Happy Leap Day!

Since February 29 comes along only once every four years, let's celebrate, Jake Gyllenhaal style. Or Jake-Gyllenhaal-style.

Only a few hours left, but maybe well get a photo. We did last Leap Day (see below).

ETA: Jake likes Leap Day! And Reese :)




See the rest of the pics at IHJ.



That was Oscar Day, 2004. Later, Jake attended the awards, with Kirsten. This is one of my favorite photos of them:



Speaking of quadrennial experiences, 2004 also saw Jake campaign to get young people to vote:





We'll see if Jake gets out on the campaign trail this year once the Democrats make their choice.

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Here's a list Jake would have belonged on even in 2004: Entertainment Weekly's Top 30 Actors Under 30:

JAKE GYLLENHAAL
AGE 27

BROKE OUT IN... Donnie Darko (2001), as a brooding teen with visions of an oracular rabbit.

WHY HIM Brokeback Mountain (2005) made him an easy target for jokes — but also earned him an Oscar nod. And he's consistently taken solid roles (Zodiac, Jarhead) that make up for the ones that aren't quite so firm (The Day After Tomorrow).

WHAT'S NEXT He plays the underachieving brother to Toby Maguire's soldier in the upcoming drama Brothers, co-starring Natalie Portman.

(Pictures courtesy of IHJ.

49 Down - Rotten

Jake Gyllenhaal leaving Urth Cafe in Beverly Hills on Monday. Taking with him his unfinished NY Times Crossword puzzle.

UPDATED to include video from X17. I have to laugh, their copy is so far off the mark here. The Ivy? Page turned to an Off-Broadway play they assume he's reading about? Sheesh.

To read more about Monday's "mildly entertaining" Medium strength puzzle go here.

See the rest of the pics on IHJ.

Roles for which Jake Gyllenhaal should have won an Oscar. But didn't.

Time marches on. Today and this evening (because the whole overblown, self-congratulatory event lasts about 20 hours it seems) is the 80th Annual Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. This year's Awards holds no interest for me other than tuning in to see who's wearing what...or who.

All indications are that Jake Gyllenhaal won't be at the event tonight, but that doesn't stop us from having our own Oscars, Gyllenhaal stylie.

Best Performance in the Younger Actor category:



And the winner is. . . Jake Gyllenhaal for his role as Danny Robbins in City Slickers!!



Best Performance by an Actor in a Bubble



And the winner is. . . Jake Gyllenhaal for his role as Jimmy Livingston in Bubble Boy!!



Best Stoner Performance by an Actor



And the winner is. . . Jake Gyllenhaal for his role as Pilot Kelson in Highway.


Best Actor as the Love Interest for Older Actresses

The nominees are:

Jake Gyllenhaal for Lovely & Amazing





Jake Gyllenhaal for The Good Girl



Jake Gyllenhaal for Proof



Jake Gyllenhaal for Moonlight Mile



And the winner, by a landslide, is Jake Gyllenhaal!!


Enjoy your Sunday evening at the Oscars, everyone!


Photos courtesy or IHJ. Clips courtesy of YouTube.

Jake and the Spirit Awards

Every year since 1986 on the day before the Oscar ceremony, Film Independent's Spirit Awards are held on the beach in Santa Monica.

Keeping with its roots and L.A. location, the Spirit Awards take place each year inside a beachfront tent in Santa Monica, California. The Spirit Awards is a celebration of independent filmmakers who bring a unique vision and a spirit of independence to filmmaking.

While nominated in the Lead Actor category in 2002 for his role in Donnie Darko, Jake Gyllenhaal didn't attend the Spirit Awards that year. He was in London at the time performing in and winning accolades for This Is Our Youth. The award went to Tom Wilkinson for his role in In The Bedroom.

The following year, 2003, Jake DID attend the Spirit Awards with Maggie as his date.


Along with Minnie Driver, Jake presented the John Cassavetes award to Rebecca Miller for her work on Personal Velocity: Three Portraits.

In 2004, even though he wasn't nominated, Jake had the good fortune to be associated with two films nominated in several categories and winning in two - The Good Girl and Lovely & Amazing. Emily Mortimer, his co-star in Lovely & Amazing won in the Best Supporting Female category and Mike White, his co-star in The Good Girl won the Best Screenplay award. Maggie Gyllenhaal was also nominated that year for Secretary.


Jake and Emily Mortimer presenting the Best First Feature award to the producers and director of Monster.


In 2005, while in the midst of filming Jarhead, Jake made an appearance at the Spirit Awards looking squeaky clean and freshly shorn.


He and Bridget Moynahan were on hand to give out the Special Distinction Award to the cast of Mean Creak.


Later, Bridget and Selma Blair fought over Jake in the Green Room.


In 2006, while Ang Lee was winning a Spirit Award for Best Director and Diana Ossana and James Schamus were winning for Best Feature for Brokeback Mountain, at that very same time Jake was across town rehearsing for the Oscars.


Jake wasn't nominated at the Spirit Awards that year, but Heath and Michelle were.


Due to a rigorous east coast Zodiac publicity tour, Jake didn't make it to either the Spirit Awards or the Oscars in 2007. That year, Michelle Williams was nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best Female Lead category for her work in Land of Plenty, a movie she had made several years before. She and Heath were there.


I don't know if Jake plans to be on the beach in Santa Monica for the 23rd Annual Film Independent's Spirit Awards, but I do know the eight-member ensemble of I'm Not There will be receiving the inaugural Robert Altman Award. Announced at the Spirit Awards last year, the honor is given to the director, casting agent and cast of an outstanding indie movie. How I wish the entire cast of the movie were going to be there.




Photos courtesy of IHJ, HLL and WI

Cinematographers We Love

We here at GyllenBabble have long had a serious crush on cinematographer extraordinaire, Rodrigo Prieto. Never has an actor been so lovingly filmed as Jake Gyllenhaal was in Brokeback Mountain under the eye of Prieto. None of us will ever be able to forget those iconic frames of film where he was able to capture that look of longing, wanting, love so brilliantly.


I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Rodrigo Prieto was responsible, in no small part, for turning me into the fan I am today.

With the release of Rendition today on DVD our thoughts now turn to another cinematographer we could be in love with - Dion Beebe. In filming Jake version 2.0 I think Mr. Beebe could give Mr. Prieto a run for his money. Mr. Beebe is able to capture this more mature Jake and the results are stunning.

At the top of this post today is a Rendition screencap (all bow to Stephanie and IHJ) that took our breath away. What I notice immediately between Prieto and Beebe is that Beebe was able to capture Jake in a lot of left profiles (which happens to be his more stunning profile, if that's possible).


Ahoy! Gratuitous boxer brief capture, but also - left profile.


Beebe was also able capture Jake's freakishly long, sexy fingers. I don't think I've ever quite seen them looking this long before. Do fingers continue to grow throughout your life?


Rodrigo Prieto and Dion Beebe. Geniuses in their field.



And now if you'll excuse me, I have Deleted Scenes and a film to watch. But I'll end this post the way I started it with the screencap that took our breath away.



All screencaps courtesy of IHJ.

Nice to see you again - untagged!

Fresh Jake Gyllenhaal - new and untagged for your morning pick-me-up.

As Agent K put it, "Wow - that beautiful face, uninterrupted!"








I love the smirk.

Kudos and thanks to Stephanie for the late-night/early morning surprise. See more at IHJ.