Jake Gyllenhaal confirmed for An Enemy - shooting to begin late May

A brief post this evening to bring the confirmation that Jake Gyllenhaal is all aboard An Enemy. In fact, as he's playing both of the film's lead roles, he's signed on twice. Whether he'll need two trailers and two Retouchers (remember the Brothers' Retoucher discussion?) is another matter. Mr Will W of Toronto reports that My Enemy's director Denis Villeneuve is in town to do prep for the movie. Filming, we hear, starts in late May and will wrap in mid July. Fingers crossed that with that speed it won't be too long before we can see both Jakes for ourselves. This seems like as good a time as any to repost one of my own pictures that I took of Jake in Toronto back in 2007.

Jake Gyllenhaal to present at the LA Conservation Corps awards next week and set to appear on Broaday?

It's a good day when we have some news and a little bit of speculation to throw in with it. Today, a tweet/FB snippet appeared which suggests that Jake may well have plans for later in the year - in the Autumn if you read the comments further down that link:

It is official! My good friend from London is coming to direct Jake Gyllenhaal on Broadway! Mmmmmmmmm... Guess who's going to enjoy rehearsals?

You don't need me to tell you how one stone does not make a wall and nor does a wall make a palace. You also don't need me to remind you how many times over the years we've had stories that Jake was about to act or sing on or off Broadway. Sometimes we've come close - readings/singings have taken place or the theatre has even been booked. There's barely a time when Jake's in London without him saying that he'd like to reappear on the West End stage. I still can't hear the words 'Farragut' and 'North' without a palpitation or two. So, as we do so well, we must wait and see.

More certain is the news that Jake is to make a third appearance at the LA Conservation Corps awards, taking part in the presentation of almost 200 scholarships. The event takes place at the LA State Historic Park at lunchtime on 20 April. In just a week. Previous appearances by Jake were in April 2009 (see above picture) and - on crutches - in March 2008 (see below).

And finally...

Jake and other actors are frequently snapped for the mags being given parking tickets in LA. In fact, it's quite possible that many actors could paper their mansions with the things. Jake is fighting back. He was seen in LA topping up the parking meters of several cars in full view of the traffic wardens. It's not known how they will retaliate. If Jake would like to pop over and top up my car with diesel, I would be most grateful.

Thanks to IHJ for photos from previous Conservation Corps ceremonies.

My review of The Cabin in the Woods is now on MovieBrit.

I finally watched Anonymous today - my review is now on MovieBrit.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Toronto to prep for An Enemy and some NYC Soul Cycling

Jake Gyllenhaal is in Toronto! And speaking as someone who has been in Toronto when Jake is in the city, this is a lovely place to be. Great restaurants, shops, architecture and a wonderful atmosphere. It looks like Jake has already been doing the rounds of some of the restaurants. He was seen at one at the weekend by a tweeter who also posted a picture. The restaurant is Canoe, which apparently is very Canadian while also being very NYC. So none the wiser... But it does look very good.

According to Pop Goes the News, filming on An Enemy begins in Toronto on 22 May, and so it's likely Jake is in the city for some pre-production. Here's hoping that involves a quick shaved and haircut. It will be interesting to learn who the other cast members will be although, obviously, Jake's co-star in this film is Jake Gyllenhaal. Let's hope they get along.

And finally...

Jake has been putting his time in NYC to good use. It turns out that Jake has taught at least one Soul Cycle spin class in Union Square. According to the New York Post:

The “Source Code” star cycled on a stage next to an instructor Monday in full view of an afternoon spin class. He even mouthed the words to a Jay-Z song playing on the soundtrack while wearing “a black tank top, shorts and full beard dripping in sweat,” a spy said, adding Jake even lip-synced, “I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one.”

Apparently, spin has never been so popular. Can't imagine why.

This post includes rather lovely past Toronto pictures :)

[Updated] Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal out in NYC, video catch ups (Paul Newman and The Shoes) and a WDW Interlude

Updated to add new photos from 6 April of Jake taking the subway in NYC. Looks like Jake gets his voice command on his iPod to work. When I try it I always get Abba... Thanks to IHJ for the pics, there are more there.

As the rather wet and drizzly Easter weekend continues, I thought I'd distract you from a pile of chocolate eggs and a heap of hot cross buns with an update. Jake Gyllenhaal is in NYC, where the hair and Face Pet continue to flourish, where he was seen on Thursday taking a walk with sister Maggie. Many thanks to IHJ for the new pics! Great to see Maggie looking so well.

Meanwhile, two more videos have come to light. In the first, we can see all of Jake's time on stage during the Paul Newman Dreams event last Monday. In the second, The Shoes themselves discuss the making of their controversial Time to Dance video and what is was like working with an actor as professional and as good as Jake.Thanks to Mermon for providing that second link.



