Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Milestones



Happy Birthday to Jake Gyllenhaal. As we wrap up one year and begin another, let's celebrate some important 2018 moments.

First off, the birthday boy. Some birthday video compilations. We need one for 38 though!











To the joy and relief of many, Jake finally joined Instagram this year. He's only made two posts, but both have been hits. Jake's IG debut confirmed his role as Mysterio in the next Spider-man movie - his first superhero film. It also came right before Jake's exuberant appearance at Comic Con Experience Brazil, where he was enthusiastically greeted:










Jake and other stars marked the 75th anniversary of New York's City Center, where he appeared in Little Shop of Horrors and Sunday in the Park with George:






Brokeback Mountain was one of the films selected to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress this year. The films chosen are deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant to the nation's film heritage, to be preserved for all time.

"I didn't intend to make a statement with Brokeback Mountain," Lee said. "I simply wanted to tell a purely Western love story between two cowboys. To my great surprise, the film ended up striking a deep chord with audiences; the movie became a part of the culture, a reflection of the darkness and light — of violent prejudice and enduring love — in the rocky landscape of the American heart.

"More than a decade has passed since Brokeback Mountain was released, but I hope that this film, a small movie with wide open spaces, continues to express something both fresh and fundamental about my adopted country."








2019 will see Jake make his Public Theater debut:

In A Life, Gyllenhaal plays a man struggling to reconcile his emotions surrounding the death of his father and the birth of his daughter. Originally titled The Art of Dying, the piece started as a monologue that Payne performed at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2013, in the aftermath of his own father’s death. Gyllenhaal, who gave deeply felt performances in Payne’s earlier plays If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet and Constellations, spent the next four years begging the playwright to let him perform it. By the time he relented, Payne had become a father, and he, Cracknell, and Gyllenhaal worked together to bring A Life into its current form.

Gyllenhaal relishes the chance to perform something that feels so personal and vulnerable. “The nature of being alone onstage, as much as it might delight the 30 percent narcissist that I am, terrifies the other percentage,” he says. “At its best, it’s not a performance. There are no masks, no protection.”




One of the year's biggest milestones was the 15th anniversary of I Heart Jake, the internet's best, most comprehensive and overall nicest Jake Gyllenhaal resource. We all owe a huge debt to Stephanie for running such a comprehensive, easy-to-use, up-to-date, one-stop resource for all things Jake. Even more impressive than the breadth of its content? Stephanie is the sweetest, most helpful person, even after dealing with all of us for all these years. From everyone here, a huge Thank You to Stephanie/IHJ. None of us could do this without you.

via GIPHY

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Fall Festival

Jake at a Wildlife screening & Q&A, hosted by the NY Times:






Hooray - it's that time of year when Jake Gyllenhaal movies play at festivals worldwide. Today in Venice, The Sisters Brothers has its world premiere.



Jake is on the cover of GQ France, which has some wonderful photos:




Next week, the festivities move to Toronto, where both The Sisters Brothers and Wildlife will screen.










Jake at a Calvin Klein fashion show and party in New York on September 11:







Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Spring Awakening



We are apparently on a quarterly posting schedule here at GB! News about a Leonard Bernstein movie biography, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, indicated it is time for a new post, mixing some recent photos among the latest news.



Bernstein lived a fascinating life, and I look forward to seeing Jake and CJF interpret it. This Bernstein bio tops a very long slate of projects to which Jake is attached:





There are a couple on there that could drop off and I'd be fine. But if he does them all, he'll be busy for years.

Jake has been in Los Angeles filming Dan Gilroy's latest film. That seems to have wrapped, going by IG photos. Next we wait to see if Jake goes to Cannes for the screening of Wildlife on May 9.


Almost forgot Jake's Cartier appearances.

The short video ad:



And a brief interview:



(Bernstein/Gyllenhaal photos courtesy of Deadline and Rex/Shutterstock. Other photos from Donald Mowat.)

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

A late start



It's a new year, and I think it's past time for a new post. Too much to catch up on since last time, so let's make it simple with some outtakes from the recent NY Times Jake interview.





The interview seemed like part of a last-minute, fruitless push for Jake and Stronger to get some awards traction. Like most of the promotion for Stronger, it didn't do much.

A shame, because the movie and Jake deserved so much more. As many people agreed.

Eric D. Snider‏ Verified account @EricDSnider
Just realizing Jake Gyllenhaal isn't nominated for Best Actor. I haven't seen the Denzel movie, but I know Jake's performance was better.

