Words and pictures

The weekend brought several new interviews with Jake Gyllenhaal, as the Prince of Persia promotion train rolls on. Two British articles were mentioned in the last post - you should check them both out if you haven't, especially the Times Online story.

The Irish Independent focuses on Jake's turning 30 - something that is many months away - in December, not October, Independent fact-checkers! But contemplating his thirties doesn't seem to bother Jake:

Gyllenhaal also appears to have resolved something within himself. Often said to be a somewhat reticent interviewee, today he is open and engaging, humorous and genuine. He talks repeatedly in his soft voice about how he no longer takes himself quite so seriously and how he has learned to embrace the various facets of his career and the life he leads around that.

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Part of that realisation may come with age. He will be 30 in October and regards that event as a "crossroads".

"I feel honoured because I think life is precious and the more years you get you actually begin to learn. I feel that at 29 going into 30 I now have perspective behind me and in front of me. Whereas before I could only see in front of me. Now I'm like 'Oh, wow. Regret!'

"It feels like a big thing. They say in Ouarzazate [one of the Moroccan locations for Prince of Persia] it is the Gate of the Sahara. It feels a little bit like that in my life, like I'm entering a new gate."

So, as he approaches his fourth decade, does he feel he has achieved the things he thought he would achieve when he was 20? "I didn't ever think I was going to be 30 when I was 20."

What about 10 years from now? What are his aims for then? "I'm never going to be 40."

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Excerpts from an Italian interview from Io Donna magazine were posted online. As is often the case, Jake seemed to open up more to these non-American reporters. He seems especially unable to resist Italian reporters :)

The entire interview was e-translated in a reply in the previous post. Some interesting tidbits:

1. Jake prefers himself with short hair and fewer muscles than Dastan.

2. He is not dating Isabel Lucas but does reveal that they "had dinner."

3. He's dedicating himself more to his family and old friends that he neglected when he was with Reese.

4. Now that he's single, he's eating junk food and drinking beer.

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The Philippine Enquirer showcases Jake's determination not to take himself so seriously. The interview is peppered with much of the humor we've seen from Jake over the past weeks, with some new tongue-in-cheek "anecdotes" thrown in:

“I’d be talking to [cast mates] Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle and Gemma Arterton in this horrible accent. There were a lot of flub ups and I asked them to tell me when something didn’t sound right or if I just sounded like I was pushing something and they would. I could see them cringe. Then slowly the confidence started to build. I remember the first day of this big rehearsal in Morocco. Mike was touring us around the set. I sat there with the actors in a tent and I was talking with the accent because I decided I would do that throughout the workday. They all started treating me differently. They were like more buddy-buddy. Toby and Richard invited me out for a beer that night which was really weird. Gemma was a little bit more flirtatious than normal. I thought, I’m nailing this accent now. They really think that I’m British.”

Jake also revealed a potential new project. Real news emerging from one of these interviews? The horror!

I’m also developing this film about Hans Christian Andersen. Not Danny Kaye’s ‘Hans Christian Andersen’ though that was one of my favorite movies as a kid. This is actually a musical and Stephen Schwartz is writing the music. It’s a dark, interesting tale of Hans, his stories and how he gets to meet his own characters. It’s all set to music. I really want to be in a musical but I want to reinvent the idea of what the musical is. There’s a way of doing it that can bring modernity to it as opposed to something we’ve already seen before.”

A fascinating, risky venture, to be sure.

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And in this article, Jake reveals that he was literally born to be an actor:

What was the one movie that made you realize that you wanted to be an actor?

“The one movie? There wasn’t just one movie. I told you that when I came out at birth, I was already acting.” (Laughs some more). “I was born in the atrium of a film agency. The agents pulled me out — you know, ‘We got him, we got him!’” (And then he can’t stop laughing)

“I was to the movies born.”

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I've interspersed more new pics from Moscow among the interview snippets. There is also a Russian article that's worth running through the babelfish translator. Among other things, the manic waving is explained! Apparently, the PoP folks were told not to smile. This perpetuation of a Russian stereotype amused the assembled press, who assured the visitors that they could cut loose. So Jake did! Or as babelfish puts it:



it started to depict dashing happiness. It came out very convincingly! What a professional!



The article quotes a lot of the press conference, which was led by Jake's humor, including a bit where they ask Bruckheimer if he'll make Tetris into a movie. Much joking ensues and later, Jake talks about changing his form to play the part in Tetris. This exchange was also amusing:

The film will be undoubtedly be interesting to the male audience - but why so few women? Only one beauty? You should add a little more beautiful women - there can be wives, friends…

[Dzheyk]: (he nods always when asked the question, then is energetic) Da! Da! This is a very good idea, very. I'm all for it.
[Dzhemma]: To you well, then I am insufficient? Men, always the same!

I don't think he really minded, Gemma!

There's also a whole section where Jake says that the dagger of time is real, and they actually can go back in time. Gemma chimes in, saying they already know the questions they'll be asked (you don't need a dagger of time for that, ed.). Then Jake announces that there had been people with them they didn't like, but they went back in time and removed them.

I hope this video comes online at some point - I'd love to hear the actual English answers.

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If you can stand more Russian, Trailer Addict has some B-roll from Moscow, as well as from all the other premieres.



In this clip, you can hear Jake's short attempt to speak Russian. Apparently, all of the PoPers except Gemma tried to say something in the local language. To the delight of the audience, despite the not-quite-successful attempts.

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This babelized caption manages to sum up this whole experience:



[Dzheyk] gives to fans the happiness

(Photos from StarsLife and kinopoisk.ru.)