March
24th 2006
Brokeback
Mountain DVD SpecialsUniversal Studios Home Entertainment is proud to announce that it will be releasing the powerful, affecting and one of the most talked about movies of the year - "Brokeback Mountain", which stars Academy Award Nominees Heath Ledger ("The Patriot", "The Lords of Dogtown"), Jake Gyllenhaal ("Jarhead", "Donnie Darko"), Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress Michelle Williams ("The Station Agent", "Prozac Nation") and Anne Hathaway ("Princess Diaries", Ella Enchanted") onto DVD. The disc will be available in both 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and 1.33:1 Fullscreen editions, along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and English SDH audio tracks. Subtitles are also available.
Based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is a sweeping epic that explores the lives of two young men, ranch-hand Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), who meet in the Summer of 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection. The complications, joys and heartbreak they experience provide a testament to the enduraance and power of love. Ledger and Gyllenhaal deliver emotionally charged, remarkably moving performances in "a movie that is destined to become one of the great classics of our time" (Clay Smith "The Insider").
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has won three Academy Awards including Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") for Best Director, Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove", "Terms of Endearment") and Diana Ossana("Johnson Country War") for Best Adapted Screenplay and Gustavo Santaolalla ("Collateral", "21 Grams") for Best Original Score.
DVD Details:
Technical Features
- 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- 1.33:1 Fullscreen
- English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
- English SDH
- French and Spanish Subtitles
Bonus Materials
- "On Being a Cowboy" featurette
- "Directing From the Heart: Ang Lee"
- From Script to Screen: Interviews with Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
- Sharing the Story: The Making of Brokeback Mountain documentary
- posted by Ally
- credits:
MoviesOnline.Ca
-
March
24th 2006
Top
DVD Rentals This Week
1. Walk the Line ***1/2('05, PG-13) Reese Witherspoon walked away with an Oscar for good reason, and we sing some praises for Joaquin Phoenix's take on Johnny Cash as well.
*2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ***('05, PG-13)No doubt the darkest, yet most intriguing, Potter film.
*3. Jarhead *** ('05, R) Based on memoirs, a Marine (Jake Gyllenhaal) tries to weather Desert Storm with varying degrees of success.
*4. Just Friends **1/2('05, PG-13) In high school, he was the fat boy who was rejected by his teenage crush. Ten years later, he's a "playa." Don't hate.
5. Yours, Mine & Ours *1/2 ('05, PG) A widower and widow (Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo) marry, bringing 18 kids along for the ride. *6. Prime**1/2('05, PG-13) A 37-year-old divorcee (Uma Thurman) falls for a man (Bryan Greenberg) 14 years younger. Prime, indeed.
7. Pride and Prejudice ***1/2 ('05, PG) Yet another old-school English tale of love. This is one of the better ones, however, chick-flick label not withstanding. Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen star.
8. North Country ***1/2 ('05, R) Charlize Theron's stellar performance made everyone forget that Aeon Flux business. As a sexually harassed iron-miner, Theron demonstrates a more appropriate use of her firepower.
9. The Ice Harvest *** ('05, R) This dark comedy finds John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton stumbling through Christmas Eve after a bank heist. We fell for it; you will, too.
10. The Weather Man **
('05, R) A forecaster (Nicolas Cage) faces sunny skies in his professional
life and various cold fronts personally.
- posted by Ally
- credits:
Philly.Com
-
March
15th 2006
|
Have you been
surprised by the way that Brokeback Mountain has been embraced not
just by critics but also by the public in America?
“You know, I am
surprised both critically and publicly. I think the thing that’s
most interesting about it is I’ve never before, when I’ve been
in any movies, felt like the critics are the public. And when I
talk to particularly journalists, and men in particular, they say,
‘I mean I’m straight and everything but, er, it’s really a
movie about friendship, right? Right!?’ you know, like they’re
justifying it in whatever way they can, so it becomes a
discussion. At first, when we went to all the festivals and did
press, I was very surprised that people were talking to us that
way. Ang [Lee, the director] said people don’t really come up
and ask him questions. They tell him how they’re feeling. So as
we were talking to journalists, even the critics, we all felt like
it was a different feeling than usual, and it was like they were
an audience for the first time.
“I think the film
also represents something to [the gay community]. My godfathers
are gay and they told me a lot about how important the film is to
their community. Just in theory it’s a very special thing for
them, you know? But at the same time I also think it’s a very
conventional love story, too. So in a way I’m not surprised by
the response. It’s definitely done in an unconventional way and
in an unconventional context, but it’s very conventional, and in
that way love stories always produce that kind of swell.”
