October Sky is based on the book Rocket Boys,the autobiographical story of Homer Hickam and the pursuit of his dream of building rockets and working for NASA. Hickam was growing in up in the small coal town of Coalwood, West Virginia with a future of working in the mines like his father until the launch of the Soviet rocket Sputnik in October 1957. That moment changed his life and his dreams, inspiring to pursue a future of building rockets and seeking the stars.
Homer and his friends begin building rockets and pursuing their dreams of something more than a future in the mines of Coalwood like their fathers and their father's fathers. Their early attempts go awry but soon with diligence determination and the support of their science teacher Miss Riley they soon find success . And for Homer not following his father's expectations for him, but finding his own dream
. As time goes on, the whole town of Coalwood soon comes to support their pursuit and help the Rocket Boys as the continue work toward their dreams. From the machinists who helped turned the rocket nozzles, to using the coal company's material to build them, and even using the slak dump for launches. Rockets are not their only challenges and they find themselves having to overcome much more as they move from boys to men. (October Sky is just too good to spoil here in the post for those who haven't seen it -- GO FIND IT AND WATCH IT)
It may look like this is a movie just about one boy's dream, but October Sky is much more. It is not just about rockets but really about a boy seeking the approval of his father and reaching for more and not settling for less. It is about finding your dreams, pursuing them, persevering and succeeding. It is about community, family, honor and perseverance. And most importantly how education changes lives.
This was the first lead role for Jake and from this you could see the star he
is today. He was 18 when he played Homer, and had just few roles (City Slickers, Homegrown) before playing a lead to award winning actors Chris Cooper and Laura Dern. Jake not only stepped up to the challenge but exceeded and in October Sky you get the first glimpse of a future star. Looking back now you see the openness and honesty of Jake's performance. You see Jake. You see the innocence and a refreshing naivety untouched by Hollywood. A young man, a star on the rise pursuing his dreams like the real Homer Hickam.
October Sky is amazing true story that can be shared with everyone and everyone will be moved. It is a true family movie, and one that teaches something new to each and everyone who sees it.
I am breaking my own rule of never making a post personal - this is an expection. For some it was Donnie Darko, for others was Brokeback, I love both of those movies, but it was October Sky that made me a fan of Jake's. Eight years ago, I saw this movie, and Jake went on my list of actors to watch. There are not many stars that make you sit up and take notice right out of the gate but Jake did. October Sky is one of my favorite movies and one that never fails to make me cry. Such a small story with such a big message.
Some trivia:
October Sky is an anagram of Rocket Boys. - Universal thought Rocket Boys would not appeal to women so they changed the name.
O. Winston Link a photographer of many the most classic photographs of steam locomotives appears as a locomotive engineer in the film.Link Musuem
IMDB.com - October Sky
October Sky Trailer
Homer Hickman Official Web Site - Rocket Boys/October Sky
PICTURES: Flynet - Jake and Tobey
UPDATED 12:25 PM
MORE PICTURES IHJ - Jake & Tobey
Monday, January 7, 2008
Rocket Boys
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79 comments:
Have yet to see this. Will give it a go.
I loved those train photos by O. Winston Link! Especially the one with the pool.
Growing up part of the time in Roanoke, where the O. Winston museum is located and the home of Norfolk & Western railroad, I was familiar with his work, and loved how the director and producers included him in October Sky.
Roanoke is not that far from Coalwood, WV but seems like a world away.
Lovely post! I love October Sky. Jake showed great potential in it... I especially remember that scene where he argued with his father i the kitchen. And also that scene when he finally went into the mine to work... so heartbreaking.
I don't think Jake has ever been in a bad movie. If I have to pick one that I like the least, it will be "Highway", but then Pilot is such an adorable character, how could I say I don't like the movie? lol.
btw, Tobey looks more and more like Chris Martin of Coldplay in recent pictures. I think as they grow older, Jake and Tobey don't really lookalike anymore (well, I never mixed them up to begin with, but most folks seemed to have)
Lovely post! I love October Sky. Jake showed great potential in it... I especially remember that scene where he argued with his father i the kitchen. And also that scene when he finally went into the mine to work... so heartbreaking.
