Working for the Law again?

Jake's had lots of roles that involve the law.  But could he be stepping into Jude Law's recently abandoned role?

Let's just say it's been a very bad week for Jake's friend Natalie Portman.  And it's about her-starring western Jane Got A Gun.

On Tuesday the director Lynn Ramsay didn't show on the first day of shooting, leaving the whole cast and crew wondering what's going on. In steps in Warriors' director Gavin O'Connor the very next day to take on the job, but then it happened again when lead Jude Law, who just joined the cast last week, decided he wasn't doing it either and dropped out. So now the new director and the producers  are scrambling a bit now to find a replacement  for Jude and the buzz coming out of Hollywood is that  there is a short list of three names that they are looking at:

 The Los Angeles Times has revealed the shortlist of actors being considered and the variety might surprise you. Theirs sources say that at the moment they are looking at Jake, Tobey Maguire and Jeff Bridges as possible options.  Jake and Tobey have both worked with Natalie and Jeff's Oscars are enticing. All all have Western experience with BBM, Ride with The Devil and True Grit respectively.

Based on a 2011 Black List screenplay written by Brian Duffield, the  film is about a woman (Portman) whose outlaw husband (Joel Edgerton)has run into trouble with a local gang. Realizing that their lives are in danger, the woman is forced to reach out to a former lover for help. It is the former lover part they are scrambling to fill.

The buzz is that Tobey is in the lead and many are confident he could pull it off.   Jeff , older than the other two guys, could change the direction of the movie a bit.

 But the biggest question is how could Jake step in the role? Isn't he still filming Prisoners?  Would Jane start shoot and work around his schedule until he's done?   And finally could he squeeze it in between Prisoner's and Mississippi Grind?

Fraternal Paternal

Not sure how many have watched the trailer from the UK. But comparing that clip vs. the trailers that are shown in the US you can see the differences in selling the story of Brothers. One of the biggest difference is that in the UK trailer you see scenes of Sam in the war, scenes of conflict. While it is known in the story, in US that is being downplayed. Why?

Well, movies about war have been a hard sell in the US, and as Jim Sheridan says, "I think the American people just don't think there is a war on, so why should they have to go to a movie about something that doesn't exist? Their state of denial is hard to overcome,"

But Sheridan doesn't see Brothers as a war movie, but really "as a family drama about a man coming home after a long absence, and he just happens to have served in Afghanistan."


Sheridan point of view as a director is about families and relationships. He takes a bigger story, like Christy Brown in My Left Foot and focuses on the relationship between Christy and his mother's to tell it. Or telling the story of immigrating to the US, like in In America, through the relationship of a father and his daughters. The same is true for Brothers. Sheridan emphasized the family's struggle to be whole again. "It is a big thing to me to show the family at war. They are split by an event outside themselves. The war is in the family, you know."


A lot of focus in US campaign has been on Grace (Natalie) and Sam and Tommy. But the story that really emerges is more about fathers than brothers. Hank's (Sam Shepard)relationships with each of his sons. Sam's fatherly relationship with Tommy. His relationship with his girls and how that changes from forces out of everyone's control. Tommy find paternal feelings he never thought he had and stepping in as a father and how that changes his life.



Those relationships create so many themes, of expectations,disappointments, rebellion, anger, resentment, abandonment, love, acceptance, and redemption. It is a story as old as man in a setting while modern is itself timeless.



One critic talked about Jake effortless playing a father. Looking at the place in Jake's life you can see how it dovetailed from real to reel. No doubt Sheridan encouraged Jake to bring all of that into his role, relishing as Jake discovered fatherhood on all levels.


Something you might not know about Brothers. Brothers is a pretty little movie that has a powerful punch. The movie had a budget of only $25 million, with the actors talking "a quarter or maybe even a 10th of what they usually get paid," according to Sheridan.