Monday, May 3, 2010

The arrival of the prince

Britain has its own royalty, I know, but still - this is rather a common welcome for the Prince of Persia! Jake Gyllenhaal arriving at Heathrow on May 1. At leat he has his trusty manservant, Mr. B!







Before he left for London, Jake did a phone interview: The Ass-Kicking Artist Currently Known as Prince of Persia. He certainly made a good impression on the interviewer:

The other night, as I was sitting in my darkening office, Jake Gyllenhaal called. Even though the call was “scheduled,” I didn’t really expect this artist-turning-action-hero to have the time to talk to me since he was about to leave for a global press tour. I was convinced I was going to be rescheduled. I have never been so glad to be wrong because he was everything I expected: smart, articulate, and charming. Nonetheless, there was something that took me by surprise: how much he laughed at himself. For all his accomplishments and over-the-top talent, this is not a guy who takes himself too seriously.



Among other things, Jake discusses the differences between Mike Newell and Duncan Jones:

Oh my gosh, every director than I have had the pleasure to work with has been so different in their style. So Mike Newell, just physically … they both happen to be British, but Duncan spent a lot of time growing up in the States and all over the world so he has a different sort of sensibility than Mike. Well, Mike is like six foot five, and Duncan is like five ten or something, so [laughs] that is one major difference. And in a way, their sizes mimic their styles, because Mike is very robust and dramatic in his approach and he’s like (in a gruff British voice), “Oh yes, my dear boy, it’s fantastic,” and there’s always this sort of energy to it. Duncan really creates this space that is much more quiet, and I would say that there is a serenity to the way he directs, and to me it’s fascinating that the two of them could not be more different.





That’s actually a really good question. They had two different beasts [to direct], you know? Mike had a movie where there are just so many elements that he had to balance, and I learned from him a really important lesson that every actor should know; he said, “You know what I look at more than the monitor?,” and I said “No, what Mike?” And he pointed to his watch. When I asked ”Really?,” he said, “You never get all the things you want as a director, and you’re always chasing time.” Any actor who is in sync with their director knows you want to try to give your director everything that they want within the day. And that’s something that I really learned with Mike. It is something that I don’t think that actors really know: how much a director is dealing with. So when I went to work with Duncan I brought that mentality with me, and it was like, “What do we need? Did we get that? OK, what do you need from me? Let’s go.”




JULINA: Are there references to the game, or any inside jokes, within the movie?
JAKE: Huh. Well you know the character himself, I don’t know how much I can really say about it, but I can say that in the game and the movie, he is wry. Also, there’s a thing in the game that he’s always brushing everything off his shoulders, even if he’s totally messed up. I really tried to incorporate this particular thing that happens in the game, actually. Like, when the prince in the game falls to the ground, he goes like, “Uh!” So I tried to do that.

JULINA: [Laughs]
JAKE: [Laughing] People start — they kinda got annoyed with me doing that. They’re like, “It’s sort of just in the game, you should stop grunting when you hit the ground.” But I incorporated that idea because I thought he was kind of going, like, “Uch …” in the game too, which is his personality — like, “Oh god!” You know? There are little bits of the game all over it, but [the movie] is its own beast. That’s for sure. And it is it is quite a massive, epic beast. [Laughing] It is filled, filled to the brim with action and crazy fun stunts — much like the game.


(Photos courtesy of IHJ.)

29 comments:

sheba said...

Thanks for the new post UV. Great to see pictures of Jake and BG at Heathrow. The VA crew's uniform is pretty hot and hasn't changed much in 25 years,still 'banging' :)

I would never give either up but move over a little William and Harry to make way for one more Prince. He'd just fit right in, both are cheeky chappies that love to laugh and have fun. I wish it were a royal premier like Casino Royale was.

Alas Shondra, Jake was nowhere to be seen in Stratford-Upon-Avon although I saw someone jogging with sunglasses on and did a double-take but the smile was not kilowatt so I knew it wasn't Jake. I just hope he's not holed up in some hotel room doing endless press.

UltraViolet said...