I don't think Jake has ever been in a bad movie. If I have to pick one that I like the least, it will be "Highway", but then Pilot is such an adorable character, how could I say I don't like the movie? lol.
btw, Tobey looks more and more like Chris Martin of Coldplay in recent pictures. I think as they grow older, Jake and Tobey don't really lookalike anymore (well, I never mixed them up to begin with, but most folks seemed to have)
Great post, and I've always loved Rocket Man. I haven't seen October Sky yet, and plan to. I've heard so many good things about it - especially with the Moon project film coming up in the future! :)
Surprising that Brothers is not back at work filming.
I love the boots the baby is wearing.
About the Brentwood speculation - Tobey was in Pleasantville with Reese, wasn't he? So, if Reese wasn't in SF thay could have been visiting her......naturally, I prefer the Austin explanation.
October Sky is a really great movie. And the same scenes Winterbird mentioned were the ones that really stuck with me. I didn't see it until after BBM. Although I'd seen other movies with Jake before BBM, it wasn't until I rented DD in the fall of 2005 that I really took notice of him, and of course it was BBM that pushed me over the edge. Prior to that I did kind of think of him as the "indie" Tobey M.
Chris Cooper did such a great job as Homer's Dad. It was the first of two of Jake's movies he was in . He and Jake found the perfect balance to the father wanting the son to keep his feet on the ground and stay and the son who wanted so much more than Coalwood could ever give him.
Yes, the scene in the kitchen, going down into the mine and the last rocket shot stand out.
I really like Laura Dern playing Miss Riley, she and Jake had some great scenes together. Education was a major theme in the movie and Miss Riley was the key to unlocking that. Dern played the young enthusiastic teacher and champioin for her students just right.
Address Locator said...
Austin also lives in Brentwood, believe it or not.
Really?
.
Us Weekly:
"Austin Nichols Pleads Guilty to DUI
Actor (and Jake Gyllenhaal pal) Austin Nichols (HBO's John From Cincinnati) has pleaded guilty to driving while impaired.
He made his plea by mail last week and paid a $1,000 fine.
Police stopped Nichols at 2:30 a.m. Aug. 24 in Jackson, Michigan — where he was staying with family — after he was spotted driving a Mercury Mountaineer the wrong way on a highway.
See other celebs busted last year here."
http://www.usmagazine.com/austin_nichols_pleads_guilty_to_dui
Who's that- I read somewhere about 6 months ago that Austin had an apartment in Brentwood. Don't know where I read it. No clue if it's credible. But I know it pre-dated the public emergence of Jeese.
More pictures Jake & Tobey on IHJ.
Updated Post has the latest link
Ruby's adorable - and I love the pics of Jake smiling at her. :)
I did a search on people find/CA and typed in Austin D. Nichols. I typed in Brentwood and Santa Monica (where I thought he lived) and came up with Culver City. It's him, the same age and on the side bar it lisst family members.
There are 2 addresses: Culver City and Austin, Tx.
I also typed in a few other CA cities and still came up with Culver City.
Checed over at Wiki and Culver isn't near Brentwood but Santa Monica is.
Tobey and his family live in Brentwood. And the description over at IHJ sounds like he spotted them and decided to pull over and say hi, i thought he was grabbing a bite and saw them on the way out.
Just realized that Jan. 5th was Tom's birthday! I knew it was 1/5, but didn't realize 1/5 was Saturday. Happy belated Birthday buddy!
Happy Birthday, Tom! :*
Happy Birthday Tom!
Happy Birthday Tom!
Hope you had a great birthday Tom
People finder, good detective skills.
Tom just texted me and said he's getting too old. Well, aren't we all!
Getting old beats the alternative!
Happy Birthday Tom!
Didn't Jake and Reese spend some time at doctors' offices in Culver City this past summer?
Getting old beats the alternative!
As the ladies at the pool say, any day spent above ground is a good day!
