of it, and I also think it’s really bonding to be doing that with all the filmmakers. You’re with your director and you’re with your writers — you’re listening to how they work, and how they change things, and what makes them nervous, and how you can make them feel comfortable, on the day. You know, with some directors — most directors — I like to know what they have to have the day before [we shoot a given scene], so that they can start their day. I like to know how you can give them what they want.'
When it comes to PoP, you sense that Jake had a helluva lot of fun making this movie and his feeling for it is so hard to resist, it's catching. 'One of my favorite things in the movie was when we were shooting a lot of rooftop chase sequences between the real rooftops in Morocco, in different casbahs [North African fortresses] and on stages in London, and there was this sequence where I did a jump, without any wires, on stage. I had four or five different guards chasing after me, and one of the guards was supposed to miss — jump just short — and I was supposed to make it and the other three or four guards were supposed to make it. So I jumped and I made it. Everyone was freaked out that I had no wires on, and I had way too much fun. Then the guy who was following me jumped, and he hit his face on the casbah and his hat flew off and went flying 30 feet in the air. He hurt his jaw, but it’s in the movie, and it looks amazing! He’s OK — he’s actually fine, but it looks really not fun when you see it. Those types of things happen, and you flirt with that type of danger, and there are times when — particularly jumping all those big jumps — in order to make it look really cool, it has to be a little bit dangerous.'
The two swords across the back were the Prince's weapons of choice but 'There were a couple of missed opportunities with that, where I was supposed to coolly pull them out of my back and I couldn’t reach them. I’m like, “I’m gonna kick your ass … in one second … when I can grab both of these … give me another second … hold on one more second …” [laughs]. But that was it, just two swords. That’s my style — and I can run away from anybody.'
And finally
You don't need me to tell you that I have accidentally or intentionally bought every bit of PoP merchandise going. We didn't have this for Zodiac....(that's my excuse). Today, my Beneath the Sands book arrived and, in addition to all sorts of surprises in its pages, there was a sting in the tail. Fortunately I had my Ostrich Dastan and my Aksh (bless you) Dastan to help me out. For anyone (ie Mr WDW) who can't tell, this is a snake!
Pictures courtesy of IHJ plus a particularly spectacular one from WDW.
I knew this post would be updated! And so it is. Jake is recording the Jonathan Ross show this evening and we have our first glance of the green room, with Adam Lambert. Thanks Rubes!
If I have learnt one thing during the last few months it's that you can never have enough featurettes for a Jake Gyllenhaal movie. Call me old-fashioned but if, in the run up to a film's release, I don't see Jake in at least one new video taster a week, I'm not happy. I feel there is a subliminal message here for Ed Zwick and Duncan Jones: avoid the Brothers route and take the turning for Prince of Persia. Douglas Freeman had his thing for piecharts; I feel the same way about Jake Gyllenhaal featurettes. It's a good thing, then, that today we have two and a half. First off is a Disney Channel Exclusive Look.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one to have noticed Jake's rapid jumper exchange during the course of this video.
We then have the third video from those rather frightening Movie Surfers. For some reason unbeknowest to us all they focus on Tamina but there is also more Jake and, in both of these videos, we have soundbites of Gyllenhaal Britspeak. At one point, Jake says 'terribly' - you don't get much more authentically Brit than that.
The third video is a sneak peek at a feature still to come on the Disney Channel.
Throughout these features we hear pride from both Jake and Gemma Arterton for how they did many of their own stunts. We've talked before here about how Jake has mentioned his vertigo or his nervousness around horses, but all that was conquered for PoP. HeyUGuys today published an interview with George Aguilar, the stunt co-ordinator for Prince of Persia. He says 'There have been some pretty big leaps that Jake and the doubles have done. Even though they are on a cable they are still pretty tricky. There’s also a lot of working with animals, horse work, camels, all sorts of things. Both Jake and Gemma and the whole cast worked on the riding. We had a couple of horses run loose which is always tricky.' And for Parkour 'Jake started training a few months before shooting began and he has worked real hard on it.'
