Jake Gyllenhaal in "Source Code" and cop drama "End of Watch" announced

New Stills of Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens in "Source Code" (2011)

"For a while back there it looked liked Duncan Jones' second movie would be a sci-fi tapering close to the Blade Runner-stylings of Ridley Scott. Source Code, though, got in ahead of the Berlin-set Mute and has more of a Scott Jr. feel to it. Tony would be happy with this scene which introduces the prickly chemistry between Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Christina (Michelle Monaghan) without sacrificing the sense that something important is about to explode". Source: www.empireonline.com

"David Ayer is set to write and direct cop drama "End of Watch" with Jake Gyllenhaal in early discussions to star. Ayer and John Lesher will produce through Ayer's Crave Films and Lesher's Le Grisbi Prods. Plot details are vague; pic's being described as a gritty drama that follows the friendship between longtime partners.
Ayer is no stranger to this genre, having already penned scripts for "Training Day", "S.W.A.T." and the Christian Bale vehicle "Harsh Times", which Ayer wrote and directed. He most recently directed Keanu Reeves in "Street Kings."
Gyllenhaal has been beefing up his action-hero status, starring in Disney's "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" last summer. He has Summit's sci-fi thriller "Source Code" coming this month.

As first reported by Variety, Gyllenhaal has been mentioned as a contender for the lead in "The Bourne Legacy", the latest rendition of the Universal franchise (Daily Variety, Feb. 25)". Source: www.variety.com

"Source Code" and "The Singularity is near" pics & extracts

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan as Colter Stevens and Christina in "Source Code" (2011), directed by Duncan Jones

Still of Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright in Source Code (2011)

Chapter Four: Achieving the Software of Human Intelligence: How to Reverse Engineer the Human Brain

"I estimate the compressed genome at about thirty to one hundred million bytes; this is smaller than the object code for Microsoft Word and much smaller than the source code".
"Wolfram goes on to describe how simple computational mechanisms can exist in nature at different levels, and he shows that these simple and deterministic mechanisms can produce all of the complexity that we see and experience. He makes the point that computation is essentially simple and ubiquitous. The repetitive application of simple computational transformations, according to Wolfram, is the true source of complexity in the world".
Information, Order, and Evolution: The Insights from Wolfram and Fredkin's Cellular Automata:

"We see information at every level of existence. Every form of human knowledge and artistic expression—scientific and engineering ideas and designs, literature, music, pictures, movies—can be expressed as digital information. Our brains also operate digitally, through discrete firings of our neurons. The wiring of our interneuronal connections can be digitally described, and the design of our brains is specified by a surprisingly small digital genetic code. Indeed, all of biology operates through linear sequences of 2-bit DNA base pairs, which in turn control the sequencing of only twenty amino acids in proteins. Within the atom, electrons take on discrete energy levels. Other subatomic particles, such as protons, comprise discrete numbers of valence quarks. In his book A New Kind of Science, Wolfram offers a comprehensive analysis of how the processes underlying a mathematical construction called "a cellular automaton" have the potential to describe every level of our natural world".

-extracts from "The Singularity is near" book by Raymond Kurzweil

Robert Pattinson talks on Kristen Stewart and Charlie Sheen in Vanity Fair

Scans of Robert Pattinson in Vanity Fair magazine, April 2011 issue

"Pattinson tells the April issue of Vanity Fair that the attention surrounding his real-life romance with his onscreen love interest has put a strain on their relationship.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart attending a preview of Twilight in Beverly Hills, CA on 7th November, 2008

"It's just very traumatic", the 24-year-old Brit complains. "When this is over, the media will lose interest. There'll be nothing to say. It won't fit into a headline anymore. It won't fit into a template."
Even before their secretive romance began, Pattinson admits he was a fan of Stewart's body of work.

"Kristen is very focused on being an actress. I mean, that's what she is -- she's an actress. Whereas I...I just don't really know," the actor admits of his 20-year-old flame.
"She's cool. Even before I knew her I thought she was a really good actress. Like, I saw Into the Wild, and I thought she was really good in that," he reaves. "I still think there are very few girls in her class that are as good as she is."
His private life aside, Pattinson also admits to having an unlikely fondness for Charlie Sheen.
"I like crazy people who don't give a f***", he explains, adding that he's a fan of the 45-year-old actor's "little escapades."