Didn't Jake and Reese spend some time at doctors' offices in Culver City this past summer?
Were those offices in Culver City?
I think they were in CC too.
That's what I always say, who's that! Happy birthday Tom!
October Sky is a lovely film, but the one that made me notice Jake was The Good Girl.
Sony Pictures Entertainment (Which includes Columbia Pictures and other subsidiaries) has their headquarters in Culver City.
the one that made me notice Jake was The Good Girl.
Me too!
I watched many movies Jake starred in before BBM...i think I first noticed he's good looking in "The Good Girl" (despite that strange fringe-haircut!!), but still, he was just this "cute indie boy who plays weird kid". I can honestly say, if not for BBM, I would never have become a Jake fan.
Delurking to say happy belated birthday (((Tom))). :* :* :*.
Special and Wicked, how about posting a monthly calendar reminding us of important dates so we don't miss them in the future?
And now back to slumping over desk, reading posts and pursuing recovery (sigh).
P.S. The Good Girl is one of my favorite Jake movies.
P.P.S. Tomorrow should bring us the new and improved Zodiac DVD. :)
Words of wisdom -
John Barrowman
Stephen Fry
I'm liking John Barrowman more and more! I've always liked Stephen Fry. I remember he was in an episode of the British series, The Young Ones, which I loved.
Still no talk on Lainey about either Jeese or Jake. No posting of any of the recent Flynet pics. And before you say it's because Lainey doesn't post Flynet, she's got the Ryan, Abbie, and kids Flynet pics.
Lainey is a shill.
ya know I meant Canadian right?
If Lainey was a shill, I'd expect her to be posting those pics.
I thought we'd have gotten some corroboration of the Jeese at Rufus sighting by now. When I read that sighting originally, I thought it was pretty credible. Just thought that somebody, somewhere else on the internet, would mention it too.
I'm beginning to think the Rufus Jeese sighting as well as the one of Reese walking a german shepperd are not real. Just a feeling after the recent invasion.
Happy Birthday, Tom! Hope you had a great day. :)
A lovely post, special! I agree with everyone's comments about it; it's always a real pleasure to watch, very moving and sweet. I think it was perfectly cast, too.I saw it after BBM and I remember my jaw dropping during the kitchen confrontation scene. Jake clearly had some impressive reserves even then. When they show the real film footage of the boys during the credits, coupled with the music, that's when I cry, and I cry every time, too, lol.
I saw The Good Girl before BBM and Jake definitely caught my attention. The emotions that played in those eyes during the "hating the world" scene told me everything.
It's so nice to see Jake's little smiles for baby Ruby (is she ever adorable), but particularly the real, crinkley-eyed one you just catch when he has his hat off. That one's been missing for a while.
Every time I look at those Jake and Tobey pictures, for a few seconds I think Ruby has a tinman leg, lol.
New Ted:
Dear Ted:
Whatever credibility you had left, and it isn't much, is evaporating quickly. Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are low-key in that they spend most of their time indoors. You don't see it because you don't want to, simple. Reading you is like watching the Titanic sink! New photos, new bulls--t. Fool!
Jeff
Los Angeles
Dear Don't Call Me Kathy Bates:
Alas, my (hard) heart will go on, quite unlike Reese and Jake.
Dear Ted:
How entertaining is it to you that both the Katie Holmes-Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon-Jake Gyllenhaal relationships are listed on the same page in People magazine as Couples of the Year? Was People trying to tell us all something?
K.C.
Austin, Texas
Dear Coincidental Cupids:
We highly doubt the publicists’ go-to rag of choice would do anything of the sort.
Dear Ted:
One of my favorite items last year was the rumor Toothy Tile and Grey Goose were hoping to start a fam. This would definitely end up being my favorite Hollywood kiddo—sorry, Jolie-Pitts. So, where does Baby Tile currently sit: on the back burner or in the oven?
Barbara
Nashville, Tennessee
Dear Offspring Inquirer:
Does the frying pan work for you?
Does the frying pan work for you?
And what does that mean?
