"[...] "So, Reese and Jake, you didn't meet making the movie?"
Before either star can respond, their exasperated director, Gavin Hood, dramatically yells, "No!"
A master of comic timing during the entire hour, Gyllenhaal waits for the laughs to subside before adding the obvious, "Wow, that was rough." Meanwhile, Witherspoon points out, "I've actually known Jake for years," but her voice is lost in the giggles.
And that was that on the subject. As Witherspoon's first major film since her Oscar-winning performance in "Walk the Line" the actress admitted it was the story structure of "Rendition" that she found most intriguing.
"I think the challenge of doing an ensemble piece is that your story line is so short that every scene you are doing is sort of a pivotal moment in that character's journey," Witherspoon says. "So, everything was sort of heightened and very dramatic."
More daunting, though, was an in-your-face scene with the Laurence Olivier of American film, Meryl Streep.
"Definitely, the ride to work that day was nerve-racking," Witherspoon says. "But, she was wonderful. She's completely intimidating, completely professional, had a thousand ideas. She definitely makes the film, um, I dunno, what am I trying to say, Peter?"
"She makes the film better," Saarsgard deadpans as the crowd chuckles.
Exactly. And while Witherspoon was dealing with the specter of Streep, Gyllenhaal's role as a young CIA analyst trying to justify the torture of a man under his watch became increasingly hard to research. Most CIA agents he spoke to off the record would only give technical information and not the emotional background he needed for his character. So, in a way, the Oscar-nominated actor from "Brokeback Mountain" went the Cliffs Notes route -- he watched other movies on CIA agents. "'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,' which is a merging of the alcoholic and the spy," Gyllenhaal recalls. "And then also, 'The Good Shepherd,' actually. Which I think, just a little shout-out to Matt Damon, that's a pretty incredible performance. More about, the less he does then the more he does -- and that's the kind of performance that I look up to. So, I just tried to copy it."
And once again, the "serious" movie's press conference is filled with laughter at the brazen honesty of Gyllenhaal's comment. The whole day is recapped with Sarsgaard's sarcastic zinger to his co-star, "Nice."
Today it's my birthday, Weirdos, and I feel a bit mellancholic thinking I'm in the thirty-something group, although my mind belongs to a bored teenager. This evening I'll take a "Sacher" chocolate cake and I'll drink "rosado" wine or cava. This is gonna be a bohemian evening.
"The role of Linda Ferrin was initially played by Bijou Phillips. Her scenes needed to be re-shot but Phillips was not available due scheduling conflicts, so the role went to Clea DuVall".
Bijou Phillips has starred in movies as "Tart", "Bully" (2001) "Havoc" (2005), "Hostel: Part II" (2007), etc. and she made her debut album 'I'd Rather Eat Glass', produced by Talking Heads and Modern Lovers guru Jerry Harrison. It was released in 1999.
"New Line could have made the press conference for the dour thriller "Rendition" a two-drink-minimum affair. Jake Gyllenhaal demonstrated better comic timing than we see in the average studio comedy.
A sample for you: Director Gavin Hood was ranting about the potential of film, Hollywood's hunger for money and why we need more movies like "All the President's Men". It was well intentioned, and Hood should totally be a guest lecturer on college campuses. But he went on a wee bit too long about his idealistic visions of a Hollywood in which studios forget about their coffers.
That's when Gyllenhaal put an arm around him—the arm was key—and made a crack about Hood's next project...Wolverine.
It was seriously hysterical. Jake made his director blush like a freshman boy in speech class. So, why won't Jake put that swift wit to use on camera?
"His family is just very serious," says one Beverly Hills-agent type. "They want to see their kids in smart films with a political angle. And their family is obviously close."
An interesting theory, but I'm more inclined to think good comedy scripts just aren't that easy to come by. And if you have a sense of humor, as Jake clearly does, then you're not gonna sign the dotted line just because your agent tells you to. In essence, he needs another "The Good Girl".
That's why a brilliant, sophisticated comedy writer—like Woody Allen, Mike White, Julie Delpy or Nicole Holofcener—should pen a script for Jake. We've seen him be serious so much, and we're getting more with Rendition and the far-off Brothers. But I don't think he'll make a Brokeback-style impression on audiences until he makes us laugh.
"[...] this movie bears a strong resemblance to The Graduate, the 1967 film, which also starred Dustin Hoffman as a character named Ben, and dripped with a baby-boomer generation's sense of alienation from their parents. Besides the obvious initial connection that both star Hoffman as Ben, the films feature a protagonist who escapes from a needy culture that wants to suck him in and make him one of their own. But just as Benjamin had no interest in plastics, Joe is adverse to a career in real estate: Mr. Robinson (Murray Hamilton) and the real estate agent Mike Mulcahey are both are older men who lead stiff, boring lives that make the protagonist cringe. Joe Nast and Benjamin Braddock are content only when they're on the road, leaving behind the small suburban towns where their elders reside, and venturing out into the world. The unexplored world is a place where the protagonist will find both true love and a sense of his own self-identity. While The Graduate ended with the wondering, wandering tunes of Simon and Garfunkel, Moonlight Mile closes with Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing"-a song that is an emblem of the "right" and "true" path that only an idealist would believe in. Like Joe Nast and Benjamin Braddock, each of us cannot help but search for that path ourselves". Source: www.brown.edu
MY VIDEO OF "MOONLIGHT MILE" :
-Joe Nast: That song at the bar, that was yours? -Bertie: He never actually heard it... but... -Joe Nast: ...But he knew you pretty well? -Bertie: About 60%
"[...] "So, Reese and Jake, you didn't meet making the movie?"
Meanwhile, Witherspoon points out, "I've actually known Jake for years," but her voice is lost in the giggles.
As Witherspoon's first major film since her Oscar-winning performance in "Walk the Line" the actress admitted it was the story structure of "Rendition" that she found most intriguing.
"'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,' which is a merging of the alcoholic and the spy," Gyllenhaal recalls. "And then also, 'The Good Shepherd,' actually. Which I think, just a little shout-out to Matt Damon, that's a pretty incredible performance. More about, the less he does then the more he does -- and that's the kind of performance that I look up to. So, I just tried to copy it."
