"He's a star in the world."

Actress Beth Grant was the guest of honor this week at a Meet The Lady. In an interview preceding the event, she spoke about Jake Gyllenhaal:



You and Patrick Swayze had already been close well before Donnie Darko. Was this your last project together?

We saw each other afterward a few times on a personal level, but that was our last work together. That was so perfect. It was not just that Jake Gyllenhaal was doing the part, whom I'd been in love with since he was three years old. The first time I saw Jake he was running across my in-laws' back lawn to the pool, because he was best friends with my twin nieces, and I remember turning to my sister in law and asking, "Who is that beautiful child?" He just was magical, always, so generous and open. I remember the sixth grade show they had at the end of the year. There he was, this sixth grade boy, and he stood up and sang "The Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. What a song for an eleven year old! I thought, this kid is a star. Whether or not he's going to be a movie star, who knows, but he's a star in the world, because he's luminous.



Don't you wish you had a video tape of that?

We do have it on video! My in-laws have it. It's just crazy, we looked at it one Thanksgiving, still before he became a star, and I thought it all over again. So, for me to be acting with him — and also with Buddy [Swayze], who in many ways was a hero of mine, because he'd been the first person from our acting class who'd really made it, and who'd been a big influence in teaching me to love and accept myself as a character actress — the role became kind of true to life. It was a magical experience doing that film, it really was.

Two words, Beth: YouTube. Or is that considered one word?



(That photo is in desperate need of a caption!)

I also ran across this old interview with Jolene Purdy, who played Cherita in DD. She also has nice words about Jake:



J-14: What has it been like to work with such costars, like Jake Gyllenhaal, Tony Oller, and Ryan Rottman?

Jolene: Jake Gyllenhaal is such a nice guy. When I wrapped [Donnie Darko], he said some really nice things to me like, "You should be happy with the work that you've done on this film. Think about the people that are bullied and how they're going to relate to you. A bully sitting in the movie theater watching will think, 'Gee, this is really how I make someone feel?'"

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Someone who attended the NYFF showing of The Descendants grabbed these shots of Jake and friend before the show:




She said they were "adorable."



(Donnie Darko poster courtesy of flickr/zachwood. Angel poster found on bangshoot.)