When Rotten Tomatoes sat down to interview Jake for Enemy they threw in a bit of a challenge name his five favorite films.
That's a tough call.
It's not just the movies Jake listed but what he said about them that made it interesting.
First - Searching for Bobby Fisher
"And just the story of father and son and the score is beautiful. It is
inevitably one that I am always drawn to, and I think it's filled with
hope but also like a real darkness and the beauty of childhood."
The darkness of childhood- interesting choice of words from Jake.
La
Strada - Fellini's La Strada
" And it's also personally really resonant because my father said after he
saw that movie, it was what made him want to make movies, and when I
finally saw it when I was a teenager, I understood why. So it inevitably
has a resonance beyond the brilliance of the movie itself.
So it was just something that was prominent in your family, growing up?
La Strada? Yeah when I was an infant we were just talking about it. [laughs] No, I just think it sort of tied to that. I mean, I just wonder sometimes if my father hadn't seen that movie and been so moved by it, you know, would he have met my mother? Would my sister have been born? You know, there's a lot of "would-haves" and eventually all of us have found our way into the movie business, so you know, that's just an interesting thing. And you know, you never know how a movie will inspire someone and how it will lead not just one life but many to come. Sort of an interesting idea"
So it was just something that was prominent in your family, growing up?
La Strada? Yeah when I was an infant we were just talking about it. [laughs] No, I just think it sort of tied to that. I mean, I just wonder sometimes if my father hadn't seen that movie and been so moved by it, you know, would he have met my mother? Would my sister have been born? You know, there's a lot of "would-haves" and eventually all of us have found our way into the movie business, so you know, that's just an interesting thing. And you know, you never know how a movie will inspire someone and how it will lead not just one life but many to come. Sort of an interesting idea"
Another interesting choice, because in the past Jake's talked more about musicals and Danny Kaye movies and his mother when talking about movies growing up. Has he ever talked about Fellini before?
And there's someone else that might have influence that choice. Austin. Austin's
cinephile influence and he's a huge fan of the Italian directors
Next he picked Jerry McGuire. But he talked more about Fast Times than Jerry McGuire. Crowe's Fast
Times was ground breaking and changed the teen movie genre. While it was first R
rated teen movie and it was most realistic of a teen movie. Jake did talk about the infamous scene with Phoebe Cates and the bikini. Yes that scene
with Phoebe is one of the best known scene in movies. it is iconic and I don't think a
guy under 40 (gay or straight) doesn't know that one. (And that's true
about the video tape thing - Cameron say that in an interview)Fourth Jake picked the Goonies
"
Goonies, yeah. I mean maybe Goonies is better than Jerry Maguire, though I do love Jerry Maguire. Goonies is just like... I have no words for how awesome Goonies is. I happen to be working with Josh Brolin on this Everest movie I'm about to do, and I still geek out. You know, I want him to wear a headband in the Everest movie because it's such an amazing character choice. If I remember correctly I feel like he wore sweatpants over jeans in that movie? I'm pretty sure. I might be wrong about that. And that was a pretty dope character choice as well. Just incredible acting, and the scenes with Chunk still move me. And Butterfinger... Oh wait, no. Snickers? What is it, Snickers? My first crush was in Goonies too: Kerri Green. She was in Lucas. She was in Summer Rental. OK? Dude, she... Lucas is a very formidable... I had such a crush on her. Oh my god. If you see her in Lucas, you'd understand."
Wait a minute Jakey - what happened to Martha Plimpton? You said she was your crush when your mom did Running on Empty - which around the same time. Did you just ditch her for the auburn curls as soon as you Kerri? Because honestly River seemed to be closer to who you were probably crushing on (and who wouldn't - it was River Phoenix!)
Speaking of auburn curls. Remember who loves the Goonies? That's right Austy.
It's one of his favorite movies. They incorporated into OTH for him and he's tweeted about it. I don't think it's Jake who geeked out with Josh over it, but more like Jake's Tall Texan who did.
And finally he picked, Woman of the Year, with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.
And Jake gave this gem.
"I remember feeling very specifically about that movie that I love so much, which is how Spencer Tracy cracks his eggs while he's making an omelet. I will always crack my eggs like Spencer Tracy because of that movie.
[laughs]"
23 comments:
Enemy really is crap. Don't waste your time or money. I laughed when Jake called the film experimental. Yeah, in a kind of turgid and mind numbing sort of way. All the characters could have died after half an hour and that would have been fine with me.
So someone like Jake, whose father is a director, his mother is a screenwriter nominated for an Oscar, his sister is an actress nominated for an Oscar, Jake to which nothing less than Paul Newman taught to drive,Jake who spent his afternoons at Meryl Streep's house, and last but not least Jake who is one of the best actors of his generation needs Austin in order to know "La Strada" by Fellini?
