SXSW Day 2, Level: Beginner

Jake Gyllenhaal may be a SXSW newbie, but he's an old pro at promotion. Nice video interview with Jake, Vera and Michelle from CNN:

SXSW kicked off on Friday night with Jake Gyllenhaal's new movie, "Source Code" premiering at Austin's Paramount Theatre. He made his way down the red carpet, joined by co-stars Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan, to the delight of many a local teenage girl (and a few 30-something ladies) who were screaming "Jake! Jake!" from along Congress Avenue.

Gyllenhaal tells CNN he's a big fan of Austin and SXSW and hopes to extend his stay for a few days and check out the rest of festival. So who is he listening to lately? The Civil Wars and the new album from Adele. We enjoy your playlist, Jake.

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It's panel day for Jake and the Source Code crew. No photos allowed officially, but some are sneaking through. With lots of twitter accounts, as well.

Thanks to tweeter rboulding for transcribing many of the questions. (Warning: There is apparently a spoiler in there, so proceed with caution.) Some highlights:

All the questions are for Duncan. Asked about shooting in Chicago. "Chicago doesn't matter..." laughter

Gyllenhall: I think because they didn't get the Olympics we wanted to set it there... laughter



Can you actually travel through time?

Jake: yes, I do know how to travel through time. I have a time machine if you want to join me. My delorian is out back

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Some nice shots of Just Jake from last night's Q&A, plus a couple more Q&A reports:




Opening night at SXSW kicked off with its usual unfettered enthusiasm. The elegant Paramount Theatre, the regular venue for high-profile premieres, had lines around and down each block as Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, writer Ben Ripley and director Duncan Jones worked their way inside to introduce Source Code.


For his part, Gyllenhaal talked about some of the philosophical implications he drew from the story, which he said finds a metaphorical way to explore “the little births and deaths we experience every day.” Some audience members certainly walked away with questions about the implications of the ending (as well as the mechanics and logic of the plot), but response was generally positive, proving that when the storytelling is novel and intriguing not all of the pieces need to make perfect sense.

SXSW Film attendees sat star-struck in the aisles, angling to get a look at Jake Gyllenhaal in the flesh — and that was before his latest vehicle, Source Code, premiered as the opening night headliner. As in the film, which focuses on Gyllenhaal in various states of confusion as an war veteran recruited to re-live the same eight minutes in time in hopes of averting a terrorist attack, Thursday night’s screening was all about Jake — and that could very bode well for Summit as they look to open strong next month.

For example: Not every SXSW premiere sees festival-goers breaking out their cameras during every waking moment before and after the lights go dim in the hopes of capturing a snap. (Blogger reports of one SXSWer’s bathroom run-in with Gyllenhaal became full-blown legend overnight; whether or not it’s true, it illustrates the point.) The first question following the screening, which played well to an enthusiastic crowd: “I’m a huge fan of Jake Gyllenhaal.” [Pause] “Is that the question?” teased director Duncan Jones.



At Q&A’s end, co-star Michelle Monaghan summed it up with an appropriately Gyllenhaal-centric tale of long days alone on the Source Code set. “You know, we sat across from each other on that train for 12 hours a day and I don’t know how many weeks,” teased Monahan “So we got to know each other really well. He’s fun and easy to be around and wonderful to work with, and as every chick knows, he’s really easy on the eyes.”

SC at SXSW in ATX

Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Duncan Jones all attended the premiere of Source Code at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday night. The film was selected as the festival's opening night showcase.

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The twit reviews are streaming in, and they seem very enthusiastic. A sampling:

larry411: Source code @sxsw from @manmademoon dir duncan jones is spectacular, edge of your seat fun #sxsw another hit for summit

lmelnick: 4 stars for source code now q and a with cast, dir and writer. awesome

shivvy: SOURCE CODE was a great lil thriller. Audience did roar w/ laughter when Jake G used Bing on a cell phone. #productplacement

screenjunkies: Source Code is great. Tight thriller, smart science and a positive worldview.

cdab: SOURCE CODE was awesome!! What a great way to start #SXSW. Thank you so much for that movie, @ManMadeMoon. #DuncanJonescanmakeamovie

dooglar: Loved "Source Code" it also moved me emotionally. You get save-the-world drama, sci-fi suspense of belief & the value of relationships

georgkallert: Source Code is fantastic / great performances and an intense story / loved it !!!

crispyfuller: Source Code was AMAZING. Inception fans will love it. Actually, I think everyone will.

movingreviews: Instant Review: SOURCE CODE is fantastic. One of the best films I've seen come out of @SXSW. A must see

They are not all positive - I'll post the negative ones in the replies :)

And according to Cinematical, "Duncan Jones' sophomore effort, 'Source Code,' is not nearly as original as his first film, but it is the next best thing to unique: it's two or three familiar ideas tossed into a blender, whipped into a tasty concoction, and delivered with a great deal of style and confidence."

He calls Jake's performance "excellent."

IndieWire gives it an A-:

Drawing on time-shifting concepts reminiscent of “Groundhog Day” and “Run Lola Run,” Duncan Jones’ “Source Code” inhabits the spirit of old-school sci-fi while effectively providing a measure of pathos. As he did in his prior film, “Moon,” “Source Code” showcases Jones’ ability to provide ample entertainment value with sharply drawn characters in a minimalist setting.

And a 9/10 from Coming Soon:

More than anything, "Source Code" is a film full of emotion as Jones gets as strong a performance out of Jake Gyllenhaal as he did with Sam Rockwell, Gyllenhaal ably fitting into the type of everyman protagonist role that helped Hitchcock's thrillers work so well. You're really pulled into Stevens' dilemma as he interacts with his handler, played by Vera Farmiga, and tries to figure out how to fulfill his mission, while also using his military background to explore how real soldiers are affected by returning from war. ...

