Warm fuzzies

Happy birthday to Jake's big sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal! Maggie turns 30 today.


This makes me happy. Esquire calls Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Rendition one of six Performances of the Year in their December issue.


Looks like Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere would have gone with option number three in my poll at right.

It's not that Gyllenhaal plays his Egypt-based CIA guy badly or ineffectively, but that Egypt-based CIA guy is written as such a revoltingly passive wuss....For me, Gyllenhaal's inactivity is infuriating. He's not just a guy doing nothing, but an emblem of do-nothing types the world over.

He sounds like he's blaming Jake for Douglas's actions, or inaction, as the case may be, which misses the point entirely. If you found him infuriating or revolting, Jeff, then he kicked ass, because you were supposed to feel all those things. And Wells's statement about what Douglas's character lacks expresses precisely why Jake's was an incredibly difficult role, and why his performance was that much more worthy of praise. I'm glad the editors of Esquire recognized that, even if Wells doesn't.

Something else that makes me happy: seeing Jake happy. IHJ has posted those photos from Jake and Reese's recent Napa Valley visit, and while the level of paparazzi interest in this relationship still bothers me, seeing Jake so obviously at ease and happy literally brought me to tears. Even Reese smiled at the camera this time. That's the way I like to see them.

Meanwhile, it looks like Jake's about to become the subject of a sniping showdown. Slash writer (it's amazing the things you can learn while browsing around Jake's fandom) royandronnie's opening bid remains the only one so far, and the auction ends at 6 pm EST. At least, I'm sorta hoping it will be sniped. Well, I mean, I totally will understand if no one can afford to bid $5,500, because I can't, but I guess I'd like to see the promise of his company bring in more than the bare minimum for the charity of his choice. Plus it would be fun to watch and see just how crazy Jake can make people.

Update: Well, here's another nice treat I hadn't seen before. This transcript, which the source claims to be from the Los Angeles Rendition press conference, has lots of priceless Jakeisms. I don't understand why I'm just now finding this. This stuff is gold and should have been all over the 'net by now. Some examples:

Reporter: You and Peter shaved your heads in Jarhead. Now, you both have beards.
Jake: Peter and I are dating (laughter). I can see the headlines now.
~~~
Reporter: What qualities do you admire in Reese, as a person and an actress?
Jake: She can grow a mean beard, that's for sure (laughter)! I don’t know if you’ve seen her beard--it's amazing!
~~~
Reporter: Will you comment on rumors that you are dating Reese?
Jake: No. Apparently, I am dating a lot of people, not only of the opposite sex (laughter)--it's very interesting and amusing.
Reporter: The first time we interviewed you, you talked about not having enough sex...
Jake: Are you offering or what? (Laughter)
Reporter: You talked freely during that interview. You have become a star since. So, has your sex life changed?
Jake: I've become an ascetic--I live in a cave now. That's why I am growing a beard. I have no sex, so I’m much more interesting!

Damn, Jake. Could you be any more lovable?

Photo of Maggie thumbnailed from The Internet Movie Database; all others from IHJ.

Sox watch

Jake's sports tour of the east coast continued yesterday when he attended a Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees baseball game at Fenway Park. I'm hoping more pics will turn up soon, but I don't want to be greedy; I mean, here he is, wearing a hoodie and showing off one elegant hand, right?

If you click forward from Jake's photo to the next two on the Boston.com site, you'll see that Adrian Grenier is reported to have been "filming his documentary project on celebrity and paparazzi while the game was going on." No word yet on whether he included Jake in this footage or spoke with him about it, but I'll keep an eye out.

His continued presence here on my side of the country fits my theory that Jake would hang around until the Filmmakers Symposium screening of Rendition in New Jersey. The first session kicks off this Monday, September 17; I'd say chances are pretty good that Rendition will screen this Monday or Tuesday.
Being the intrepid Gyllenhaalic that I am, I tried to confirm my suspicions with a call to the symposium's hotline number a couple of days ago. Don't worry, I didn't reveal that I was only interested in knowing when Jake Gyllenhaal would be there*--I just asked if there were any schedule established so film buffs on a budget could make an informed choice to purchase either the Monday or Tuesday series pass. Unfortunately, as the nice lady who returned my call explained, the organizers are not really solid on a booking even up to the day it might screen, so any given film could at the last moment be moved up or bumped back between the Monday and the Tuesday venues. She also revealed that out of an average 20 potential participating films and filmmakers, they usually end up featuring about five or six.

I'm not as discouraged by that as I might be if Jake were photographed in Los Angeles yesterday. No, I won't be in New Jersey, but surely someone will, and maybe they'll get a nice juicy Gyllenbabble answer out of Jake for us. I think repeated exposure to Jake's...unique style of expression...may be the reason I'm able to understand him now; as I re-read the interview transcript I posted yesterday, I'm shaking my head and laughing to myself. Hey, I know what he meant. I think. The more I learn about him, the more I feel he's got the same empathic tendency to see a topic from all sides that causes me such ambivalence. I know what it's like, Jake.


*Actually, I would love to attend one of these even if Jake wasn't involved. Don't tell anyone.

Boston.com photo by Steve Silva; U.S. Open photos: IHJ.