Lists. End of the year. End of the decade. Everybody's doing 'em. Between the year 2000 and 2009 there were 13 Jake Gyllenhaal movies released (or released straight to DVD in the case of Highway). Since it's crazy to try and narrow it down to 10, here are my 13 favorite Jake performances of the decade:
13. Jordan -Lovely & Amazing
12. Sam Hall - The Day After Tomorrow
11. Holden Worther - Good Girl
10. Pilot Kelson - Highway
9. Joe Nast - Moonlight Mile
8. Robert Graysmith - Zodiac
7. Hal - Proof
6. Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko
5. Douglas Freeman - Rendition
4. Tommy Cahill - Brothers
3. Jimmy Livingston - Bubble Boy
2. Jack Twist - Brokeback Mountain
1. Tony Swofford - Jarhead
I'd love to know your favorite Jake performances of the decade.
Thanks for hanging around our little Jake-centric blog this past year and bringing many thoughtful, insightful, fun and pleasant comments with you. Hope you stick around in the new year, the new decade. I have a feeling there will lots to talk about.
It happened on November 21st without much fanfare in the Jake community, but it didn't go unnoticed by me.
LOS ANGELES — Late last week the buzz around the tables at Orso, a film industry hangout since it opened here 20 years ago, was about, of all things, the imminent demise of Orso.
The trattoria is near a Robertson Boulevard strip that has seen some rowdy shopping by the likes of Lindsay Lohan and that remains home to the paparazzi-plagued Ivy restaurant. But Orso will be gone by Nov. 21, acknowledged Taylor Lumia, an owner and a member of the restaurant clan whose patriarch is Joe Allen of the namesake restaurant in New York. “It’s not without some sadness and remorse, said Mr. Lumia, who spoke by telephone from his home in Maine. “These things are never easy.”
Like Morton’s, Chasen’s and the original Spago on Sunset Boulevard, Orso — loved less for its food than for the gossip on its ficus-shaded patio — is soon to become the latest entry on a list of Hollywood lunch-and-dinner power spots that used to be.
Named for a dog that once befriended Mr. Allen in Venice, Orso was hurt when the Creative Artists Agency and International Creative Management moved into Century City office towers, shifting the center of gravity for their lunch sessions westward to new hot spots like Craft. And it lost a mainstay when the nearby New Line Cinema — once the biggest house account — cut hundreds of employees in a corporate restructuring.
Still, Orso tapped the industry crowd and, occasionally, stars as far afield as Johnny Depp and Mel Brooks. Among the executives, agents, producers and others spotted at the tables lately were Tom Ortenberg, David Dinerstein, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Pat Kingsley, Chris McGurk, Stuart Ford, David Permut, David Friendly, Toby Emmerich, Bingham Ray, Kevin Iwashina, Bruce Feirstein, David Colden, Michael London and others who will now be lunching elsewhere.
One secret to Orso’s enduring appeal: a policy that allowed both the famous and the less so to light up in the privacy of the high-walled patio, even as other places clamped down on tobacco. “It was a great place to take actors, because you could smoke outside,” said a film executive, who did not want to be identified for fear of earning the wrath of less understanding nonsmokers.
Update: A great new Behind the Scenes featurette for Prince of Persia. Sadly not embeddable. But it's definitely worth a look. Go here!
Disney released a new high res photo of Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan in Prince of Persia. Very similar to another shot but Dastan is positioned slightly differently. And it's closer :)
Click to get the full effect.
And another new PoP photo, this time with Jake and Gemma Arterton:
In smaller picture news, I found this photo of Jake and "Dave, the bartender" from Brothers. Except I don't think that's the Dave who ended up in the movie. Not sure what happened there.
Interview Magazine has chosen the 20 Most Beautiful People of the Decade. (Of the people featured in the magazine, so don't feel bad for being left out!)
There's a lovely intro about Jake:
Since Donnie Darko, he's shown himself to be an eager actor. From oddball neuroses (Bubble Boy) to the raw emotional center he cracked wide open in Brokeback Mountain, he's devoted himself to his roles. Even in action blockbusters like The Day After Tomorrow, he worked to bring an "artsy" element to the schlock (to the consternation of his co-stars). He's been the same way with love; in his relationships with Kirsten Dunst and Reese Witherspoon, he was the one who's all in. That kind of person tends to be the one with the most to lose—but all told, we like his chances.
If you don't remember where you were, what you were doing or whom you were doing it with on Friday, December 19, 1980, fear not. I am here to take you back. Join me now as we step into the wayback machine.
If you were in Los Angeles it was a December day much like other December days in LA. Temperatures reached a high of 69.1F, a low of 50F with the average temperature for the day being 56.2F.
