Matt Damon's appreciation for Jake Gyllenhaal's 'beautiful round head' and Vote For Jake!

Back in July we reflected on Jake Gyllenhaal's continued status as a trendsetter - this time setting the trend for bald heads, a look swiftly followed by Matt Damon (and almost attempted by The Pale One). Although there is a good chance that Jake's head will soon be getting its winter coat of hair, Matt has taken a moment to speak to People of his appreciation for Jake's head.

"Wow, I try not to envy, but I have to say Jake's got a damn good-looking head," Damon, 40, told PEOPLE at Wednesday's New York premiere of his new movie about a killer virus, Contagion. "He sure does have a beautiful round head." "Normally you say, 'That's a beautiful head of hair, but that's a beautiful head he's got,' " Damon says laughing. "Gyllenhaal definitely gets the blue ribbon for the best bald head over me." 

Plea to Jake: Please do not let this praise go to your head. Put away your shaver! As you can see from these photos, taken on 6 September as Jake leaves Nishimura Restaurant with Busy Philipps, the head does seem a little less bald. A good smile too.

Incidentally, as we all know, Busy and Jake are both godparents to Matilda Ledger and I wouldn't want today to pass without wishing happy birthday to Matilda's beautiful mum, Michelle Williams.

Vote for Jake!

Jake is up for a SCREAM for Best Science Fiction Actor for his role in Source Code. So drop what you're doing and do just what director Duncan Jones tells you to do - Vote for Jake!

You know it makes sense.

Pictures from People and IHJ.

Jake Gyllenhaal drags Atticus up a hill and more pictures with Anna Kendrick

After the last few days of End of Watch excitement, Jake Gyllenhaal was back in LA yesterday to do something he does so well - dragging poor old Atticus up a steep hill. Jake, Atticus, a friend and a dog that quite possibly has the longest tongue in the dog world went for a hike in Runyon Canyon, which (speaking from personal experience) is not something to be done lightly, except if you're being carried, towed or driven. This also gave Jake the opportunity to get another of his LAPD t-shirts sweaty.

IHJ has published some more pictures of Jake and Anna Kendrick with some added information. It appears that the photos were in fact taken on 1 September and not this Monday. They show cast and crew at a petro/gas station in California, possibly on the way to the Las Vegas shoot. Whatever the date, I love these pictures and so it's great to be able to post a couple more.

If you haven't seen the wonderful article from Collider about End of Watch, please do take a look.

Many, many thanks to IHJ for both sets of pics!

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick in Vegas and our first guide to End of Watch

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Kendrick spent their Labor Day holiday filming End of Watch in Las Vegas. There was some time for relaxation, though, as cast and crew, including director David Ayer, went out for nibbles. This also gives us our first taste of the chemistry between Jake and his onscreen wife and it's clearly there in bucketloads. Please hop over to PoPSugar because there are lots of images there to enjoy.



Twenty things to know about End of Watch

There is a fantastic first report on End of Watch over at Collider this morning. Collider spent Day 19 of a mere 22-day shoot on set and came away with twenty things you should know about End of Watch as well as this synopsis:

'Giving the story a gripping, first-person immediacy, the action unfolds entirely through footage from the handheld HD cameras of the police officers, gang members, surveillance cameras, and citizens caught in the line of fire to create a riveting portrait of the city’s darkest, most violent corners, the cops who risk their lives there every day, and the price they and their families are forced to pay.'


Among the twenty things to know, we learn that the film is a 'true indie', Jake only needed an hour with the script before deciding to do it, the action is always seen from Jake's or Michael Pena's point of view (both use cameras), and there is levity to go with the drama. Head over to Collider to see the full list of 20 and, no doubt, like me, you'll come away realising that End of Watch is going to be a completely different kettle of fish from the one I was expecting. This may well be the one gritty LAPD drama with a difference.

Images from PoPSugar and Collider.

Atticus takes Jake Gyllenhaal and Rashida Jones out for lunch

Atticus is back! Yesterday, everyone's favourite floppy-eared pooch took his master Jake Gyllenhaal and his friend and fellow actor Rashida Jones out for lunch at Cafe Gratitude in LA. Unfortunately, for Atticus, the pavement outside with a waterbowl was the closest that he got to the actual nosh.




However, the event did give Atticus the chance to indulge in one of his favourite pastimes: flirting.



Many thanks to IHJ for the pics. There are lots more there.

Jake Gyllenhaal puckers up and some new old photoshoot pics

This gratuitous post is brought to you courtesy of this wonderful new video that has made its way to YouTube in which Jake Gyllenhaal kisses his way through nine movies (albeit in reverse). Yep, not only can you see the changing looks of Jake through such wonderful movies as Brokeback Mountain, The Good Girl, Donnie Darko, Prince of Persia, Love and Other Drugs, Rendition and Source Code, but you can also judge his puckering up skills. While obviously the kisses between Jack and Ennis pull at a very special heartstring that is preserved for this film, I must also admit to loving that kiss in Rendition. I remember when the film came out and we saw this scene for the first time and I don't think I was the only one to melt. And so, are there any special kisses here for you?



Apologies if this video doesn't work for you in your region. I'll try and do something about that (see comments).

