Paul Newman (January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008)

He's my celebrity godfather.' What's a celebrity godfather? 'That's the godfather that the media give you. He's a close friend of my family. He taught me to drive. I have literal godfathers and celebrity godfathers. ~ Jake Gyllenhaal, Telegraph, 10/21/07

Newman's Own Foundation Celebrates the Life and Legacy of Paul Newman
Saturday September 27, 9:14 am ET

(January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008)

WESTPORT, Conn., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Remembering the life and legacy of Paul Newman, Newman's Own Foundation has issued a statement. The statement, from Vice-Chairman Robert Forrester, follows: "Paul Newman's craft was acting. His passion was racing. His love was his family and friends. And his heart and soul were dedicated to helping make the world a better place for all.

"Paul had an abiding belief in the role that luck plays in one's life, and its randomness. He was quick to acknowledge the good fortune he had in his own life, beginning with being born in America, and was acutely aware of how unlucky so many others were. True to his character, he quietly devoted himself to helping offset this imbalance.

"An exceptional example is the legacy of Newman's Own. What started as something of a joke in the basement of his home, turned into a highly-respected, multi-million dollar a year food company. And true to form, he shared this good fortune by donating all the profits and royalties he earned to thousands of charities around the world, a total which now exceeds $250 million.

"While his philanthropic interests and donations were wide-ranging, he was especially committed to the thousands of children with life-threatening conditions served by the Hole in the Wall Camps, which he helped start over 20 years ago. He saw the Camps as places where kids could escape the fear, pain and isolation of their conditions, kick back, and raise a little hell. Today, there are 11 Camps around the world, with additional programs in Africa and Vietnam. Through the Camps, well over 135,000 children have had the chance to experience what childhood was meant to be.

"In Paul's words: "I wanted to acknowledge luck; the chance and benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, who might not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it."

"Paul took advantage of what life offered him, and while personally reluctant to acknowledge that he was doing anything special, he forever changed the lives of many with his generosity, humor, and humanness. His legacy lives on in the charities he supported and the Hole in the Wall Camps, for which he cared so much.

"We will miss our friend Paul Newman, but are lucky ourselves to have known such a remarkable person."

    If you would like to support the Hole in the Wall Camps, please visit
                    www.HoleInTheWallCamps.org.

About Newman's Own Foundation

Paul Newman believed in sharing his good fortune. He created Newman's Own Foundation, a private independent foundation, to carry on his commitment of donating to charity all profits and royalties he earns from the sale of Newman's Own products.

Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation have donated more than $250 million to thousands of charities worldwide. For more information, please visit www.NewmansOwnFoundation.com.

Prince of Persia sneak peeks

We know Disney gave a select audience a brief glimpse into Prince of Persia on Wednesday. From a report on IESB:

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is the next franchise that Jerry “I have more money than god” Bruckheimer is launching.

The production is only in its first few weeks of shooting so there weren't any completed shots but they did show some of footage from dailies, on set and animatics/pre-viz.

I have never been the biggest fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, but I have to admit, he looks pretty bad ass as Prince Dastan. ...

Not much of the story was revealed, even though the script has been reviewed by multiple online outlets.

Prince of Persia is massive - the sets are huge, the action sequences are huge and the only thing that comes to mind is that this is another Pirates of the Caribbean in the making.

Can you say billion dollar franchise? I knew that you could.

Sure, the select audience got to see all that glossy insider footage. And Jake. But a post on IMDb pointed us to some behind-the-scenes videos. They are not polished and I'm not sure who shot them or if they are authentic. And Jake's not in them. But still - they seem like the real deal. There are four in all. This one is the most exciting:



The video-posters also have a forum, and this thread has some set photos:



Is this the dissolute prince on his throne or a seductive courtier?



The royal badass


(New-old Jake photos courtesy of IHJ. PoP photos and video courtesy of NuMedia Studio.)

Maybe Jake needs a pap double!

