As all Gyllenhaalics know, Land of the Lost was the favourite show of both Jimmy Livingston and his love Chloe and the release of the remake in American theatres last Friday has the excellent side-effect of renewed attention in Bubble Boy. In Bubble Boy, we can headbang along to Jake giving his Rock of Ages audition.
Jake even gets to play a cameo in a dream sequence episode of Land of the Lost, although Nasty Mark is the one who saves Chloe from the TRex, all because he has Immunities. Despite this being a dream sequence, the special effects are just as pleasing as in the original, because, as Jimmy and Chloe say 'That's the point'. Let's hope Will Ferrell and director Brad Silberling - Yes, Brad Silberling of Moonlight Mile - do it justice.
It's not every day you get to see Jake Gyllenhaal being chased by a dinosaur, which is probably just as well. Just as well for Jake too judging by his dinosaur issues - Jake's worst class at Columbia was his dinosaur class: 'Actually, my grades were pretty good, except for the `F' I got in my class on dinosaurs. That was the hardest class I ever took' (Orange County Register 2001).
After the recent Brokeback post, and while we wait to see if we will ever learn in which continent Jake now finds himself, I thought I'd take a look at another film of Jake's in which chemistry is everything. For me, Moonlight Mile is right up there, knocking on the door of Brokeback, for the connection between Jake Gyllenhaal and Ellen Pompeo and for the other connections - between Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon and between both of these and the young Jake.
There is a contradiction about Moonlight Mile to my mind. The story is built upon the most awful tragedy, not just for Joe, but also for Bertie. But there is real humour in it - and hope. I feel that a very big part of why we feel this is because of what seems like genuine affection between the four main cast members and because of the family dynamic, especially between Jake and Dustin. With Jake getting top billing and with Dustin keen to clip Jake's feathers while littering him with advice, I get a sense of Jake's nervous rebelliousness. He agreed to do This is Our Youth, as strongly advised by Dustin, but stood firm against him to do a blockbuster movie.
Without doubt, Jake impressed both Susan and Dustin. Brad Silbering recounted (in the Detroit Free Press): '"It took Dusty six months to make up his mind, six months of us talking on the phone every day, working through detail, half the time talking about anything but the script. Finally I got him together with Jake, because I truly believed that would get him off the dime. And he just fell in love with him. He kept saying, `He's like a young Buster Keaton; he's like a young Keaton.'"
We've enjoyed Susan's flirtatious comments about Jake before, but I liked this description of him that she gave at the Toronto Film Festival: '"He's very bright," says Sarandon. "The emphasis is focus. He reminds me of Sean Penn. I love the fact that he grew up in a show-business family and still has great values."' Elsewhere in this article, Jake says of his role as Joe: 'I have regrets, but I will hopefully mend them in future things'.
Here is a lengthier extract: 'If Gyllenhaal mania arises, the actor admits that there are worse fates than Leonardo DiCaprio-style celebrity. "There's something alluring about it," says Gyllenhaal, whose entourage at Toronto consists of three longtime friends who've spent as much time accompanying him to movie theaters as they have to bars. "I would not be human to say that I don't fall for that. But it seems to me that ... if you're in that position, it's not really in your control, except in the choices that you make and the movies that you choose to do. The nice thing about that position, regardless of the entourage or the girls, is that you can do any movie you want, which is what's alluring to me." Gyllenhaal, who next stars with Dennis Quaid in the Roland Emmerich film The Day After Tomorrow, feels good about where he is. "I think I'm in a pretty OK position," he says. "It's hard to get perspective. ... It's so weird that I want more even though I have a ton."'
This comraderie between the cast was pretty clear for all to see at the Toronto press conference: 'The mood at the press conference yesterday for Moonlight Mile, about a bereaved husband-to-be coming to terms with his grief, was set when Susan Sarandon sat down, turned to her co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and asked, "Did you just pinch my ass?" Within two minutes, Dustin Hoffman had laid his head in the laps of both Sarandon and co-star Ellen Pompeo, played footsie with Sarandon and asked her for sexual favours. Then the cast launched into a rousing Happy Birthday for director Brad Silberling. It was, in Sarandon's words, "a bit of a love fest" on the set of this movie.'
And then there's Ellen... The story of her fairy tale meeting with Jake in an LA carpark is well known, but here is a fuller account of it: 'A guy tried to pick her up in the parking lot behind gourmet sandwich shop Joan's on Third. She says she had no idea he was actor Jake Gyllenhaal. "She walked by and I was just blown away by this energy," Gyllenhaal says. "She does this thing with her hair where she kind of jolts it back and forth. I thought it was so sexy." "He knocked on my [car] window in the parking lot," Pompeo says. "And he was standing there very nervous and shy. He said, 'I just want to tell you that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my entire life.' And he tried to run away. So I said, 'Wait a minute, come back here.' Normally, I would say, 'Thank you' and let it go. But there's something so interesting about his face, so soulful."
