Previews, Promos, Premieres, and Pretty much Nailed Screwed

Jake will be pulling double duty over the next couple of weeks. While the play's in previews he going to get some promotion for EoW in, first up Letterman on Monday (Aug 28th).

Will we see him sneak in Jimmy (Fallon) or Jon (Stewart)?  Or stop by and say welcome to Michael Strahan on Live! one morning?

One thing we do know is he is going to be a the Toronto International Film Festival with the rest of the cast. It was confirmed last week that Jake is heading back to Toronto. It maybe more of an up and back quick trip, but we'll get to see him back on the red carpet.

 One thing it looks like we won't see (ever) is Nailed.  A couple recent articles about Nailed have given more of the behind the scene drama and what the current state of movie really is and now with the current state of healthcare in the US and how it effects the movie.

In an interview with producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher they talked about wanting to make a indie that turned into a nightmare not because of the cast and crew, but because there was no money for the cast and crew.  We thought we knew the whole story.. but not even close.

They revealed " that they shut down 14 times in total throughout production and post-production, and in the middle of this whirlwind Russell had to keep focused on the artistic integrity of the film.  This process continued through the duration of the shoot, and as Russell was gearing up to film the pic’s crucial scene, the financier pulled the plug for good." 

 How do you even stop the production 14 times?  And then one scene where Jess Beiler gets the nail gun is the one never filmed.  And without that there is no movie, no matter how you cut the rest of it.  No matter how many times the new owners of the film have tried to test it.

Texas Three Way

Day 1 of Triathlon Training. Enchiladas and Beer on a hot Texas day! Heaven. @TriRockSeries - Aus10 

Triathlon Training Day 2- Queso and a Margarita. @TriRockSeries -Aus10

And then what happened there Bud?

Training get suspended for little getaway north?

 Or did you miss the mole and mescal day and just gave up?

The triathlon Austin training for is next weekend.. and doesn't involve Mexican food. 

It's the Land Rover TriRock Austin on September 3rd, 2012, and it starts off at Auditorium Shores.

Now Austin has two choices this triathlon.   The Sprint: Which is swim 700 Meters, bike16.7 miles and run 3.1 miles.

 Or he could go for the Intermediate "Olympic" which is swim 1500 Meters, bike 24.8 miles and run 6.2 miles.

 Any guesses which one he'll choose?

There are a few rules and regulations.  Wetsuits can be worn, but are optional for the swim.

Helmet required for the bike.  But no headphones anywhere on the course.

And who would need them in the Live Music capital when there will be bands along the swim, bike and run courses followed by a post-race party and concert.

Don't know if it is BYON (Bring your own nachos) But sure that Austin will find a way to get some.

Happy Austin Friday. 

Growing Pains

With Jake's play opening tomorrow, it signals a change for Jake. New challenges and more into a different part of his career.

 After career defining highs and less that critical success, Jake found himself in an uneasy place.

 “I wasn’t really listening to myself about the kinds of projects I wanted to do,” he said in a recent interview, reflecting on the past decade. “I had to figure out what kind of an actor I wanted to be and feel confident going for that.”

 And what we have been seeing this past year is Jake working on being the kind of actor he wants to be.

 "Nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for 'Brokeback,' said he still revels in experimenting with his take on characters from scene to scene and performance to performance. But acting rigor is increasingly his goal, and perhaps the respect that comes with it. “Early in your career it’s hard to know everything for yourself, and asking questions isn’t always a welcome thing in Hollywood, where everyone seems like they know what they’re doing,” he said during an interview over tofu salad and squid sashimi at a Japanese restaurant in the West Village.

 “Around the time I hit 30, I asked myself if I was respecting acting as a craft,” ...."and if I was doing the right projects that deserved my attention and where I’m learning in a way that you might not feel at 15. So now it’s like I look at acting more as building little delicate cricket cages, with care and more thought.” In the past 18 months Mr. Gyllenhaal parted ways with his longtime manager, signed with a new agency and began devoting more time to selecting and preparing for projects."

 Projects like EoW, The Enemy and the play are part of Jake's journey. Even Berlinale.  And there seems to be a paradigm shift from acting and the celebrity, to acting and the craft that it is, and with that maturity, commitment, and challenge.

Why did we see Jake up at Columbia so much last spring? He was contact his professors for advice about his role in The Enemy.

On EoW Jake got so involved giving feed back, watching dailies and things like him checking out the camera technology and showed so much commitment that "John Lesher, one of its producers, decided after filming to make Mr. Gyllenhaal an executive producer."

And he's tackling the play the same way. Taking on the challenge that is stretching him and make him give everything and more. He went out and sought the play, pursuing it and it writer and director.

 "It was Terry’s capacity for cruelty that appealed to Mr. Gyllenhaal most of all. 'The intentions of Terry are very different from anything I’ve played before, especially his vicious side,” he said. 'It intrigued me so much, and that was the sign. I want to come home at the end of the day and be wiped out and feel I’ve torn my heart out from acting and feel fulfilled. At this point I don’t have the desire to do anything other than projects that make me feel that way.'"

 It looks like Jake is growing, we will just have wait and see where he ends up.

 And Jake, Break A Leg!!

Quote Source - NY Times.

Family, Truth and The Great White Way

A bit of a bounty of Jake articles today, but one jumped out for today's post.  It is an interview with Broadway World about the play.

 
Besides Jake talking about wanting to act at an early age and how he got started, there were three questions that leaped off the page.