The symbolism in Enemy is tiresome and old hat. I have found that when filmmakers don't know what they are doing they rely on arachnids to creep people out and pretend that the story has a deeper meaning.
Crawly Creatures
These are supposed to be his favorite films,yet Jake has never ever talked about Fellini. He has talked about Danny Kaye movies and musicals and growing up watching them.
Have you ever heard him talking about Fellini? If it was one of your favorite movies wouldn't you mention it? At least once?
By Denis is not the case, which was nominated for an Oscar without spiders
Someone needs to give it up about Austin Nichols. He's gay and has been with Jake forever.
As I remember, Austin is a USC graduate too. No dummy. In fact, he probably has loss more brain cells that the entire Gyllenhaal family have ever possessed.
Jake who is one of the best actors of his generation
Yeah, those embarrassing pics from Rome show how serious of an actor Jake is.
By Denis is not the case, which was nominated for an Oscar without spiders
I am specifically talking about Enemy. It's pretty apparent from the interviews that Denis gave Jake full rein in this movie. His fingerprints are all over this flop. The fact Denis let Jake run wild on the set, has tarnished Villaneuve's reputation in my eyes.
Yeah, those embarrassing pics from Rome show how serious of an actor Jake is.
What the pics stolen from the set where Jake was working have to do with its quality as an actor?
What the pics stolen from the set where Jake was working have to do with its quality as an actor?
First off, that's the "official" version of the story. That the photos were "stolen". Don't believe everything you read. Jake and his people are known for stunts and they will do anything for attention/cheap publicity.
Any actor who has to rely on unclad tomfoolery means they do not take their art seriously. It's all about the fame and the money.
Any actor who has to rely on unclad tomfoolery means they do not take their art seriously. It's all about the fame and the money.
Which is absurd to me,an actor does what the director asks him to do, and if the project is worth an artist may also decide to strip naked
and his tweets prove it!
You mean WME's tweets, don't you?
And, notice that PR would never give Jake a Twitter account. Much too dangerous. He would probably be throwing a hissy fit every five minutes. Or, making stupid pseudo-intellectual pontifications like:
I don’t know if it was about that, as much as about identity. I mean, obviously you can probably correlate that with anything we do or that we’re involved in. There is that aspect of the movie that’s interesting that I don’t think we even really realized was [what] we were doing. When I call him and I say in a way that I’m a fan of his work, but at that time in the movie it’s a manipulation to try and meet him … There are a lot of things at play in that moment and that is definitely one of them. There’s a sort of sense of desperation in terms of him trying to find his own identity and at the same time seeking an identity, or someone else’s identity, or the perception of that to understand his own. So that’s at play definitely. But I think we do that all the time, regardless of whether it’s about fame or not.
That is certainly an eclectic list of favorites. I don't think I've ever seen Goonies. La Strada is a great film.
Speaking of Rotten Tomatoes, Enemy has an 80, and it got a good review from the New York Times this morning.
That is certainly an eclectic list of favorites. I don't think I've ever seen Goonies. La Strada is a great film.
Speaking of Rotten Tomatoes, Enemy has an 80, and it got a good review from the New York Times this morning.
I have to say I don't know what's up with reviewers. I like art house films, but Enemy is confusing and really seems esoteric. It may be a niche audience they are after, but how many are in that niche? I don't get the positive reviews. Most critics indicate they can't figure out the movie, but it's worth the effort. I shrug my shoulders at those kind of observations. Literally, they are saying, "Spend your hard earn cash, even though, in the end, you won't have a clue why."
Uh oh, Mr. Paid must be getting nasty since we're on moderation. Too bad! It's not going to stop us from speaking.
I don't know what's up with the reviewers either but I'm going to tell you guys something. Lord willing, when I get home, I am going to assemble the number of FB "reviews" from civilians - the people who paid $12.99 for Enemy. I've kept everyone that I've seen, might have missed some but I think what I have is a pretty complete list. I cannot tell you how many negative reviews I have on file.
And like I've told a few people, it's not like they'll just say "I didn't care for it." or "I don't recommend it."
Oh no.
Oh no, these people are hacked. They are hacked that they spent that money for a movie they couldn't make heads or tails out of. There's capping and you can almost feel the impact of their fingers on the keyboard, lol.
And you know what else is interesting? Out of all the FB posts I have, not one single post mentioned the sex. Not a one.
What does that tell you? Because I would think there would be some people who would have said "Well at least there was hot sex. It wasn't as good as I thought it'd be but at least it had sex and naked 'insert name here'."