A recent blog entry mentioned that 007's stuntman is currently doubling for Jake Gyllenhaal on Prince of Persia. Someday, we'll have behind-the-scenes footage of Jake doing all the PoP stunt training. That will be fun!

The stuntman, Ben Cooke, mentions that there were three or four doubles for Daniel Craig on Quantum of Solace. So Jake should have at least that many. One of them can go for coffee, one can go jogging, one can bike ride through London. Disguised just enough so we can't tell it's not really Jake. I mean, if he's not going to show his pretty face, he can at least try to fool us out of the doldrums!

---

Speaking of that face, IHJ posted some new old photos of Jake in Venice, 2005. I love Jake. I love Venice. I love Jake-in-Venice.



Oh, look - Reese was there, too!




Hi, Jake! Come back soon!

And just because...



(Photos courtesy of IHJ and flickr/annia316 and flickr/ronlayters.)

New PoP set pictures - five

New PoP prince pics - none!

But some cool shots of the Prince Of Persia set at Ait Benhaddou:







And in case you've forgotten what The Prince himself looks like:



(Pics courtesy of flickr/jerome.bailey and IHJ.)

Thank god for Guy Ritchie

No, the category is not "Words you never thought you'd hear from anyone, even Madonna!" 

Guy Ritchie had the foresight to cast Toby Kebbell in RockNRolla and then to arrange his failing career so that the film was released in September. Kebbell's interviews for RNR have provided us with some of the only news we've had in the current, sanity-challenging Jake Gyllenhaal drought. The latest on Jake from Toby:

Where are you living and working at the moment?
In London, working on The Prince of Persia. After RockNRolla I was out of work for 11 months, to shoot down the idea of the glamour. Then I was in Morocco for two and a half months learning to ride on a horse and fight with an axe for the Prince of Persia, but these big projects go on and on, so I'm shooting at Pinewood now. My co-star Jake (Gyllenhaal) is a lovely fella. He's been training hard and pumping iron; he's all about doing his acting right. It's more like doing a marathon than it is like acting, you're delivering these lines that are a bit obscure and you wouldn't normally say like (adopts OTT theatrical voice) 'The mystical dagger of time is going to save us all!' So it's a tricky one, but Jake's got the bull by the horns. We sat around and had a bite to eat a couple of times. He's a typical Yanky chap.

So they ARE in London. Thank you, Toby.

I was also amued by this question from the interviewer:

You've starred in films with Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johanson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jake Gyllenhaal. Do you feel like you've made it now, or do you want to become a household name yourself?

That's quite a list of beauties :)


I'd love to see a picture of Jake with Michelle P!

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No idea if these are for real, but this is said to be from a series of promo shots of stunt people working on PoP. This one is pretty cool:

(Photos courtesy of IHJ and Flickr.)

Avast! and Ahoy!

This bein' t'19th o'September then 't must be Talk Like A Pirate Day.




(Apologies in advance for the annoying 30 second commercial at the start of this clip.)



(Also apologies that it cuts off just as Peter was going to say 'Jaaarrrrrhead')

If you, too, want to talk like a pirate, here's a list of English to Pirate translators.


(Pics courtesy of IHJ)

Could you forget this face?

Elizabeth Banks has been a favorite, though now we're beginning to question her judgment. From a new cover article in Women's Health:

What's your most mortifying Hollywood moment?
"Oh God, there are a few. But Jake Gyllenhaal once approached me in a valet line, and I thought he thought I was someone else. I was confused and frosty and I'm sure I was very off-putting, and he had to remind me that we had met, that we had done a partial reading of Romeo and Juliet. I don't have a good memory for names and faces, so my husband now calls it 'The Gyllenhaal.' Like if we go to some luncheon and meet new people, he tells me, 'Don't Gyllenhaal these people.'"



       Great to see you again!                             Do I know you?

 

Poor Jake! Just trying to be nice and say hello, and he gets the cold shoulder. I bet she won't make that mistake again.

(Jake photos courtesy of IHJ.)

Jake and TRL

(We're going to try something new here. Since Jake news is slow in coming these days, we'll just do quick posts whenever we see something that catches our eye.)