George describes his favourite scene: 'I like the one where Dastan is running down an alley. There’s a man on a horse about to spear him. He runs up one wall and then back down, up another wall and takes the man off the horse. They then proceed to have a nice friendly sword fight. You have to incorporate everything in there. The fighting ability, the horse riding and the Parkour all comes in one scene. It’s not that long on screen but it took three to four days to film and lots of rehearsal time.'
The movie is for the family but it was filmed with real intent: 'Most sword fighting movies are a little proper and pretty. This is more physical and when someone gets hit, he really gets hit. And when someone gets stabbed, he is getting killed. You’re not stabbing someone six times and he still gets up and walks away. It’s not that kind of movie. When you swing a sword, you’re swinging to kill. It is all about intent and Jake is doing very well with that. We do use blood. We do practical and visual effects. But I don’t know how much you’ll see in the end, it depends what rating the film is given. I think there will be negotiations about that.'
I've said this before, but it bears repeating. We Gyllenhaalics have had nothing like this before - past films have been largely directed at adults and so this level of exposure is a novelty. I could almost say that the publicity for Prince of Persia feels like a holiday. It doesn't detract from the time around it but it gives us a chance to experience something quite special. One can hardly begin to speculate what Jake feels about all this. It's a thrilling ride and I hope he hangs on and enjoys every moment of it.
Tomorrow is a day of interviews for Jake and the PoP crew in London so there is plenty more to come! I saw a tweet that said Jake would appear on the Jimmy Kimmell Show on 20 May - hopefully one of many chat shows.
[Update] We know Jake Gyllenhaal is back in London, getting reacquainted with his old restaurants, shops and jogging spots of choice, but it's very good to see his arrival in pictures at Heathrow on 1 May. And Jake arrives complete with his and our favourite bodyguard, his own Virgin stewardess, an extremely large trunk and what looks like a new ring. Last time Jake travelled over for the Jonathan Ross show with a big trunk, the suit disappointed. I'm wondering what we'll see this week... Many thanks to IHJ for the lovely pics!
We're used to Doug Liman talking to the wise Ninjas - today they turn their attention to Jake Gyllenhaal. In a great interview with Jake, recorded by phone on the day that Source Code wrapped, the Ninjas keep their filmmaking focus, asking Jake, amongst other things, to compare what it was like working with two much-admired British directors, Mike Newell and Duncan Jones. You can read the whole interview at the Ninjas, and there is promise of more to come, but here are a couple of snippets.
'Every director than I have had the pleasure to work with has been so different in their style. So Mike Newell, just physically … they both happen to be British, but Duncan spent a lot of time growing up in the States and all over the world so he has a different sort of sensibility than Mike. Well, Mike is like six foot five, and Duncan is like five ten or something, so [laughs] that is one major difference. And in a way, their sizes mimic their styles, because Mike is very robust and dramatic in his approach and he’s like (in a gruff British voice), “Oh yes, my dear boy, it’s fantastic,” and there’s always this sort of energy to it.'
'Duncan really creates this space that is much more quiet, and I would say that there is a serenity to the way he directs, and to me it’s fascinating that the two of them could not be more different. That’s actually a really good question. They had two different beasts [to direct], you know? Mike had a movie where there are just so many elements that he had to balance, and I learned from him a really important lesson that every actor should know; he said, “You know what I look at more than the monitor?,” and I said “No, what Mike?” And he pointed to his watch. When I asked ”Really?,” he said, “You never get all the things you want as a director, and you’re always chasing time.” Any actor who is in sync with their director knows you want to try to give your director everything that they want within the day. And that’s something that I really learned with Mike. It is something that I don’t think that actors really know: how much a director is dealing with. So when I went to work with Duncan I brought that mentality with me, and it was like, “What do we need? Did we get that? OK, what do you need from me? Let’s go.”'
On testing out ideas on set: 'Yeah, you know, a majority of them have to suck for some of them to be good. I think with Duncan it was all that, all of the time, and it’s surprising because with someone who’s doing [only] his second movie, you would think that he would be holding more tightly on to the reins, but he has a surprising sense of self-confidence and sense of self. JULINA: Moon,Jones’s movie, was so tight, and so precise. JAKE: Right, I know.'