Not one single post mentioned the sex as a saving grace. That tells me a lot because it is advertised as an erotic thriller. So I know that's why so many of Jake fans are dying to see it. They may pretend they want to see it for Jake's acting, but give me a break. A lot of people want to see it because it's advertised as an 'erotic' thriller. A lot of people I'm sure want to see the 'erotic' part.
Well - all I can say is no one has even mentioned that part about the movie.
Is like the scream of Munch. You don't know why he is screaming, but it's worth watching it anyway
Another funny thing about the promotion of this movie is to have watched:
* How many official trailers have they released? I know of 3 at least.
* How many movie posters have been released?
How many different trailers and posters do you need? Why do they keep changing? Especially the poster - which one is the official poster for Enemy? It's like they can't make up their mind.
The third thing I've been watching is the tactic for interview content. When Denis and Jake first began promoting Enemy in interviews, they went on and on about their intimate bromance. It was all about their connection, multiple nights spent in hotel rooms and getting drunk on wine, etc.
Then they began focusing on the tennis ball and the technical aspects of shooting the movie.
Then it was about the double identities and how the movie came into being and still, very little mentioned about the movie plot itself.
Then after the movie was released on On Demand and the negative comments began rushing out, the tweets and Facebook mentions about Enemy changed to "naked Melanie Laurent" and "NSFW trailer". So they began pushing the sex.
Then the interviews began focusing on the confusion of the movie and Denis earnestly began trying to explain the movie. Not only that, but Jake began focusing on how he never read the book and he loved it when people began talking about how confused they were.
These morphing changes were very interesting to watch as they happened. They spoke to me that the studio realized that Americans were not liking it and they needed to adapt somehow to try to save the movie.
Thanks for the mention of the review in the NYT Destiny. I will have check it out.
This is from today's Deadline.com
Enemyenemy2
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writers: Javier Gullón, José Saramago (novel)
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini, Joshua Peace
Distributor: A24
Québécois filmmaker Denis Villeneuve won acclaim and an Oscar nomination for his 2011 feature Incendies, which Sony Classics released with a cast unknown in the States, taking in $2 million-plus domestically. His next feature was crime-thriller Prisoners with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, a studio film that grossed over $61 million domestically. Gyllenhaal returns with Enemy, a mystery-thriller about a man who seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie. A24, which had multiple box office hits in the Specialty arena in its first year, including Spring Breakers, The Bling Ring and The Spectacular Now, first caught Enemy at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. “It’s our first movie in partnership with DirecTV,” said newish A24 exec Heath Shapiro. “It’s great to break ground on a new multi-platform model with this movie. It’s a great match.” Shapiro said that the film has been “doing very well” on DirecTV leading up to its theatrical release this weekend. “This is an auteur director who has had previous success,” he noted. “It’s a unique film where the thrill elements fill very well.” Shapiro said A24 is being “curatorial” with its releases in conjunction with DirecTV. It will next have Life After Death on the satellite television provider. “You get to have your cake and eat it too because the movie can play to a commercial audience and an auteur audience,” said Shapiro. “We’ll see that grow as we platform [the feature] out into the country in the next few weeks. And Denis and Jake are being very supportive.”
Villeneuve will be at the Angelika in New York for Q&As this weekend. It will open there this weekend exclusively and then will head to the top 25 markets the following week and expand to 50 soon after. “Jake and Denis get great national attention and then complimented by DirecTV and it’s the right time to be in the marketplace for this movie,” said Shapiro.
Deadline.com
And now a word from your sponsors...
..."a new commercial for Honey Maid graham crackers has ushered in a new era of gay-friendly advertising, capturing the affection and support shared by two loving gay fathers, their adorable son, and their newborn baby." It's part of Honey Maid’s new “This is Wholesome” campaign.
Check it out here:
Honey Maid's Gay Family Commercial
and Boston Beer Company - best know for their Sam Adams beer pulled their sponsorship of the South Boston St.Patrick's Day parade after a gay bar in Boston spoke up and said they wouldn't sell Sam Adams Beer anymore because Boston Beer Company was sponsoring the parade where the LGBT community can't march.
Boston Beer Company took no time to pull their sponsorship and said the parade should be for everyone in Boston to participate.
“Jake and Denis get great national attention and then complimented by DirecTV and it’s the right time to be in the marketplace for this movie,” said Shapiro.
Spoken like a true money grubbing marketer. The right time? What does he even mean? Around Lent and Easter? lol. I certainly know when I think of erotic thrillers, I always think of fasting, prayer, and penance. Good grief. Poor it on higher and deeper.
* have to roll my eyes *
I don't think they were referral to the actual date on the calendar, but the time in terms of technology and media today, and how people watch movies now.
But if you want to get technical about the date, Enemy came out on Direct TV before Lent.
Oh, I'm just kidding to make a point about these marketing types. They will say anything to get butts in the seats.
Post a Comment