Indiewire:
David Gordon Green’s “Stronger” was an acting powerhouse that could’ve made any of its performers a nominee this year, from Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role to Tatiana Maslany and Miranda Richardson.

Variety
Dear Academy: Don't overlook these great performances
First and foremost, there are a few contenders that seemed strong coming into the season, but have somehow been all but forgotten. Take Jake Gyllenhaal in “Stronger.” Here is one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films (93% on Rotten Tomatoes), dealing in a well-worn, Oscar-friendly genre (a biopic centered on a disabled person who beats the odds), featuring another great turn from an actor who has delivered a number of awards-caliber performances lately that have gone unrecognized by the Academy (“Prisoners,” “Nightcrawler,” “End of Watch”). What’s it going to take to put his name on the ballot?

But let's not get bogged down. 2018 got off to a strong start for Jake, as Wildlife premiered at Sundance to very good reviews.

Carey Mulligan got most of the heat, but Jake's turn was lauded, as well.

Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
An exceptionally sensitive portrait of a marriage headed off the rails, beautifully acted by Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal and impeccably directed by actor Paul Dano.

NPR
Kenneth Turan again
Yeah, there are two others that I really liked. One is called "Wildlife." It's the first directing for Paul Dano. He's an actor who people will probably remember from "Little Miss Sunshine." He played the young Brian Wilson in "Love & Mercy." He's taken a Richard Ford novel - this is a novel about a marriage kind of slowly falling apart. The co-stars are Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal. It just was a pleasure to experience this film.

Variety
Owen Gleiberman
Paul Dano, in his directorial debut, stages an artfully deliberate small-town saga, with Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal as haunted parents.
Jerry is a man who likes his beer, and though we never see him flat-out drunk, Gyllenhaal gives him the self-pitying short fuse of an alcoholic; he’s like a Don Draper who never made it to the city. Jerry blames everyone else for his problems, and he has too much misplaced pride to even take his job back when it’s offered to him.

The Film Stage
Jordan Raup
Gyllenhaal’s role may be minor, but his missing presence is certainly felt, and when his inexorable return occurs, and the cards are laid on the table, his brings an unexpected ferocity. In fact, so much so that the climax can feel rushed compared to the patient touch Dano had previously built up.

The New Yorker
David Edelstein
I like Gyllenhaal better here than in his showier roles. He hasn’t completely figured out Jerry, which I mean as a high compliment — Gyllenhaal sometimes pins his characters down too much. The key is that Jerry hasn’t figured himself out. He wanted to be a pro golfer, he wanted to be a big man, and he has shrunk to nothing in his own eyes. Seizing on the job of a faceless auxiliary firefighter living in tents alongside other men (many of them long jobless) is a way of burning off his ego as a start for reinventing himself. He works wonderfully with Oxenbould, who’s the opposite of your standard coming-of-age juvenile.

The Young Folks
Katey Stoetzel
Based on the synopsis, I was expecting Gyllenhaal’s presence to be minimal but was pleasantly surprised to find how much of the film he’s in. His earnest portrayal of a down-on-his-luck father and husband led by his pride is interesting and heartfelt.

Jon Frosch
I liked Paul Dano’s WILDLIFE a lot, even if it often feels self-consciously cautious and controlled. Mulligan and Gyllenhaal both excellent; Ed Oxenbould even better.

Nick Johnston @onlysaysficus
WILDLIFE: Oscillated between poles on this one while watching, but it’s ultimately a heartbreaking portrait of the collapse of a family. Dano’s got skills, especially with his actors and his staging. #Sundance18

Also Mulligan is brilliantly upsetting, and one scene with Gyllenhaal and his kid made me shed tears. “Grown men love each other, too.”

Assorted tweets:

WILDLIFE is so quietly devastating. Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ed Oxenbould are pitch-perfect. Paul Dano is not only one of my favorite actors today, but now one of the most exciting directors. #Sundance18

WILDLIFE stunning debut! Paul Dano filmmaker is also great. A hard but very well written drama of a family falling to pieces, emotional and very powerful. Jake Gyllenhaal Super but my girlfriend Carey Mulligan is extraordinary! The best of #Sundance now 👌🏼

Man.Paul Dano’s #Wildlife. Beautiful. Jake Gyllenhall & *Carey Mulligan* supreme. A film about many things, but perhaps central: what no ££ does to relationships, families... and yet .. how wealth gilds over disconnect. Ambiguous enough to leave hope ✅

(Photo Credit Bryan Derballa for The New York Times)