'JULINA: Sam Rockwell’s just so relaxed through the whole thing, but you’re going, “Oh my God!” and you go with it, because he’s going with it. It’s really impressive. It’s one of my favorite films, actually. JAKE: Me too. I mean, that’s Sam, because he’s so talented. But you have to create the environment, I think. I think [Duncan Jones] created the environment for it — and now, I’m his second, so you know, I can say — he is so collaborative. He’s a really special director. I believe that he’s like the next generation, you know? I’d put my money on him. [Laughs] He definitely protected his actors from all the stuff going on behind the scenes with the politics of making movies, which is so important because once you get into that sensitive space working with an actor, bringing that in can screw things up. It’s amazing to me that it’s his second movie, ’cause he’s just on point.'
Lightheaded moment: Jake mentions the Princess Bride, one of my favourite films! Unfortunately, apart from a passing reference to the Unnamed Moon project (UMP or Argonauts as Doug called it last), there was no news on the progress of that one. Be sure to read the full interview.
Jake Gyllenhaal is in London! We know this for various tweets, but also because of a fabulous picture of Jake and Matty taken in the Smoke. Many thanks to Matty for the permission to post his pic. Nice jackets! Tweets have put Jake in Claridges - in shorts (not a dress code one normally associates with this fine Mayfair establishment). At a bar (an environment I understand better). And having brunch in Chelsea. I'd like to point out that in Chelsea one has brunch, here we have brekkie.
Unfortunately for Jake, he arrived here during the May Day Public Holiday which means rain is absolutely guaranteed - if only to convince our visitors that it does nothing but chuck it down in Blighty. That is not true - however, it is true that it always rains the first weekend in May. I realise I'm rambling on about the weather. This is another thing about Britain that is not true. We don't talk about the weather all the time. But we do for quite a lot of the time - particularly when we feel bad because Jake Gyllenhaal is getting a soaking on our shores. Jake's also here during our General Election and I want to apologise to him for that too. This is another thing about Britain that's not true - we don't feel the need to apologise all the time. But we do quite a lot of the time.
Gemma Arterton has been chatting away to the Guardian while being dressed in a bunch of feathers and she's talked about how odd it feels to be in two out of every three blockbusters on our screens this summer. That means lego. 'There's a Lego figurine of me for Prince of Persia, but it looks like Anne Widdecombe – I love it! I can't really think beyond that, I can't think about the size of a film or the merchandise or the budget. I just have to be me in that situation.' I'm not aware that there is Anne Widdicombe (famous and not a little scary UK politician) lego but, if there is, they might put a top on her. Has anyone else noticed how big Jake's swords are in that lego above?
Gemma has no need to think about PoP merchandise. There's none left - I've bought it all.
Obviously Jake is a fine, multi-faceted actor. However, never one to ignore a poll, EW is asking us to decide which abs we are looking forward to most this summer. Clearly I abhor this blatant disregard for Jake's talent and dedication to his craft, but, more to the point, have you voted yet? To be honest, I wasn't even aware that some of these people on the list have abs - Predator, for instance. He's not even a person. Jake is being beaten by the abs of Vampirish people. So please pay the poll a visit.
Yesterday we enjoyed the Spike TV interview with Jake at WonderCon. You can see the whole programme here with Jordan Mechner and Jerry Bruckheimer. However, it's a big file and very slow to upload.
A reminder of the little WDW competition in order to win one of the 3D poster/sticker PoP books. Just email me with the names of the characters of Dastan's father and two brothers in PoP by 9 May.
Includes pictures with thanks from Mattypop39 and Disney, via IHJ.
Before I get going tonight, I have to thank Disney for the wonderful pressie in the post last night of tickets for the advance screening of Prince of Persia in Leicester Square next Friday! I won't be able to speak about the film for a week, due to the timelag with the US - noone wants spoilers - but it's shaping up to be an incredible weekend. Judging by some tweets over the last few hours, it also looks like Jake may have just arrived in the UK. Typically, it's decided to rain today for the first time in weeks... but then it is May Day. Anything else wouldn't be traditional.
Last night Spike TV showed an interview with Jake Gyllenhaal that was conducted at WonderCon last month, in which Jake talked about the 'nice little challenge' that was the Prince of Persia. He also admits to encountering a fair few spikes and severe falls while playing the games. Many thanks to IHJ for capturing the video for us all.