Comes the sad news today from Executive Producer Dave Sirulnick, that MTV's TRL will be ending its 10 year run in November.

"We want to close this era of 'TRL' in a big celebratory way, and 10 is a great number," Sirulnick said. "And 10 is the number that 'TRL' counted down every single day for 10 years, and we hit this 10th (anniversary) and we thought, 'You know what? This feels like the right time and let's celebrate it and let's reward it. And let's let it have a little bit of a rest for a minute.' Let it catch its breath! Been working hard — for 10 years!"

Personally, I thought this program stopped being relevant about 9.5 years ago. But what do I know; I'm not the target demographic. And I don't think Jake is either. I guess someone in his camp thought he was.

Thank goodness those same someones were quick enough to get him on the UK version of TRL in 2004! Mercifully, they were canceled after only a two year run in 2005.

One of the greatest moments in the history of television.

Okay, that's how Diane Sawyer termed Jake Gyllenhaal's Dreamgirls gag on SNL. Not his appearance on Good Morning America. But though it never gets old, the Dreamgirls skit has been seen. (And seen and seen, by some of us.) But these pictures of Jake off-camera from that morning haven't been. So in the absence of new photos, enjoy some vintage 2007 Jake:



How you doin'?

(Actually, he looks a little tired, poor thing!)

Watch those hands, Diane!

The Gyllenstare

"Works every time..."

Check out just how enthusiastic Diane Sawyer was:



Oh, and just for the hell of it, Dreamgirls Jake:

Jake Gyllenhaal - Dreamgirls sélectionné dans Humour et Sketchs

(Photos courtesy of Artist Approach.)

30 days

Can any of our quick-witted users tell us what haven't we seen in the past month? While you ponder, some sage but troubling information about droughts:

Although droughts can persist for several years (!), even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage.

Drought is not a purely physical phenomenon, but instead is an interplay between natural availability and human demands for supply.

If you're experiencing any kind of extreme reaction - sweating, nausea, vomiting - simply


[insert Jake picture here]

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There is SOME new Jake news. Okay, it's not news. And it's not Jake. But some new photos of the PoP set have emerged on flickr:













(Photos courtesy of flickr/kbecks1873, ben&lily, dmoreira, bosch goes africa)

TIFF'08. No Jake Gyllenhaal. No Brothers.

Still smarting from the exclusion of Brothers at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival?

Not to rub salt into our wounds, but here's what we WON'T see this year at TIFF, which begins Thursday, 4 September.

We won't see a happy, smiling Jake wearing his little Air Canada flight wings and pulling his own luggage as he approaches Customs at Toronto's Pearson Int'l Airport.


We won't see Jake walk into a film's premiere being virtually unrecognized and ignored.

Nor will we see how fast his celebrity rose in only a year outside the same venue.


We won't see the fan swell from last year to this year.


Won't see him casually walking down a Toronto street with his agent.


We won't see the scrum of fans and paparazzi, including my pal, Warren from Rex Features, outside the side door of the Sutton Place Hotel after the Brothers press conference.


Nor will we see him on the red carpet for the non-premiere of Brothers.

We'll never get to see which good friend he might have brought along to the non-premiere of Brothers.

Sadly, we never did and probably never will see Jake and Reese at an afterparty dancing briefly, but divinely.

Won't see this at any TIFF'08 afterparty either.


We won't see video of him pulling the curtains in his hotel room and slowly realizing he's being filmed.

And in one of the strangest things I have ever been witness to, we won't see crowds of people milling about and staring at the entrance of that very same celeb-filled hotel doing nothing on a hot September day but staring. And waiting. For anything. Or anyone. Whose name might be Jake Gyllenhaal. Or not.

Most unfortunate of all is that we won't see a longer haired, buffer version of this at TIFF'08.

And at the airport on the way out of Toronto, here's who we won't be seeing after not seeing him all weekend.

Photos and videos courtesy of IHJ and GyllenBabble