The frying pan" is a very hot place to be because it is over "the fire". In a difficult situation, the first thing we want to do is get out of that situation. Example: "They think they work hard now. Wait and see how much harder they have to work after they graduate." Reply: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
Could it be that is tough having a new baby? Or could it be having a baby and hiding?
I think Ted was riffing on the metaphors used by the reader--backburner or oven--so he chose "frying pan," which indicates to me that it's not on the backburner but that the idea is being cooked...
The indignant, Ted-hating "Jeff" from LA is probably that Reese-obsessed troll that plagues the imdb boards, Jeffpuim. I love how Ted refers to him as Kathy Bates--whose most infamous role was that of an insane stalking/obsessed superfan in "Misery."
^^I wondered about that, too, BF. How beautiful if there is a Baby Tile. Letters tonight are froom Austin, TX and Nashville, TN. :)
"Jeff" from LA is probably that Reese-obsessed troll that plagues the imdb boards, Jeffpuim
I think Jeff Puim posts as "JP" on Gyllenbabble and has trolled here.
it's not on the backburner but that the idea is being cooked...
I had the thought that a frying pan is often used on a frontburner, meaning maybe the idea's being considered. Still don't buy that Baby Tile exists or will exist any time soon.
Verbatim from the Star magazine dated 1/14/08-
Jake To Reese: All I Want Is You!
Jake Gyllenhaal didn't want a fancy present for his 27th birthday on Dec. 19. He just wanted girlfriend Reese Witherspoon by his side! While visiting her love on the set of his latest film, Brothers, Reese, 31, was overheard chatting with Jake- and "asking what he wanted for his birthday," an eyewitness tells Star. "Jake quickly blurted 'you' and smiled." Reese blushed, then smiled back. "They make the cutest couple. No matter what mood Jake's in, the moment Reese comes around, he's immediately happier and can't stop grinning. There's no doubt he is completely in love."
Are they really trying to insinuate that Reese was on set for Jake's birthday?
Ted is relentlessly sticking to his guns. I am sure he must have a high degree of confidence in his source. Just like the NY sighting. I've been wondering about Baby tile lately. Wasn't there a BI somewhere about the BF staying home to care for a baby while a star did promo elsewhere around the time of Rendition. As much as I would like to believe, I cant see Jake not being devoted to a newborn, so I dont think Babytile has happened. Lot's of things can go wrong with a surrogate. Maybe they tried but it just did not work out.
hysterical Jeff = Kathy Bates
Ted knows all.
Notice how the set report is careful to mention Jake grinning. That is because we've talked so much about how he never smiles anymore. PR counterattack.
They make the cutest couple.
Maybe if you say that enough times it will be true eventually, Evelyn.
No matter what mood Jake's in, the moment Reese comes around, he's immediately happier and can't stop grinning.
Do real people actually use this word?
There's no doubt he is completely in love.
Oh, but there is.
The on set story is ridiculous considering Reese was on set that day in SF filming.
Wouldn't an actually picture of Jake smiling at Reese with one of his patenteed ten mile wide Toothy shiners been better?
Oh, yeah.
The only way that could happen is in PR copy.
You know, if I were a Reeke fan, this lastest BS would really insult my intelligence.
So, so very pathetic, Evelyn.
Want to hear something funny? I was talking to my husband about renting October Sky, and he goes - "oh yeah, I already saw that, it was pretty good!" I go - when did you see it? And he said - it was on television awhile ago. :( Now I'm gonna have to rent it ASAP! :)
I don't know about BabyTile, but it would be a wonderful thing if true. :)
babytile in the frying pan = the idea or thought is dead and maybe never was in the first place.
Jeff P. created Gyllenspoon I thought.
The guy is RELENTLESS!!
the star spy didn't hear Jake's last word: gone.
hell yeah all we see in pics when Jake around Reese is him grinning. he musta had some big ass muscle cramps in his face after rome, napa, sf, coffee walks and LA park from grinning so much. next time pictured with reese he might have to go to the hospital for surgery to unlock his face.