The Bottom Line:
This is an impressive and ambitious second feature from Jones, one that shows he's capable of handling a fairly complex premise with lots of moving parts. Like the best science fiction, "Source Code" is quite deep and affecting on many levels with a premise that never gets dull or predictable or feels gimmicky. It's very much the type of movie one can see over and over again and appreciate more of its intricacies each time despite knowing some of the many twists going in.

Bit of a mixed bag from the Hollywood Reporter but overall positive:

Its four main actors play sharply delineated characters, not with much depth but, hey, who has time for depth when Chicago is about to blow up? Source Code, which premiered at South by Southwest, could develop into a minor hit for Summit Entertainment, thanks to the fine casting, a sense of claustrophobia and an intriguing race against time.

Variety didn't love it:

Solid execution and some provocative ideas can't save "Source Code" from a fatal hubris, as it thinks itself far more clever than it actually is and assumes it's earned emotions at which it's only hinted. Sophomore director Duncan Jones is becoming an adept craftsman of such modestly scaled, cerebral speculative fiction, and had this been a SyFy original movie, it would have been most impressive. But as a follow-up to the startlingly inventive "Moon," "Source Code" just doesn't quite compute. SXSW opener ought to do solid but unspectacular business, with better odds in ancillary.

Gyllenhaal could likely do this sort of bedroom-eyed soldier role in his sleep, but he plays the part with great energy and conviction. Farmiga uses the opportunity to add another warmly maternal bureaucrat role to her scorecard, and Wright makes for a nicely sinister string-puller.

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Earlier in the day, Jake and Michelle taped Moviefone's Unscripted at the AOL Studios.

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An interview with Jake about the SC game:



Plus some late pics from the Q&A:




Jeff Wells praised the movie and also took some video of the beginning of the Q&A.



Finally, Jake in the audience for his own movie :)

Life's not a bike ride

Men's Journal posted an excerpt from its April cover article on Jake Gyllenhaal. Sounds like the writer had to go through quite a workout to do the job.

Jake Gyllenhaal proves to be a man of his word, unfortunately. Yesterday he promised me a “really fucking hard climb,” and that’s what he’s engineering now, up and down Garbage Hill in Griffith Park, 
then over to the Hollywood Hills for a second round 
of ascents to Mulholland Drive. It starts out easy enough. As we zip over the flats along the 5 Freeway, portions of the ride spool by in bike-geek chitchat. I ask about his velodrome-style Look frame. “I’m not really a gearhead. With biking, the spirit of it is — whatever you can find. To be honest, I know nothing about my bikes. I know how to change a tire; I know how to fix my bike if need be. I just know none of the names.”

Then he leans left, veering off the park’s perimeter road, at the base of our climb. “From here on, there’s not much traffic,” he yells back, as if I’d been secretly longing to let it rip.



Jake Gyllenhaal is something of a cardio monster. You might not guess this at first glance. At 6 feet and about 180 pounds, the 30-year-old is visibly in shape, but he doesn’t sport the typical road-biker, my-body-fat-is-lower-than-your-mortgage-rate frame. For his past two action roles, as the title character in Prince of Persia last spring, and as Captain Colter Stevens in the new thriller Source Code, he’s cultivated more of a military build. But left to himself, what he likes to do is run or bike. Inevitably, though, he pushes hard, even too hard. He says he suffered shin splints before he started barefoot running. “I’ve had to teach myself to slow down a bit,” he confesses. “Because I get so into it, it becomes a real addiction. But it’s like a New Year’s resolution.”

“To exercise less?”



“To sit down and read a book. Life’s not a bike ride. I wouldn’t say exercise less, but sit with myself.” Good thing there’s the action-star loophole — Jake believes he can “sit with himself” while he’s running. “It’s not: ‘I’m having a shitty day and I’m going to go for a run,’ but ‘I’m having a shitty day and I’m going for a run and I’m going to try to work out what’s going on.’ Not just get my serotonin levels up and feel good. I’m going to think about things. And the only way you can do that is to slow the pace down.”

On this outing he’s got me to slow him down. As we start climbing, we settle into a compromise pace — Gyllenhaal alternately cycling ahead then slowing down to let me catch up. I cheat to the inside on every switchback, trying to catch up.


Soon his advice starts to have a positive effect on his pace, too, and he shoots off up the road. I get close enough to ask why this route — three miles and change in distance and 800 vertical feet up to a peak above the Griffith Observatory — is called Garbage Hill. “I don’t know,” Gyllenhaal says. “I’ve heard it called Trash Truck Hill, too. Maybe there’s a dump somewhere around.” He shoots me a Lance-like glance over his shoulder. “Or maybe we just don’t let any garbage in here.” He chuckles and pedals out of sight around the next switchback.



That was a very cool beginning to the article. I like it when writers mix things up. Looking forward to reading the rest of the piece.





(Photos courtesy of IHJ.)

Showgirls II?

Before Source Code kicks into full gear, we have one more Jake Gyllenhaal/Anne Hathaway video interview for Love & Other Drugs:



Here is a short video from the Australian premiere. It's more of an ad for Moët than anything else! But you do get to see Jake and Anne:



And another interview I hadn't seen; here's the first part. Just do a search for Jake's name and you can see the rest. They have annoyingly edited it into short snippets. There's also a PoP Jake interview available.

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There is also a new TV spot for Source Code:



Not sure if this is new but it's a good one:



And a very nice review for the movie.

A couple of new clips:





You can follow the press tour adventures of Duncan Jones on this blog.