'"I looked down at her passenger seat," Gyllenhaal says, "and I saw that there were 'sides' on it," the parts of scripts actors are given to read for auditions, "and I was like, 'Oh God, this girl's an actor." Pompeo says she told him, "Maybe we'll work together someday. Thanks for the compliment. See ya. And that was it." But it wasn't. Three weeks later, under the urging of New York casting director Avy Kaufman, known for finding actors their breakthrough roles--like Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense" and Tobey Maguire in "The Ice Storm"--Pompeo auditioned for writer-director Brad Silberling's "Moonlight Mile" (at the time tentatively titled "Baby's in Black") and found herself reading with none other than Gyllenhaal. "I walked into the room and he turned pale. Then I turned pale. It was so bizarre," Pompeo says.'
'"In walks Ellen to the room and I was like, no way," Gyllenhaal says. "I guess she had burned her forehead with a curling iron. It was just like this big scabby thing on her forehead and she was trying to hide it the best she could. But finally she was like, 'I know it's really stupid but I was trying to straighten my hair.' And she blew the audition out of the water. She walked out of the room and Brad turned to me and said, 'There's our movie.'"'
Ellen says that she became used to being confused with Renee Zellwegger but she has Jake to back her up: '"With Ellen, besides that voice and the sense that people might think in a cliched way--God, I don't know. If you put Renee and her in the same room, I don't know who would come out standing."'
One can't forget Brad Silberling. His terrible personal tragedy tied the cast together and all of the actors endeavour to do it justice. Brad said of Jake (Star Tribune 2002): 'As young actors go, he's alone in his field. He's really open and sensitive. And he's passionate. He has his eye on doing things he can be proud of.'
Includes pictures from IHJ and articles from WDW archives.
The American Film Institute chose not to follow the path of its British cousin, preferring instead to completely ignore Zodiac (and Rendition) in its Top 10 list for 2007. However, you remember the Buzzsugar poll in which we could vote for our favourite drama of the year? Well, Zodiac won, so good work everyone! The best dramatic actor has not been announced yet, so there's still time to vote I believe.
Thanks to IHJ for New Old pictures which can be found throughout this post - they were taken at the MTV Movie Awards in 2006 and feature a stunning and little warm Jake.
Brothers filming in Los Alamos
Jake's new project, Brothers, continues apace and today there was a IMDb sighting of the hoopla of filming: 'They are definitely filming at a church in Los Alamos today. I just went to lunch and saw all the commotion. Base camp is not at the Catholic Church. It is at the Los Alamos UNM campus. In the back.'
Moonlight Mile Memories
After an enjoyable night watching The Knight's Tale on UK TV last night, this evening it's the turn of Moonlight Mile (BBC1 11.20pm) - a rare treat on terrestrial television. So to put us in the mood, whether we live in Britain or not, here are some bits and pieces about the filming. In 2001, the Boston Globe visited the set in Gloucester and reported that 'At the moment, though, Hoffman is more concerned about the beating he's laying on his costar. The scene they're shooting winds down with Hoffman giving Gyllenhaal an enthusiastic slap on the knee and springing up from the bench where they've been talking. But Hoffman has been dishing out that same slap for hours now. "Jake's going to take his pants off and he's going to have a black- and-blue mark," Hoffman chuckles.' I was drawn to the last sentence.
In 2002, Jake was interviewed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune about Moonlight Mile (among other things): 'The only time Gyllenhaal brings up his star status is when he wants to poke fun at it. He kidded about his Oscar-winning co-stars, saying he made it clear from the first day of shooting that he was in charge. "Susan followed along pretty well, but Dustin could be difficult," he said, deadpan. He started to add something about Hunter, but burst into laughter. "Sorry," he gasped. "I can't keep this going." Seriously, though, working with such a veteran cast did have benefits. "What I've discovered in the last year is that the best actors feel comfortable in their own skin," he said. Brad Silberling, the writer-director of "Moonlight Mile," predicted big things for Gyllenhaal. "Jake is the `it' guy right now," he said. "As young actors go, he's alone in his field. He's really open and sensitive. And he's passionate. He has his eye on doing things he can be proud of." Sarandon, who mixes mainstream movies with independent films, saluted Gyllenhaal for wanting to remain active in art-house films. "Jake is very bright, and he's obviously very talented," she said. "By starting as a character actor, he's got a base that's broad enough that he can be thrust into leading-man status and survive."' As always, few talk with such insight about Jake as Susan Sarandon.
Director and writer Brad Silberling told the Detroit Free Press in 2002: '"It took Dusty six months to make up his mind, six months of us talking on the phone every day, working through detail, half the time talking about anything but the script. Finally I got him together with Jake, because I truly believed that would get him off the dime. And he just fell in love with him. He kept saying, `He's like a young Buster Keaton; he's like a young Keaton.'" Gyllenhaal says he was more than eager to hear everything Hoffman had to say about his character and their relationship, and he was especially pleased when Hoffman drew comparisons between his character and the shell-shocked Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate." The more experienced Sarandon, while praising Hoffman's intensity and attention to emotional detail, admits to becoming exasperated with him occasionally. "At some point, you have to say, `Fine, great; let's shoot the thing and quit talking already,'" she says.'