Jake Gyllenhaal turns serial killer in music video by reuters

And finally, Mumford and Sons has released an image of Mumford and Jake taken during the Railroad Revival tour last year. It's a cracker and you can see it here.

WDW Interlude - roadtrip

Yesterday, taking advantage of the one sunny day of the Easter hols, we set off for the south coast, stopping off on the way at Stonehenge and Salisbury. The church is St Mary's Church in Salisbury, the interior of which is covered in paintings from the 1470s and thereabouts. The final destination was Lyme Regis and an ice cream on the beach. The photo of Stonehenge (clickable below to embiggen) shows the historic and modern setting of the ancient monument when half of the nation decides to head for the coast.

If you're on holiday, have a lovely time!

More Serious Fun video, a chat with Daniel Wolfe and Ellen Pompeo reminisces about Jake Gyllenhaal ten years on

A day on and there is more coming out of Monday's Paul Newman Dreams celebration in NYC, including a video which features more of Jake Gyllenhaal's onstage speech as well as further interviews behind the scenes. As always, I do admire how Jake thinks on his feet and responds so well to interviewers in this conveyor belt type of arrangement.



Meanwhile, Daniel Wolfe, the director of The Shoes' Time to Dance video has been talking a little about his ideas behind this rather gory video, as well as the reason for its inclusion of Jake, giving Jake his first psychotic serial killer role. 'Jake and I had been discussing a script with a mutual friend, producer Lynette Howell. I knew he was into music videos, so when we wrote up the treatment, I sent it to them. They both responded well to it. And then we just had to sort out dates.'

'The atmosphere on set changed from scene to scene. In the party scenes there was no real distinction between shooting and not shooting, it was just a party so the atmosphere was a party. Then we’d just walk Jake in. We were shooting in the snow quite a bit which was testing. Sally Campbell cooked up Irish stew and turned up on set with that which lifted spirits considerably.' Nothing like a spot of stew in between murderous takes...

And finally...

Every so often, Ellen Pompeo likes to remind us that Jake Gyllenhaal once called her the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. I gave a full account of this back in 2009 but the subject has come up again at a press conference with Ellen, which also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the most wonderful Moonlight Mile. The report's mention of Jake being 12 is clearly not that accurate...

'Before auditioning for the film, "I was... in the waiting room and the director and this guy, Jake Gyllenhaal, who I had never heard of — no one had ever heard of him at that point — walked past me," Pompeo shared. "I [had] my head down... so I didn't get a look at Jake." But when she walked in to read, the 42-year-old actress got the shock of her life. "I had met Jake a couple of weeks prior on the sidewalk," Pomep explained. "I walked into the room and I saw Jake and I said, 'Oh my God, it's you!' We sort of bumped into each other. He told me I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen."'

Moonlight Mile was such an incredible film, for Jake and Ellen, with the strongest chemistry between Joe and Bertie, and I'm not surprised that these memories have stayed with Ellen. This also gives me the perfect excuse to post here a video of what must be in my top three most favourite moments from any Jake film.

Many thanks to IHJ for the pictures.

My review of Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists is now up at MovieBrit.

Updated: **Emergency Post** Jake Gyllenhaal celebrates Paul Newman's Dream in NYC

Last night Jake Gyllenhaal took part in celebrating his 'Hollywood Godfather' Paul Newman's Dream at the Lincoln Center in NYC. This gives us the first glimpse of Jake in movie star mode since the successful Berlinale a couple of months ago. We even have video. Hopefully, shortly there will be more.



This is an emergency post and so I will be doing a proper post later but I just could not wait... Many thanks to IHJ for the pics, there are many more there!

Update:

We have some more video from Jake's appearance last night at the gala fundraiser for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall charity, now known as Serious Fun. If you click on this link, you'll see footage of Jake that you can also download. Here is another montage - Jake features more than once.

[Updated again - thanks to Mermon for the link!]

The fact that Jake has been getting a little bit more Sasquatchy did not matter to some media commentators.

There are some fabulous photos of Jake from inside and outside the event. We must savour them as it might be a while... An so, in the interests of science, here are some of my favourites from the pictures.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled, this is a developing story, so watch this space!!

Jake Gyllenhaal back in NYC ahead of tomorrow's Paul Newman gala

All is quiet on the Gyllenfront. Following the controversy of the photos of a smoking Jake Gyllenhaal smoking at the end of last week, Jake is now back in NYC where he's putting things to rights by getting on his bike and spinning it. Jake was spotted at Soul Cycle - on the instructor's bike rather intriguingly and not at all discreetly - and he was also seen having dinner with Maggie at ABC Kitchen, an organic, locally-sourced restaurant. Maggie has, of course, revealed to USA Today, that she is having another daughter.

Thanks to IHJ for the pic! This post has been amended.