Monday, December 31, 2012

Best of the year


It's been a great year in Jake Gyllenhaal's career. Hope 2013 will bring many more adventures for Jake. Some highlights of year-end plaudits for Jake, End of Watch and If There Is I Haven't Found it.

Entertainment Weekly cited Jake for delivering great performances on stage and screen:


The AP chose If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet as one of the year's Top 10 theater moments:

7. "If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet"
Nick Payne's clever, edgy domestic drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal is a delight. Making it even more special was the set design by Beowulf Boritt under the direction of Michael Longhurst: All the furniture was piled in the center of the stage and each piece was taken and then discarded after every scene (appropriate for a play that discusses trashing the planet). It culminated in major watery magic as the stage flooded. Can sets get a standing-O?

The New York Times also highlighted the play as one of the year's most Galvanizing Theater Moments:

APOCALYPTIC ENDINGS No cleanup crews worked harder than those at “If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet” (left) and “Assistance.” Each play ended by conjuring collapse, as water filled the stage of “If There Is” and office shelves, computers, and lights buckled to the floor in “Assistance.” Beowulf Boritt and David Korins, respectively, did the sets. Patrick Healy

End of Watch made it to several year-end Best lists, most notably Roger Ebert's:

4. End of Watch:
Here is one of the best police movies in recent years, a virtuoso joining of performances and often-startling action. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as Taylor and Zavala, two Los Angeles street cops who bend a few rules but must be acknowledged as heroes. After too many police movies about officers who essentially use their badges as licenses to run wild, it's inspiring to realize these men take their mission -- to serve and protect -- with such seriousness they're willing to risk their lives.

Taylor and Zavala fit the template of the "cop buddy movie," but "End of Watch" goes so much deeper than that. They've been partners for years, and are so close that Zavala's wife Gabby (Natalie Martinez) and Taylor's girlfriend Janet (Anna Kendrick) have become like sisters. They're transferred to a tough, largely Mexican-American district, where their persistence leads them across the scent of a Mexican drug cartel operating in L.A. This is really an assignment for a detective, but they don't avoid risk, and eventually become so dangerous to the cartel that a hit is ordered against them.


The Times of London on EoW

13. End of Watch
There was more genuine chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, playing a pair of profanity spewing, ass-kicking LAPD officers, than you’ll find in all of this year’s romcoms combined.

IndieWire's Anne Thompson listed EoW on her 10 best list for 2012:

6. "End of Watch"

David Ayer celebrates the work ethic and bravery of two cops, partners on the beat in East Los Angeles, who face an unforgiving world with humor and verbal acuity. Shot on the run, the movie was choreographed with no room for waste or error: Ayer shot 135 hours of footage in 22 days. Jack Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena were primed and ready and give the best performances of their respective careers.

From the Examiner (Denver):

End of Watch
"End of Watch" is one of the most overlooked dramas of the year, a harrowing and gritty cop drama, that’s as realistic as it is intense. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña deliver stellar performances as LAPD officers who find themselves on the hit list of a violent gang. The film is shot with an intimacy that puts viewers not a step behind, but right next to Gyllenhaal and Pena, heightening the experience of what is easily the best cop drama in recent memory.

About.com

I knew when this was released that it was going to be overlooked come awards time and I was right. Other than a few random mentions (usually in reference to Jake Gyllenhaal's performance), David Ayer's gritty, realistic, in-your-face buddy cop drama has been overlooked for end of the year honors. Why? Maybe it's the genre or the found footage aspect, or maybe the lack of attention at the box office had something to do with it. It received a "Certified Fresh" stamp on RottenTomatoes with 134 critics giving it a "Fresh" rating and it almost doubled its $7 million budget over its opening weekend, yet you really didn't hear much about it after its release - and that's too bad for adult moviegoers. Hopefully End of Watch will find the audience it deserves on DVD.

The Daily Beast:

9. End of Watch

What first seems like a routine inner-city cop drama soon morphs into a fascinating study of male camaraderie under the most trying of circumstances, as two LAPD cops (Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena)—and best friends—find themselves squaring off against Mexican drug cartels that have spilled into southern California.

DFW.com:

9. End of Watch


Cop-buddy movies are hardly a rarity, but David Ayer's kinetic, electric and humane exploration of the friendship between a white cop (Jake Gyllenhaal, right) and Latino cop (Michael Peña) on the streets of L.A. is several notches above the competition.

Buzzfeed:

4. End of Watch


I can't tell whether I feel that End of Watch was the best movie of the year — nor do I know what that means, anyway — but it was definitely my favorite. I went in having no idea what to expect, but dreading a Training Day–like assault (David Ayer, the screenwriter of Training Day, wrote and directed End of
Watch). Instead of cynical thrills, though, the audience is treated to a story about humanity and friendship in the guise of an exciting cop story. (I wrote about Jake Gyllenhaal's and Michael Pena's characters here in our "Most Unforgettable Characters of 2012" story.) This movie didn't get the love it deserved; it's not too late, though!


Brian and Mike:

I loved this movie in large part because I've never seen a male friendship portrayed this way: Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena were wonderful as work partners and best friends. Bro, bro, bro; dude, dude, dude — yes, they said that a lot. Beyond that, End of Watch was a cop thriller; an inventive narrative (much of the movie was filmed by a camera mounted on Gyllenhaal for his character's film class project); and a love story about friends. Boy, did I cry at the end.

