GYLLENCRAZY

At long last we finally got our first two juicy sneak peeks at ‘Prisoners’, thanks to ETOnline and their exclusive visit on the set, with an interview with both leading actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman (yep, it’s my blog and I’ll damn well put Jake first) and some action on set and behind the scenes, which are those I look more forward to (sometimes even more than to the film itself).

That collar looks a little too tight or is it me? It looks like he’s choking

About the plot

Set in the New England town of Brockton, Massachusetts, the film revolves around two neighborly families, the Dovers – Jackman and Bello – and the Birches-played by Davis and Howard-whose young daughters go missing Thanksgiving evening and the fight to find them. Jackman is Keller Dover, a carpenter by day and enraged father by night who will stop at nothing to bring his child back home.

Detective Loki, portrayed by Gyllenhaal, is hot on the case and suspects Paul Dano’s character of committing the deed but can not hold the suspect in custody due to lack of evidence so the hunt continues.

Without any children of his own in real life, Gyllenhaal said he draws off of his love and relationship with his two nieces, Ramona and Gloria Ray, daughters of acting sis, Maggie. ‘My motivation is the children I know and love in my life,’ the Brokeback Mountain actor says. ‘Without having any children of my own my character’s love for these kids in the end is the same type of love that I have for my nieces and the kids I have in my life.‘ [Hugh says about Jake] ‘I absolutely love working with him on every level. He is a spectacular actor.’

With a call for action and many physical scenes in the movie, both Gyllenhaal and Jackman have taken two different approaches to their roles. Always the pinnacle of fitness, Gyllenhaal admittedly reveals that while he attempts to do many of his own stunts he isn’t always inclined to do so. ‘It feels like cheating to me when someone else does it, but I also admit that there are people who know how to do it a lot better than me and if they make me look better than…’ he says. ‘But now if you ask me to push someone into a wall, I’m game,’  he jokes. [GC: Hey, I'm game, too].

Release date: September 20, 2013.

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On sadder notes, An Enemy – which is now ‘Enemy Within‘ as we learn from Pathé International’s page dedicated to the film – didn’t make it to Cannes. Mr Thierry Frémaux, head of the Official Selection, rejected it despite a double viewing. On today’s French news, we read 

De cette compétition fut écarté Denis Villeneuve pour son film américain An Enemy, mais le cinéaste d’Incendies précise aujourd’hui que son montage n’était pas terminé.

[attempted translation from my rusty French] Denis Villeneuve’s American film An Enemy was rejected from this competition, but Incendies director points out today that the film editing is not finished, yet (GC: which means that Mr. Frémaux saw an unfinished film).

Not only the title changed, but also the synopsis.

This is the new one, which in my opinion gives another idea of the film 

ENEMY WITHIN is a mysterious thriller played out in the subconscious of a man in emotional crisis. Gyllenhaal plays Adam, a teacher, living with his girlfriend Mary. He discovers a physically identical man, an actor called Anthony, living nearby with his wife, Helen. But are Adam and Anthony two men? Or does one only exist in the imagination of the other?

and this one was among the first to be published in 2012

AN ENEMY will star Jake Gyllenhaal as Adam, a history teacher whose life is thrown into turmoil upon the discovery of a physically identical man living nearby. 
Bemused by the existence of such a doppelganger, Adam begins to stalk his double, initially from a distance, but eventually to the point at which their lives become perilously intertwined…

Two slightly different perspectives, don’t you think? I just wish they’d release a trailer already. Also, the release date, which was August 28, 2013 in France, has suddenly disappeared from the page. I’ve turned my hopes to the Venice Festival and re-crossing fingers and toes.

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The latest buzz is all about ‘Nailed‘, remember that film? Rumor has it that we’re going to see it after all, and probably this year. We’ve got stills from around the net (thanks to IHJ as usual but also to JessicaBielCentral) and I know I’m a minority but among Jake’s films this is the first that I’m not counting the hours to see but who knows, it might surprise me.

A small town waitress gets a nail accidentally lodged in her head causing unpredictable behavior that leads her to Washington, DC, where sparks fly when she meets a clueless young senator who takes up her cause – but what happens when love interferes with what you stand for?

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He keeps reading. And reading. On April 17, 2013, Jake was among a few noted actors, musicians, journalists, and artists who joined the Academy of American Poets at its benefit reading, Poetry & The Creative Mind. 

Jake read two poems, Frank O’Hara’s ‘Ave Maria’ and the one I’m posting below by Mary Oliver, which I share here because I love it and I wish I could listen to Jake read it