I went to Stratford last summer, but only for half a day, maybe not even that long. Wasn't enough time - will have to go back.

I think your best bet for finding Jake is to hang out at the Claridge's bar.

And that BA uniform is pretty cool! And the lovely attendant/whatever she is looks very good in hers. I bet she was happy for her assignment that day.

Jake is apparently losing to Ryan Reynolds in the latest PopSugar round.

It's impossible for me not to type PoPsugar when I have to type the name of that site!

Carla said...

"The Ass-Kicking Artist Currently Known as Prince of Persia."

This is the best description I have read so far when it comes to Jake! Love that quote!*Lol*

The interview is great - but would have loved to hear some news on "The Moon Project".

Jake looks mighty fine in the airport pictures and "hello" to Mr BG!

I have ordered my tickets for next sunday - I am so excited. Hopefully two friends will join me.

Our biggest film magazine is called "Cinema" and I am very happy that our Prince is on the cover of the May issue. I had hoped it would be him but "Iron Man" and "Robin Hood" are also starting here.
Cinema May

I will try to buy it tomorrow and see what they are reporting.

Carla said...

Oh it looks like the link is not working, I try again

Cinema May

UltraViolet said...

Thanks for the link, Carla. I'll check it out when I get home. I'm glad you have friends going with you to PoP. You know we expect a full report!

UltraViolet said...

Oops. I said BA uniform in my comment above but I meant VA.

bobbyanna said...

Great pics of The Prince! My goodness, he has a lot of luggage!

Thanks for the link, Carla.

Monica said...

It's a great interview! thanks.
I disagree when she says that action movies should not be serious. In my opinion, all action films should be serious.

Thanks for the link, Carla. Hope you enjoy POP.

Paula said...

The ass-kicking Prince of Persia, a perfect description!! Love the article.

Wow, that is a lot of luggage there Mr. G! This is the beginning of a whirwind promo tour for Pop, I can't wait!

I hope he isn't spending ALL of his time suck in a hotel doing press either Sheba.

I's so jealous that you will get to see Pop a week early Carla, can't wait to hear you thoughts.

I better go to Popsugar and vote for Jake, Ryan Reynolds???

Monica said...

twitter:

JakeGMovies: RT @bluesmandolin: sitting in an overcrowded theatre with my son to see a screening of prince of persia
3 minutes ago from mobile web

Tweety said...

Jake is in the UK for the JR show on 5/7 and hopefully more and now we have a date for appearence on Kimmel:

heatherberg: oooh Jake Gyllenhaal on Kimmel 5/20! Requested tix haha @shiestyshiz wanna go? haha
26 minutes ago from Echofon

He looks great in these airport pics and I don't know why I feel comforted that our fav BG is by his side keeping him safe!

Thanks Monica! He will get to see audience reaction first hand!

Tweety said...

Whoops! I had to re-read that tweet Monica, I thought Jake was there!!

Hopefully we will get some tweets about the screening.

Monica said...

Awards The Daily News is running a poll on the films of the summer:
Summer Stock: pick the hottest tickets

Monica said...

from twitter:

godfree Finished watching Prince Of Persia movie. Great flick!
18 minutes ago via twidroid

@David2SLY both. I thought it was going to be corny at first. But this came out pretty good. Overall the crowd was clapping at the end.
8 minutes ago via twidroid in reply to David2SLY

suvee said...

Nice Heathrow pics! His hair is still too short for my taste, but those jeans make up for it. :)

Nice to see Mr. BG again. I agree with Tweety..... his presence is a comfort to me, too.

That was a fun interview. Thanks, UV!

UltraViolet said...

De nada, suvee :)

I love hearing about the clapping after one of the screenings!

I went through Twitter and FB and compiled all the reviews I found from tonight's screenings. Not a single negative one :)

Doesn't mean there were none, obviously. But I didn't see any.


Prince of Persia is awesome. Go see it

Prince of persia is a good movie that gives you exactly what you expect when and where you expect it.

Just saw the preview for Prince of Persia with Jake Gyllenhaal. He is yummy.

PRINCE OF PERSIA! WAS THE BOMB!!!