The Olympian:

Best horror movie disguised as a cop drama: Two LAPD patrol officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena) get into increasingly harrowing situations in "End of Watch."

Salon:

Honorable mention (in alphabetical order): Leslye Headland’s debut film “Bachelorette” is like the smarter, meaner big sister to “Bridesmaids.” The irresistible bayou fantasy “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” with its even more irresistible pint-size heroine, was the year’s indie-film surprise. A bittersweet love story (not for kids!) with spectacular painterly backdrops and a score by Cuban jazz legend Bebo Valdés, “Chico & Rita” was both the music film and animated film of the year. Christopher Nolan brought his Batman trilogy to a crashing conclusion with the huge and bitter allegory of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña are magnificent in David Ayer’s “End of Watch,” a classic L.A. cop drama.

And we can't forget about this one: Vanity Fair Italy put Jake at the top of their 2012 list of sexy celebrities. Right at the top.

People, take note!

Wishing all GBers a happy, healthy, fulfilling 2013.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!



Merry Christmas, GBers! That's the classic Jake Gyllenhaaliday photos. But I also found two new/old Jake videos under the Christmas tree. They're short, but I hadn't seen them before.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player
At the end, Jake is referring to Die Antwoord.
Some more fan photos from the play:

I hope everyone has a warm, wonderful Christmas. Or a warm, wonderful Tuesday :)

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Photo ops

Work has taken over life here at GB - apologies for the lack of posts or topics. Let's let the stage door do the work:
























Time's running out on the play and on yet another opportunity to bid to meet Jake backstage. I hope folks bidding know that they have to go soon! The details don't exactly make that clear.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Trading Day



Jake Gyllenhaal has talked a lot about how much he enjoyed getting to know the life and world of police officers. Yesterday, he got to experience the world of finance as part of ICAP Charity Day.







Jake was there as a representative of New Eyes for the Needy. Here's how ICAP works:

Since its creation, ICAP has always given money to charity. In 1993, when the firm had grown to around 100 people in London, it was decided to do something on a larger and more innovative scale; something that would make a significant difference to charities. The idea of ICAP Charity Day was born; a day on which all revenues and commissions are given away to just a few charities, meaning each would receive a large amount of money which would really make a difference to their operations. This gave the firm and its customers a unique way of contributing to society, especially in view of its position in the financial world.





Looks like photobombing was the sport of the day!

Rachel Weisz, Michael Phelps, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Bridget Moynahan and Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski were also among the participants.


The deals have been counted and the results are in, can't believe it but we raised £11 million for charity yesterday! More than £100 million now raised since 1993. WOW!

Kudos to all involved!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

West End Boy


While in London to promote End of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal also sat down to discuss his American and British stage debuts.



Treading the boards of a New York stage may be new to Jake Gyllnehaal, but that doesn't mean he isn't comfortable up there. In 2002, he starred on London's West End in a revival of Kenneth Lonergan's, 'This is Our Youth'. For his troubles he picked up an award for Best Newcomer. "That was an American play over in England, and this is an English play over in America, so now I've mirrored it in one way or another", Gyllenhaal said. The 31-year Oscar-nominee's current onstage role is in 'If There Is, I Haven't Found It Yet'. In the play, he adopts a very convincing English accent to play a slacker with a puppy dog's heart who shows up on his brother's doorstep.


That's Jake with T4 presenter Jameela Jamil. The T4 interview hasn't shown up on video yet, but you can hear Jake interviewed on Xfm. Skip to about 2:40.


Jake was also interviewed by British GQ. The interview cleverly uses Jake's stock EoW soundbites in his first question. And asks a couple of new ones:

You've talked previously about the gallows humour of the cops you rode with. What was the worst thing they made a joke about?
Michael [Peña] and I were on patrol with two sheriffs and they got a call to go down this alleyway. They whispered to us that they could hear something moving and drew their guns. Instinctively Michael and I began to fall back - if there's potential for anyone to pull a gun, the situation isn't a whole lot of fun, especially when you don't have one yourself. All of a sudden we heard gunshots go off. We soon realised they had set fireworks off. They had totally messed with us - faked the call, rigged the alleyway - and we were freaking out that we were in some firefight! I guess it meant we weren't so shocked in the future, but it was still a little embarrassing.


Kudos to Nick Carvell for finding a new angle!

More from the AP with Jake:


Friday, November 30, 2012

Tired of London?



Never. Not for Samuel Johnson or Jake Gyllenhaal. He made a very entertaining stop on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show this morning. The verdict?

BBC Radio1 Breakfast ‏@R1Breakfast
We've all fallen a little bit in love with Jake Gyllenhaal. Even the guys on the team. What a guy :D





Here's a link to the show:

On Friday's show, we're joined by Hollywood legend Jake Glyllenhaal. His name might be difficult to spell, but it turns out that he's a really nice chap! He tells us about his new movie, and he tries to convince Grimmy to grow a beard.




Jake's morning continued with an Empire podcast:




Then a web chat:


And lots of excited office workers in London.



Jake was also on the Graham Norton show last night; this photo was taken backstage (I think). Link to the whole show; whole show and some clips below:









Jake must be tired IN London at this point.


Unless he's just sitting in it the wrong way, that's Jake in what appears to be the world's most uncomfortable chair at a BAFTA Q&A for End of Watch.