When Jake was Sam...

or Harry.. or Stephen

Are there glimpses of Jake on screen before he even was on screen, in his mother's writing? Naomi Foner wrote the Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated screenplay for the movie Running on Empty, staring Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and River Phoenix. The story of 60's political radicals who haven't been able to use their real identity for years after setting a weapons lab afire in an effort to hinder the government's Vietnam war campaign. Ever since they have been on the run and are now parents raising two sons. The oldest son is a talented musician with a chance to go to Julliard, and wants a life of his own, and knows that it means his parents either get caught or he will never see them again.

It is a incredible performance by River Phoenix as the eldest brother who realizes that he has the choice to leave and pursue his own dream free from all the hiding and see what it is really like to live. He realizes that he does not have to pay what his parents did, that he can move on and that they are responsible for that but not him any longer. He also knows that he will have to leave them all behind.

But it is the little brother Harry who has to take on the name Stephen at their newest stop on the run, that is the focus today.
Harry is the little brother, kind and sensitive, not always knowing everything that was going on, sometimes a little left out. He tells jokes, and can be annoying, but you could see how hard Harry tries to get some more attention from his parents and wants to be a part of it all. And he wants them all to get along. His parents love him, but there is so much going on in these never ending hiding and their agendas, he seems to be lost in the shuffle, and he wants a little more, attention and love. In many scenes Harry turns to Danny (River) for his moments of connecting. The two of them bonded together no matter what is going on with their parents - they always have each other.


Have always thought that there was a lot of Jake in that little annoying brother who just wants to be wanted. Naomi uses family and family dynamics a lot her writing and you can see that she infuse some of her own family into the characters.

“Observing family allows you to use a small intimate palette to comment on the greater culture,” Gyllenhaal explained. “Family contains the best of us and the worst. And we can all relate to it, as we’re all part of some kind of family.

Its the best and worst that makes you think, if Jake looks back and sees pieces of himself and Maggie sprinkled amongst his mother's writing or his father's director and what he think about all of it. And then you wonder if they take piece of the parents and use them in their acting.

And Sam? Everyone's birthday cake always had Happy Birthday Sam written on it. (As in play it again Sam) It was the one constant in their lives.


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