Just saw PRINCE OF PERSIA, nd I must say its pretty good.

Premiere showing of prince of persia? Epic.

Prince of Persia was gooodddd!

just saw Prince of Persia with my nephew and the movie kicked ass :)) Can't wait to see it again when it comes out in thearters.

so if u are planning to see prince of persia... go see it, it is a bad ass movie to video game translation! to bad I didn't have a date

I just saw the premier of Prince of Persia at South Beach and it was awesome

Just saw Prince of Persia at SMG. Great movie

the Prince of Persia movie was awesome. Make sure you go see it when it comes out

Prince of Persia was a great movie!!!

Just saw an advance screening of Prince of Persia at the Bridge. It was really good!

Just saw prince of Persia: sands of time bad asss

Prince of Persia is a must see :)

thinks that Prince of Persia is the best movie based on a video game EVER!

thought Prince of Persia was really, really good!

Yo, prince of Persia was crazy.. i recommend everyone to watch it on the 28th of may...

FL said...

WOW. Just...wow!

How cool is it to see all those glowing comments about PoP? I'll tell you - It's a-MAAAAAA-zing!

Roll on May 28th!

FL said...

I'll just add a couple more.

Just got back from seeing a preview of the movie,'Prince of Persia' due out this weekend. It was fun action story based on the video game of the same name. If that's not your genre, go anyway ladies ...Jake Gyllenhall has the most incredible eyes and mischevious smile and is very sexy eye candy!

Prince of Persia was pretty entertaining. It loosely follows the plot from the classic video game which I liked so much. The acting was ok, with some funny parts between some of the slower scenes. It should do well in the box office and it is on par with the pirates of the carribean for content. PG-13 for violence, ... See Morebut I feel 10-11 year olds could probably handle it. I give it a B-.

mary said...

love the pics of jake with our favorite bg he better take good care of our jake, love all tweets and good reviews for pop, on my way to work this morning saw that one of the buses had a poster on its side advertizing pop made my day cant wait till the 28th

UltraViolet said...

How cool to see PoP on a bus, Mary. I still haven't seen a bus or subway ad yet :(

These mini-reviews are a-MAAA-zing, FL. And fun. Some more, with a few negatives. It had to happen :)

These first two saw the movie together and are the only ones to comment on Jake's accent so far.

If you can get past Jake Gyllenhaal's daft accent, Prince of Persia is silly, adventurous, fun!

Then the cohort:

Saw Prince of Persia tonight. Its actually really fun in a Pirates of the Carribean/The Mummy kind of way. Roguish good guy and reluctant love interest type story. I would watch it again - I wish that Jake Gylenhaal didnt base his English accent on Johnny Depp's from Pirates in it tho, not Keanu bad, but it does throw you when you first hear it.

its actually good, its nice to see a way early sneak peek of a movie and have it not be sucky for once. I dont know anything about the game its based on, but it doesnt feel like a video game movie at all to me, which is a good thing, feels like a disney pirates movie set in the desert. and i like that the secondary characters all have personalities and dont seen espendable which is really important to me in ensemble type movies.

theres lots of leaping scenes in the movie, i think thats probably the nod to the games but they make it part of the action scenes, so its pretty seamless


Then some others:

Prince of Persia, sadly no giant ogre monster thingys or spikes or wall saws or dark prince or... Best free movie I've ever seen in the theater though.

Just got home from the pre screening of the Prince of Persia. My family loved it....me it was ok. We got free passes so Im glad I went. It was a nice evening out with the family.

Prince of Persia was alright, I can dig it.

I just got home from the movies I seen THE PRINCE OF PERSIA

The prince of Persia was a pretty awesome movie;)

so i got to see the prince of persia today and it was suprisingly REALLY good!!!!!

Just got home from a pre-screening of The Prince of Persia. The move has great action all the way through, very well acted, great direction and the cinematography is mad.

Loved Prince of Persia!

Saw advance screening of Prince of Persia movie. FUCKING AWESOME. Pay the 9 dollars to see it when it comes out.