At the Toronto Film Festival in 2002, Jake did a Q&A on Moonlight Mile which was featured in the Bostone Globe: Q. Most of your roles to date have been young men who react, often passively, to strong characters or extreme situations. What's up with that? A. This year has been a lot about being reactive, just personally. But also the best roles for people my age have been those types of roles. The supposedly active roles deal with a sense of sexuality that nobody necessarily wants from someone at a young age, unless they're a football jock or something relatively cliched. And there's not much going on there, at least for me. Personally, I like to play in deeper water.
Q. How did you go about finding your way into this role? A. I had been around the script for a year and a half before we eventually started shooting, so I knew it pretty much backwards and forwards. There was a lot of thought about what was going on and the secrets that I was holding, but a lot of times you just have to come in and listen and have faith that the director's going to pull off the job. Of everything I've worked on so far, there's been, strangely, the least preparation with this. Q. Do you wish you'd done anything differently? A. Yes. Always. I always wish that I could have done everything differently. But you know, the Tao Te Ching says, "Don't cling to your work." That's my attitude towards things more and more. It wasn't at the time, and I think maybe that if it had been, it would have made for a better performance.
Q. This was the last of five films you shot back to back. Did you bring anything to "Moonlight" that you'd learned from the others? A. No. But I will bring to movies after this what I got from "Moonlight." Q. Which is? A. Preparation. That it's a discipline. That people who say that acting doesn't involve a tremendous amount of work don't really know the craft. That's the thing that Dustin [Hoffman] taught me; he works just as hard as anybody. Even this play I just did in the West End [of London] called "This is Our Youth," Dustin was a big influence on me doing that. And in rehearsing for a month beforehand, I learned that what actors consider spontaneity doesn't really come from being "spontaneous" and not knowing your lines. Real spontaneity comes from overworking your brain to such an extent that it stops working and something can flow through it. So, in the future, that's how I'll approach it. Unfortunately, as an actor I feel like the performances I've given have not done that yet.
[These articles are from WDW Archives and, as such , have no links.]
As a familiar treat, here is the Making of Moonlight Mile video for you to enjoy.
The Dark Knight
While we're showing videos - at last the official trailer of the Dark Knight has been released, featuring the sensational Heath Ledger as a terrifying and very real Joker as well as the occasional glimpse of Maggie. Just listen to Heath's voice in this - it sends shivers across the skin.
After a relatively traumatic night, from which I'm still warming up, it feels good to revisit the summer and feel the warmth of sun and blue skies, a time when Jake was lost to public view on Martha's Vineyard. MV isn't just a summer home for Jake, it's also the place where much of Moonlight Mile took shape - it was at MV that Jake and Moonlight Mile director, writer and producer Brad Silberling came together because, completely coincidentally and fortuitously, Brad bought the house next door to the Gyllenhaals - they were 'destined to work together'.
Brad found Jake to be just like him, 'it was eerie'. Brad met Jake when Jake was just 18 and Jake grew stubble to keep Brad interested in employing him. Jake was too young but as the film took shape Jake grew older until at last Brad admitted to himself, 'It's his film, let's figure out the rest.' Jake agrees that 'the similarities were pretty staggering in a way.'
In this interview, recorded for Mvyradio in 2003, Jake and Brad reminisce about the origins of Moonlight Mile, the reasons for Jake's casting as Joe Nast, the meaning of MV to them both and, above all, the extraordinary soundtrack. As Jake says: 'I can't stop playing the soundtrack in my car, I cannot stop playing it. I stole it from Brad and I play the Travis track over and over and over and over again.'
At the very heart of this movie - an 'emotional biography' - is its music. Jake says that each day they would walk around with an earpiece playing the sounds of the film - 'I'd walk down the street with Van Morrison playing.' According to Brad, the music was another performer in the film. The song Moonlight Mile, by the Rolling Stones, is 'a pivotal song... that binds the love story in our film', so says Brad. It's 'a classic road song' and 'Jake does a beautiful job playing a character who has to choose to sort of speak his emotional truth or not.'
Brad recalls that he flew over to London to see Jake in This Is Our Youth and that, while in London, Jake had met the bassist of Travis. Jake describes that it 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.' Very true, Jake!
The interview closes by remarking that Jake could be seen in three films at that time: Moonlight Mile, The Good Girl and Lovely and Amazing, all with incredible actors. Jake says 'They're all about human beings, kind of what I'm drawn to, the real, everyday goings on and sort of the magnitude of these things can be huge, are huge, blowing things out of proportion and huge...'
Jake's asked what he's going to do next on MV: 'I'm going to do a little gardening, maybe go to the beach, take a proper vacation and play some basketball with some friends at the end of the day.' Sound good to me.