Jake also features in this month's edition of The Notebook (Kensington and Chelsea). They have now removed the interview from their website but here are a few snippets. Jake: 'I love watching this type of film. So it’s hard to deny yourself the opportunity to be up there on screen acting in one of them. There are all sorts of different aspects to acting, but if you’re a very physical person as I am, it’s great to just jump around for once, to leap off buildings, ride horses, play with swords and get into a lot of fights. It’s really great fun. The other thing is that if you’re going to do a huge movie, then do it with people who know how to do it, and there’s no one better than Jerry Bruckheimer.'
'Q. It seems like Dastan has a bit of Indiana Jones in him. Was that your intention? A. Oh yes, definitely, along with Dennis the Menace and all the rest. I like that Dastan’s a mischief-maker, a bit of a curmudgeon, that he nearly always thinks he’s right and that he’s quite sarcastic and wry and above all very cheeky.'
'Q. You’ve played characters based on real people, but where do you begin with a fictitious 6th century Persian prince? A.There’s lots of pretentious research I could tell you about, but it really did start with the accent and also with projecting my voice. For a movie like this to be successful, you need a grand scale to everything, a bigness, something theatrical. I worked with a voice coach, and she brought in these ancient texts. I would stand at one end of the pool in Los Angeles, she’d stand at the other end, and I would shout things like, 'Over the wall, men! Over the wall!' It was like doing theatre. It put a bit more fire inside, made me feel a bit more like a warrior. There was a lot of physical work too...'
'It was six months of training and what was important about it to me was that it was very functional. Everything I did was so I could do the same thing on set, not for aesthetics. I wore a flak jacket to work out and carried an extra 20lbs when I went on a run to simulate the armour, which is very heavy. Whenever I ran I’d also carry something in my hand to get used to running with a sword. I also did lots of boxing to make sure I was even on both sides, because Dastan often fights with two swords at once and everything has to be symmetrical.'
'Q. You never thought about getting a stuntman to do the difficult bits for you? A.[Laughs] No, I always want to do as much as I can myself. And I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to fight sequences. I want to get every move down perfectly, and I refuse to accept anything less than that.'
Any attempt to deny the Englishness of the Prince of Persia crew can be put to rest instantly by these images of Mike Newell's desert outfit. Best to do a doubletake, such is the success of his blending in...
The LA Times has written an article today on how men are wearing less bling, citing Jake Gyllenhaal on the cover of GQ as their example. Not the early medieval Persian way at all.
A little WDW Competition
Due to reasons beyond my recall, I have a surplus of the 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Amazing New 3D Never Seen Before Poster Book' complete with 3D glasses! It includes a 'GIANT pull-out 3D poster and over 50 3D stickers' and about 30 pages of full colour pictures, some of which are also 3D (including a skeleton...). I thought I'd take a pic (please excuse the state of my rug, it's not used to modelling and didn't decide to sweep itself first).
There are three to give away - all you have to do is write to me at wetdarkandwild@googlemail.com and tell me the name of the king who adopted Dastan as his son and the names of Dastan's two royal brothers. The correct answers will be put into my Red Sox hat and the impartial Mr WDW will pull out the three winners. The closing date is Premiere Day 9 May. I don't mind where you live, just as long as you have a letter box.
A May Day Interlude
Today, as expected, a lot of people in ballgowns and tuxedos got tipsy listening to the choir sing from the tower of Magdalen College in Oxford at dawn. Despite the attempts by police year after year to prevent people from chucking themselves into 2 foot of water (full of crayfish too), thirty made the leap and amazingly didn't get hurt. But they did get wet. Good job the pubs opened at 6am today. And then the morris dancers came out for a twirl. They even put a straw boater on Oxford's very own Iron Man (by Antony 'Angel of the North' Gormley). The BBC had it all covered.
Talking of Iron Man, I saw No 2 this afternoon and I've written about it on MovieBrit. It is a bit spoilery.
Pictures from Disney, courtesy of IHJ, WDW and, with humble thanks, Mr WDW.