OMG!!! I just watch my new most favorite movie ever! The Prince of Persia, it was AMAZING! :D

just got back from seeing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I have to say I really did enjoy it. It did do justice to the game, but also was a good movie in itself. Hope this is helpful advice if you choose to see it on May 27th, when it hits theaters... lol

just got back from watching a super-friggin-AWESOME advance screening of Prince of Persia - well worth it! I will likely see this one again!

i was bored by Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time...

Got to see the sneak peek of Prince Of Persia tonight. Awesome!

prince of persia is going to bet avatar (lol, ed :)

yo, prince of persia was pretty tight, ya dig?

Prince of Persia: Best videogame movie ever! Still, not very good

Just saw a preview for Prince of Persia movie. Awesome

UltraViolet said...

From imdb - marked as spoilery but there are no details just a commentary on the ending of the movie:

Great movie until...

The last 15 minutes or so. Saw an early screening Monday night at The Bridge here in Philly, mainly because I got the ticket (1 ticket that admitted two people) from my local comic shop (South Philly Comics). Like I said, I found it to be a great fun fast paced summer popcorn flick until the last 15 minutes. The ending IMO really reeked of the writers not knowing where to go with it. Basically I would say it seemed out of place and tacked on with no real thought behind it. Which is a real shame because I don't see how you can keep a whole script going along at a nice pace and not come up with a better ending. Reminded me of the ending of Batman '89 which also felt tacked on at the last minute. I may see it again, not sure yet. I will be buying it when it comes out on DVD however!


That's all she wrote for tonight - I'm sure we'll hear more tomorrow, including some imdb reviews.

Chica said...

Wow, thanks for gathering all these reviews! Sounds like Jake has a major hit on his hands, YAY!!!

The reviews are amazing, I'm so happy for him and I casn't wait until the 28th!

His hair is a bit too short for me too Suvee but he looks good here.

Carla said...

Looks like the WOM will be good - there are always some nay-sayers but so far everything seems to be very positive.

Following weekend will be huge - Jakes appearance at JR and the premiere. Hope that Jake gets some time to relax these days.

Anonymous said...

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

Office of Nancy Pelosi said...

The Prince has landed and looking good! And look who is with him,
Mr. BG! I hope he is up to the task of protecting the Prince while over there in the UK, ha!!

This is going to be a very hectic and excitong two weeks for Jake and his fans.

Thanks so much for posting the early reactions to Pop, even the criticical comments are mixed in with overall postive reviews.

That kick-ass quote is great isn't it Carla? What a great interview.

I have seen several posters for Pop but not on the side of a bus yet.

That poll at awardsdaily is interesting Monica, Pop is at 88% for audence interest. It even beat out the latest Twilight saga!

Off to vote in the Popsugar poll!

UltraViolet said...

Paula, I didn't see you yesterday. Seems like they have had Jake holed up somewhere. The Disney machine is exacting its pound of flesh, no doubt!

Lots of squeeing over PoP. Makes me very happy that the word of mouth will be good.

Not sure who's on Facebook, but the PoP ad is on your homepage today, and it's getting a lot of buzz. A little of it is nasty, a lot is the usual complaints but even more is positive, it feels.

I'm a little disappointed in PoP's placement in that poll, but when you do see that it's beating Eclipse, you wonder who's responding.

New post :)

sheba said...

Tell me about it. Exciting is too tame a word to use:) Hope he's having fun over here so that he can go on to conquer the rest of the world.

All the tweets are very encouraging because bad reviews are easier and quicker to post than good ones. So the fact that people have bothered to do positive reviews bodes well for PoP.

bobbyanna said...

I'm delighted at the positive WOM The Prince has generated.
Glad all the UK fans can share this with us too! I'm excited for Jake and for his fans all over Europe. It will be fun to see the simulcast of all the premieres happening at once. This is just really great!

(I'm squeeeing as I type!)

UltraViolet said...

Oops, looks like I forgot to close comments here!

Exciting times, sheba and Bobbyanna. Can't wait to hear the fan reaction after the premiere!

I thought I could hear a squeeing sound, Bobbyanna :)

Now, for real, new post!