The headline news for December 19, 1980 isn't quite the laugh-fest that Jake seems to think it is. Latest Iranian demands for release of American hostages, including $24 billion in guarantees, said to include some President Carter cannot meet.....In Iran, anti-Khomeini protesters clash with Revolutionary Guards.....Chrysler's Lee Iacocca in Washington to discuss XM-1 tank production problems with Pentagon.....Alexei Kosygin, former prime minister of USSR, pronounced dead.....Natural gas leaks threaten town of Jane Lew, WV.....Secretary of State-designate Alexander Haig meets with congressional members prior to confirmation hearing.....Justice Dept. gives Charleston, SC twenty days to institute satisfactory school desegregation plan.....Federal judge sentences two Church of Scientology officials for theft of IRS documents.....Increase in gas prices reported.....Prime rate at 21.5%*.....Federal judges in Florida drop charges against ship captains involved in Cuban boatlift.....Arab guerrillas killed during Israeli raid in Lebanon.....Left-wing terrorists claim responsibility for department store bombings in Athens, Greece.....In UN, U.S. joins unanimous vote against Israel for expulsion of two West Bank mayors.....Justice Dept. clears Sen. Howard Cannon of any wrongdoing in land deal with Teamsters union.
Back in LA, Jake may have been a tad too young to attend, but that evening down in Inglewood at the old Forum his beloved LA Lakers took on the Portland Trail Blazers. Jake-luck wasn't on their side that night; they lost to the Trail Blazers 110-106 on Friday, December 19, 1980. In happier times, and with a little Jake-luck, the Lakers met the Trail Blazers again, on January 4, 2009. This time defeating the Trail Blazers 100-86.
At the movies that Friday, December 19, 1980 opening in LA and around the country, you may have seen one of several movies of note: Raging Bull, often referred to as the best movie of the 80s; Nine to Five, Dolly Parton's cinematic debut; and Neil Diamond's classic reworking of The Jazz Singer. . .
On television that Friday night you may have watched that young up and comer Jerry Seinfeld finish his 3-episode arc on Benson as 'Frankie the Mailman. Tonight's episode is entitled Benson's Groupie. Diana Canova left the always entertaining Soap the previous season to headline her own sitcom, I'm a Big Girl Now, which aired immediately after Benson. Diana's show didn't last a full season, but she did pull off her greatest coup to date - appearing on the cover of TV Guide for the week of December 13-19, 1980.
Friday night television from 9-10pm in December, 1980 was pretty slim pickings. If you were lucky you might have gotten a phone call that evening to tell you about the birth of a child that day, which saved you from having to watch The Dukes of Hazzard.
But come 10pm on you were probably watching Dallas, now in its 4th season, when it was still interesting and JR was still scheming. Tonight's episode is Trouble at Ewing 23. Season 4 opening credits for old time's sake.
For a couple of years starting back in April, 1980, Fridays, a skit-oriented variety/comedy show premiered on ABC latenights. The program was ABC's attempt to duplicate the success of NBC's Saturday Night Live (especially since SNL was facing a decline in quality in the early 1980s following the departure of show creator Lorne Michaels and the remnants of his original cast). Like SNL, each week Fridays featured music acts and on Friday night, December 19, 1980 Rockpile featuring Nick Lowe appeared.
If you changed the channel quick enough, you may have caught The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Johnny's surprise guest that night was Frank Sinatra who sang the Christmas classic, The First Noel.
If you were looking for live music on Friday night, December 19, 1980, you may have been at Madison Square Garden rocking out to Bruce and The River tour. If you found yourself at the Baymount in Sligo, Ireland that night, you would have seen 4 fresh faces from Dublin City on the second leg of their Boy tour.
Friday, December 19, 1980. It was a very good day.
It's been a while since we've seen the trademark Jake Gyllenhaal L.A. candids. But here he is shopping yesterday in West Hollywood:
It's like a puzzle - how many Jakes can you spot?
This is one of those "pap pics as art" photos they used to do on The Gilded Moose. Remember their glorious "Breaking: Jake Gyllenhaal crosses street" posts?
And look - he's done it again. But this time against the Walk signal. Don't do it, Jake - despite the sign on the wall, it's not safe!
I guess he made it after all. Phew!
Thanks to Monica for sending this link to the HD version of Dastan: Behind the Scenes from Prince of Persia:
Much though it pains me to post this, the Lionsgate Amateur Hour did figure out they should do a TV spot noting Tobey Maguire's Golden Globe nod.
Maybe they'll have a British ad that showcases Jake's performance. Yes, still bitter.
12. Sam Hall - The Day After Tomorrow
11. Holden Worther - Good Girl
10. Pilot Kelson - Highway
9. Joe Nast - Moonlight Mile
8. Robert Graysmith - Zodiac
7. Hal - Proof
6. Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko
5. Douglas Freeman - Rendition
4. Tommy Cahill - Brothers
3. Jimmy Livingston - Bubble Boy
2. Jack Twist - Brokeback Mountain
1. Tony Swofford - Jarhead