Many thanks to IHJ for posting some new old photoshoot pictures of Jake. Here are a couple of my favourites. Noone wears a cardie quite like Jake. I miss you, hair! Even the face pet...

My review of Fright Night 3D at MovieBrit.

Updated! Jake Gyllenhaal goes to see Point Blank and End of Watch wraps! Plus a WDW Lizard Interlude

Update: Since writing this post I've learnt that Jake is back in Vegas shooting with Anna Kendrick. However, the end must be very close because the El Cid outing was nothing less that the End of Watch Wrap Party! I hope a good night was had by all. Thanks to all those who gave me the heads up.

It looks as if the Vegas element of the End of Watch shoot may be over, Jake Gyllenhaal is back in LA. On 31 August, Jake was spotted having dinner at the El Cid restaurant, where you are entertained as you eat, and People also has a sighting of Jake and a group of friends going to the movies. Jake and his friends apparently saw French film Point Blank at the Laemmle Sunset 5 theatre in West Hollywood. The film contains 'rival gangsters and trigger-happy police', themes that might be close to Jake's heart after the last few weeks of filming the gritty LAPD drama End of Watch.

Many thanks to IHJ for the pictures - there are more there.

My review of Fright Night 3D is now up at MovieBrit.

WDW Cornish Interlude

I may have been incapacitated this week and unable to post properly but I'm delighted to inform you that you've not escaped a few pictures from my week at the end of England last week! Before we made it to the end, we stopped off at Clovelly which, quite simply, is the most knackering village in Britain. It's preserved as it was and that means endless cobble steps down to the bottom (where, thank heavens, a pub is waiting) and then endless cobble steps back up to the top. A beer at the bottom, sitting on the harbour wall, is vital if you're to make it back to the top. I may have passed corpses on the way up. Goods are still brought in and out of the village through sleds attached to donkeys, several of whom were poised to pose with those tourists who still had enough life in them to hold a camera.

Still sunsets on warm nights are a characteristic of Cornwall. There's not a sky quite like it.

We made it down to the southernmost tea shop on the southernmost point, at the Lizard. There were seals. There were also good veggie breakfasts.

A couple of miles around the headland is Kynance Cove and further on up the coast, Sennen.

Finally, the beautiful St Michael's Mount.

You're in luck now - my summer holiday's are at an end... :)

Jake Gyllenhaal on disc 2011 - Source Code, Donnie Darko and City Slickers to name but three...

I'm very glad to be back! Those dentists might think they can torture me to within an inch of my senses and leave me with little but rice pudding and soup to live on for a month but they can think again! (Although they would be right.) Having got through that, one returns to Blogger to find it's had quite an overhaul. If this post appears upside down, back to front, or in Sanskrit, I will not be surprised.

This post is, therefore, not only experimental, it's also a catch up of some of the DVD and Blu Ray goodness that has happened over the last month. This is because 2011 has been the year of the Jake Gyllenhaal DVD/Blu ray. This is what happens when you make key, landmark films - people want to mark their release with new discs and, I'm sure somewhere, cake and flowers. But first, the newest film that's out there: Source Code. Source Code is now out in the UK and has received a top notch review in Total Film (as well as many other places). Here is their review of the DVD and blu ray from the September issue, courtesy of IHJ.

Source Code is still making pictures in magazines across the pond and so, with thanks to BBMISwear, here is a scan from Entertainment Weekly listing Source Code as among its essential viewing as well as an ad from Blockbuster for its digital release.

2011 is the 10th anniversary of that classic Donnie Darko. I am so proud of Jake's association with this groundbreaking and, despite being fixed in the 80s, timeless piece. I've been wondering what the extras are in the commemorative Blu ray release and thanks to Flix66 we have a good idea. As you'll read, most of the extras (commentaries especially) were on the original or Director's Cut releases, including the oddity of the Richard Kelly and Kevin Smith commentary.

City Slickers is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year and with it there was a special blu ray release. I'm grateful to BBMISwear for listening to the commentary with Billy Crystal and director Ron Underwood and extracting all things Jake from their banter:

Bill: He had great instincts.  He was a family friend.  His parents were good friends of ours – Naomi and Steve – and we would always be around him at parties and things and he was always performing.  He loved musicals – he would come out with a… a Phantom of the Opera mask and sing with that little high pitched voice {laughter} and he would sing from South Pacific and we’d all go ‘he’s gay, he’s gotta be gay’! {laughter} So I brought him into Ron and Ron had a great meeting with him and came out and said ‘this kids loaded, he’s like amazing’.  And that’s how Jake Gyllenhaal ended up being in the movie.

Ron:  His parents did – they wanted to really craft his career – or not just his career but his life too.

Billy:  He also was a great athlete, still is I’m sure. 

Jake popping his shoulder (I just can't look...).

Billy:  Look at him!

Ron: He would do this! {laughter}

Ron:  I got all these toys and things for him to use in the scene and he said ‘I can…look at…this is what I can do’!  It was amazing what he could just do with his body! 

Of course, I shouldn't forget the other Jake DVD and blu ray that came out in 2011 - Love and Other Drugs. IHJ has posted some new old stills from Jake's movies including this cracker from Love and Other Drugs of Jake and Oliver Platt.