"I never change the channel in my trailer. I just watch reruns of House of Payne and Two and a Half Men. I love Cops -- I think it's my favorite TV show," he laughs. "God, I sound like such a loser." Source: www.usmagazine.com

R.I.P. Jane Russell (1921-2011)

"The girl with the summer-hot lips and the winter-cold heart". "There are two good reasons why men go to see her. Those are enough" - Howard Hughes, quoted in Robert Hale's "The Humour of Sex"

"Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don't have any" -Jane Russell

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell putting their signatures in cement at Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, 1953

Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" directed by Howard Hawks in 1953

"She once got her life so balled up that the studio hired a full-time secretary maid for her. So Marilyn soon got the secretary as balled up as she was, and she ended up waiting on the secretary, instead of vice-versa" -Jane Russell on her co-star Marilyn Monroe

Source Code TV Spot and new pics

First look at the new TV Spot for Source Code, the Duncan Jones-directed film hitting theaters on April 1st. The action thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright.

In "Source Code", decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the "Source Code", a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack.

"Donnie Darko" celebrated in Genre Films at the Spirit Awards

Jake Gyllenhaal leaving the Vanity Fair Oscar party in LA on 27th February 2011
Jena Malone (Jake's co-star in "Donnie Darko") attending The Vanity Fair Oscar Party in LA on 27th February 2011

"Best First Feature category has been a hotbed for filmmakers who quickly make their mark with genre films. Although audiences didn't immediately embrace Richard Kelly's time-travel drama "Donnie Darko" in 2002, the Spirit Awards instantly recognized the qualities that would make it a cult classic with nods in the Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay categories. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jena Malone as Donnie and Gretchen in the theatre scene from "Donnie Darko" (2001)

Last year, the biggest stir when nominations were announced came with the announcement of Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity" the surprise box office hit that was made for just around $15,000 by a software programmer and went on to gross $107 million domestically with the simple premise of a couple tormented by supernatural house guests.

Still of Ashley Bell in The Last Exorcism (2010)

This year, another found footage flick found its way into the category with "The Last Exorcism" which also earned a nomination for its star Ashley Bell in the Best Supporting Female category for her portrayal of a young woman that appears to be possessed by the Devil. Incidentally, the film isn't actually the first from director Daniel Stamm, whose previous mock doc thriller "A Necessary Death" won an audience award at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles in 2008 and brought him to the attention of executive producer Eli Roth after the film's original directors, screenwriters Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland had to leave to direct their other script in development, the comedy "The Virginity Hit." That bit of luck gave Stamm the chance to show his mettle on a substantially larger (but still meager $1.8 million) budget and paired him with Roth, who has injected a much-needed sense of humor into the usually deadly serious arena of horror.
The somewhat tricky nature of Spirit Award paperwork led to a similar nomination oddity in 1997 and 1998, though it was no less prescient when Larry Fessenden picked up the Swatch Someone to Watch Award a year before the Spirit Awards would nominate him again for Best Director - the catch is they were for both for the same film "Habit". Still, there's no argument here about acknowledging Fessenden, who has gone on to become one of the most prominent and important promoters of independent genre films, both as a director himself on films like 2006's Ron Perlman frightfest "The Last Winter" but as the chief of Glass Eye Pix, which has produced such films recently as "Bitter Feast" and "The House of the Devil", introducing the world to filmmakers like Ti West and Joe Maggio.

Duncan Jones director of "Source Code" (starring Jake Gyllenhaal) was a revelation with his indie debut "Moon", a low budget sci-fi film.

In general, indie filmmakers have long pushed the boundaries that often prevent even most mainstream films from presenting the world as they know it, so it only makes sense that many work in horror and science fiction, where at its best, they can offer effective social commentary in a way few other genres of films can be. That the Spirit Awards chooses to acknowledge it keeps the ceremony on the cutting edge and always ahead of what's next". Source: www.ifc.com