TS:  What drew you to If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet?
JG: Terry is like de Tocqueville. He comes into this family and he observes and comments on what he sees. I love the character of Terry and I loved Nick Payne’s writing. It was that simple. And when I went to see Michael Longhurst’s production of Nick’s other play, Constellations, at the Royal Court in London, the deal was sealed. They are an unbeatable pair. They are the new generation of British theatre talent.

TS: What do you think the play is about?
JG: I think the play is about family. And it is about the desire we all have to be seen and heard by our family and how – for many different reasons – it can become hard to hear the people we love most and how hard it can be to be heard by them.

TS: How is the character of Terry relevant to you?  Can you share some of your preliminary thoughts about Terry with us?
JG: I love the way he talks, how he moves through the world. He is desperate to pull the truth out of everyone around him, but he is unable to face his own. He is a constant contradiction and like this broken, beating heart with legs.
Jake goes on to say, "Variation keeps me inspired. I always like finding roles that are different from the one I played before."  That might be true, but they look more like variations on a theme. 

 You can read the whole article here.

Oh Austin - don't worry we see your training- keep it up bud,  and it will be an Austin Friday - Texas Travelogue or is that Texas TriAthalon-alogue?

Prepared to Play

With less than a month before it opens we start to get to see more of EoW.

Check out this new trailer



Ayers, Jake Mike and the cast really capture the day to day and the grittiness of a what it's like to "serve and protect" in LA.

Jake talked about what it took to get that authenticity at the screening on the Hamptons.

While Jake has taken on fewer projects in the last few years,  his devotion to his craft is still evident.   Jake no doubt is taking the same approach with the play which starts previews this Friday.

 Jake will be on Letterman next week to talk about the movie. Wonder what story he's got saved for Dave?

And what else for a Two Wheel Tuesday.

Bike Cops

Boston Style

Stars and Sand

It was a star studded event at the Hamptons last night for the screening of EoW. 

A little more low key that a big HW event, it wasn't without the stars, and brought the Hampton summer residents including co-host Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Molly Sims, and Katie Lee.

 Kicking of his wedding week friend and Montauk resident Rufus and his fiance Jorn Weisbrodt joined Jake at the screening.

Also attending the festivities was famed photographer Bruce Weber, the new it boys of the moment Harry and Peter Brant with their friends, as well as Howard Stern's wife Beth Ostrosky Stern, singer Duncan Sheik, and Gwyneth Paltrow and husband Coldplay front man Chris Martin.

Jake let the crowd know, “ 'The neighborhoods where we shot couldn’t be more different than where we are right now,' to the crowd seated inside the intimate screening room at the private home in Wainscott." Well we could have told them that.

But something we didn't know for sure until now, Jake is one of the movie's executive producers.

 

 It's a smile!

 So you know I met the real Joe Davola, 

and he didn't seem crazy or know opera.

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight could be called an accidental activist, but she is also the part of the future of the LGBT community. Today's Out Spotlight is Constance McMillen.


Constance McMillen became a poster child for LGBT rights after asking permission to bring her girlfriend to her high school prom. When her school responded by cancelling the prom, she took legal action.

As a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi,  she challenged the prom rules forbidding same-sex couples from attending and girls from wearing tuxedos. When the school cancelled the prom, students responded by harassing McMillen.

 She just wanted to go to the prom, like any other high school senior. Only difference: Her date was a girl, and Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, objected. The girls were told they couldn’t come as a couple, couldn’t walk in holding hands and certainly couldn’t show up in the tuxedos they’d planned to wear.

“I was raised to always be proud of who you are,” McMillen had said then  age 18.  She called the American Civil Liberties Union to report on what had happened to her. The result was not what she’d expected: Faced with a lawsuit, the school canceled the dance, angering many of her classmates. (One girl’s T-shirt: “Thanks, Constance, for ruining prom.”)
 
“I didn’t want everyone to hate me,” said McMillen, who was raised mostly by her dad and learned at age 10 that her mother, Denise, was a lesbian. “But sometimes you got to do what you got to do. The easiest way is not always the best way.”

Encouraged by her mom, she  confronted the injustice, and by doing so set an example for the world.

While some in her hometown were upset with her,  she found widespread support nationally—and even internationally. Thousands of grateful teens sent her messages on Facebook, and Ellen DeGeneres gushed on her show, “I just think you’re so brave and amazing.”

The ACLU filed a lawsuit requesting that the court order the school to hold an inclusive prom. The case was settled when a U.S. District Court ruled that McMillen’s First Amendment rights had been violated. The Itawamba County School District consented to a judgment in which it paid McMillen $35,000 and $81,000 in attorneys’ fees.

 After the settlement, the school held a prom. Only McMillen and seven learning disabled students attended. Parents organized a separate prom that all other students attended, but to which McMillen was not invited.

The school district agreed to implement policies that would prevent future discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for extracurricular and educational activities. This was groundbreaking for a Mississippi school district.

“Constance stood up to foolishness and inequity and irrational unfairness, sending a signal that this battle should be fought at every level,” says former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson.

McMillen’s story received national attention. Glamour magazine named her Woman of the Year Award in 2010, and she appeared on national television shows including “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” where she received a $30,000 scholarship.

She was invited to the White House and served as Grand Marshal of the New York Gay Pride Parade.

McMillen transferred to another high school school in Jackson, Mississippi, and graduated in 2011. She enrolled at Northeast Mississippi Community College to study psychology.

She  plans to keep speaking out, hoping to spread tolerance—and maybe even save lives. “I heard, growing up, that gay people can’t go to heaven,” she recalls. “Even my grandma didn’t agree with [my lesbianism]. But she said, ‘If that’s who you are, I’ll be here. I’ll love you regardless.’”

 “Stand up like I did. It was hard but it was worth it.”