^^Hee! I want you gone! LMAO! Very good. ;)
My guess is that the frying pan reference is to things being too hot right now. I just can't imagine them going forward with Baby Tile right now given the bearding and closeting.
Tom, as someone who has had their question answered by Ted, I have a question for you. Did you hear anything from Ted beforehand?
I can imagine turning the page in that Star issue and having a Hunk Of The Month poster or something on the other side. Is it 1977 in here, or is it just me?
It's not just you bltb, for a minute there I thought I was reading something out of Tiger Beat.
^^LOL, it does sound sort of like my song All I Want Is You from 1988, doesn't it? "You say, you want,diamonds on a ring of gold . . ." etc. etc. You'd think these bloody mags would be a bit more original, wouldn't ya? ;)
There is also a picture of Jake on the set of Brothers on Dec 19. There was a blond in that set of pics, but from the front it was clear it was not Reese. Maybe the mag got confused in their haste to make up a story and thought the blond was Reese.
or maybe all jake wants is a ewe.
okay, lame i know but maybe he got attached to those sheep while filming brokeback mtn. sorry.
"Notice how the set report is careful to mention Jake grinning. "
Grinning with an engagement ring in his hand, no doubt. I am so done with this nonsense. Ted's on the mark this time.
All I know is, if they don't stop stealin' me lines, I'm gonna sue for copyright infringement! ;)
Could it be with the cancellation of The Golden Globes and the WGA strike lingering on casting the Oscar in jeopardy, that Reeke, which was contracted to go through awards season, be over sooner? With no red carpet, no press for promotion, no parties to be "accidentally" caught attending, is it possible that this could be the end of the Beard?
Let's hope so! ;)
As the one who asked OMG to play "All I Want is You" Bono, I have to say I agree with you about feeling like someone has been doing some stealing.
Love your lyrics by the way. But without a real relationship to attach them to, they're just blowing hot air.
Thanks Destiny, it's nice to be appreciated. It does add insult to injury doesn't it! ;)
That it is does Bono. But even Reeke can't ruin that song for me, it still makes me think of J&A :-)
Now there's a real couple - I'll let the line stealin' go this time, but those mags better not let it happen again! ;) Goodnite!
Hey guys, Do you think that Jake maybe thanking his lucky stars above that he may not have to answer any of Joan River's questions about who he's wearing on the Red carpet this year if the strike continues?
wishin ona stah, iz dat yuu, feral darrel? anyhooh soundz reel swell ta me, cuz dat means ol atti n me kun run thar hw hillz agin, free as cockroachz ina no-tell mo-tel 6. onlee 1 prob, sodiac iz gittin on evr one top tin leezt soes wile me an de beastz want gud stuf fer attidaddy an uncul aust, weez dunt whant chinnerz roun no mo. soez, wut ta do, wut ta do? weez havin a meatin leter diz weeke, mabbe wez kin goez ona strike oar sumpin. ey dunno.
LMAO @ ghetto feral cat #8450128119582309 and "Big Bad Atti"!
You make so much sense, feral cat, which is scary.
:D
And cooper and bono :D
The wrong blonde theory works for me (Dec 19 on-set fiction).
Happy Birthday, Tom! ^____^
October Sky was on a couple of weekends ago here in Aussieland and about six months before that. Both times I turned on the tv, saw Jake G, looked at how young he looked and figured it had to be October Sky, stayed around long enough to see that it was and get excited seeing Laura Dern and Chris Cooper and then turned it back off again. I guess it just doesn't pull me in.
I still think that Tobey M and Jake G share something that makes them look similar and they certainly could pass for brothers in the face seeing as most siblings don't look identical unless they are twins.
I am looking forward to Brothers though. I think it will be a good movie and hopefully won't have a PR relationship to go with it.
Frying pan could mean anything but have to say I'd sincerely hope there isn't a babytile yet nor on the way. I really don't think they'd want to be bringing it up in an environment like they are in now.
Just before I go I was wondering who the USAers on the blog wanted as their presidential candidates (if that's not too nosy a question)
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