PoP Week: Day 2

Sunday was apparently a day of rest for Jake Gyllenhaal and the Prince of Persia promotion train. But Monday morning, it was back to work! Jake made an appearance on Good Morning America, where Elizabeth Vargas deviated from the predictable script and asked Jake funny. incisive, thoughtful questions.



Got ya! It was the usual pablum, but Jake was also his usual charming self. The crowd seemed happy to have him, and so did Elizabeth!

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MSNBC has an interesting rundown of Jake's career. Instead of the shallow treatment given by the NY Post (I know - that was redundant!), they talk to a few movie types who confirm that Jake has made a career of eclectic choices:

“Gyllenhaal’s a real 21st century leading man — the guy who doesn’t play it safe,” said Mary Elizabeth Williams, film critic and contributor to Salon.com and other publications, as well as the author of “Gimme Shelter,” an amusing look at the home-buying process.

“In a lot of ways,” she added, “he’s like Brad Pitt, Robert Downey Jr., or to name one of his peers, Christian Bale. They’re all charismatic, handsome stars, and they can carry a big action movie whenever they want to — but they know the key to longevity is to keep challenging audience expectations of them. To look at the guy, he’s made to be on movie posters.”



David Kagen is one of the top acting teachers in Hollywood. He said Gyllenhaal possesses rare qualities for an actor, and as a result his career options are many.

“There are a lot of actors I’ve worked with where you talk to them and they open up and this wonderful personality comes out,” Kagen said. “All this stuff that’s particular to them that’s interesting. Then you hand them a script and a lot of that goes away. And that’s really bad. One of the things they need to learn is to use themselves, and then get out of the way.

“When I see Jake doing interviews, and then watch him in something like ‘Brothers,’ there’s no change. It’s like this wonderful seamless transition into whatever role he’s playing. Everything seems to be available to him, his sense of humor, his toughness. There is a sort of an ease. … There are just some people who have that.”



That was also apparent to cinematographer Steven Poster, who shot “Donnie Darko” in 2001, featuring a 20-year-old Gyllenhaal. “There was such intelligence with his characterization of Donnie,” Poster said. “You knew from the beginning he would be big. Plus, he was a gentleman. There wasn’t a moment of ego or narcissism.”



[Holofcener] said she chose Gyllenhaal for the part of Jordan in “Lovely” because “he had innocence and sexiness, a great sense of humor and an earnestness. And he was just so damn cute. That’s what it boiled down to. Everybody in the room during casting was blushing, so I figured that was a good sign.

“I’m thrilled for his career. I’m not surprised at all at where he’s at. When I cast him there was this feeling that he was going to be really big.”

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Quick update with some photos from Jake going into the Letterman show:






(Photos courtesy of Splash and IHJ.)