It’s the
gay angle though which makes it risky and, in the current
conservative climate in America, political as well.
“I would hope so. I
mean yeah, it stirs people up. It feels new. That’s what I love
most when I read scripts, or when I’m reading anything: I want
it to feel new, like you have never seen it before. Like an
audience is going to go in and go, ‘Oh, that’s a whole other
angle, or a whole other side, that we haven’t dusted off
yet.’”
Brokeback
Mountain is one of a number of gay-themed films coming out,
presumably partly in response to the rise in conservative
attitudes. Was that in your thinking when you took the project on?
“[Deep breath]
First, it’s always about how I emotionally, instinctually react
to the story. I don’t choose my films as a social or a political
move, and that’s not my first motivation ever. I mean, somehow,
maybe the way I was brought up and what I consider important is
involved in those instincts somewhere, you know what I mean?
[Smiles] I know a lot of young actors that didn’t want to do
this film, and thank God they turned it down, because they were
first choices over me. And maybe their political background and
how they were brought up played into their instincts in responding
to the material. But all I can say is that when I read it, I got
past something and saw what was so beautiful about the film. I
wasn’t consciously going, ‘This is really going to rock ‘em
and they’re really going to be surprised, and we’re going to
really give ‘em a one-two here.’ I was given a one-two by the
script [laughs], you know what I mean? I couldn’t not do it.”
Brokeback
Mountain and Jarhead are not only more controversial than anything
else you have done but, dare I say it, more mature, at least in
terms of your roles. Do they feel like the start of a new chapter?
“Definitely.
Hopefully without presumption, definitely. These movies are the
first time I have done anything completely on my own, without
asking people what they thought of them and if I should do them or
not. I feel like I’m searching for a process in my acting --
Brokeback was the beginning of this and Sam really encouraged it
on Jarhead – but on these I felt like I was going to show up and
whatever I was actually feeling on the day, if I was not getting
along with Heath [ledger, on Brokeback Mountain] or not getting
along with Peter [Sarsgaard, on Jarhead], or I was getting along
with Peter and I shouldn’t have been in the scene, I was going
to use it. So I was working in a territory that was less
structured than I’d ever been in before.”
So your
approach was much more instinctive than usual?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Somebody, the other day, described Brokeback to me, and they said,
‘It starts sad, it is sad, and it ends sad, and you walk out
like that’. I think Heath and I were both in that sadness for
four or five months, and it took us a while to get out of it. I
just tried to carry those things with me.”
Did you go
straight on to Jarhead from Brokeback?
"I had three
months in between. But I got the role when I was doing Brokeback,
and I finished and just started working out. That was the
beginning of the end.”
Do you think
the American public is going to have the stomach for Jarhead the
way that it has for Brokeback Mountain? They can see images from
Iraq on the news every day, why should they worry about a soldier
who doesn’t engage the enemy?
“Well it has come
out in America. It was interesting the way it was marketed. What
is fascinating to me was the expectations that people have one,
for a Sam Mendes film, and two, for a war film. What happened with
the film was that it was marketed in such a way, I think, that
people believed it to be one thing and it actually ended up being
another thing. And that other thing was a film that’s filled
with a tremendous ambiguity, there are many questions posed and
not much answered, I think there’s a very disassociative factor
to the whole thing where you walk through it and can’t really
get a grasp on everything that’s happening at all times. You
know, people keep saying, ‘Oh, it’s a war film with no war,’
which is very disturbing to me; but it’s really a war film where
they see little action, that the war that they have is a war in
their mind.
“That was the war
for the soldiers who fought in the first Gulf War, and that’s
very special to them and it means a lot to them. I think people
just sort of expect somehow that blood is war and that somehow
even though they’re disturbed by those ideas and seeing those
things, really disturbed, it’s conventional and they understand
it, and they know somehow that when they go into a movie they’re
going to see that, and that’s what they expect. So it makes
people feel very uncomfortable when they don’t walk out having
seen any of that.”
It seems to
be very much a film about frustration. Not just the frustration of
not going into battle but also sexual frustration. And the film
itself seems designed to frustrate the pornographic thrill which
Anthony Swofford, the author of Jarhead, and the character
you’re playing, says in the book soldiers get from watching
films that are supposed to be anti war, like Apocalypse Now.
“Yeah, and in the
film there’s the extra irony of Walter Murch having been the
editor of both Jarhead and Apocalypse Now in that scene [where the
soldiers watch Apocalypse Now]. Um, yeah, I mean look, I don’t
think you have to do much as a young man to create frustration
[laughs]. You know what I mean? Any type of frustration, be it
mental or sexual or whatever. That’s the primary reason why I
felt like I wanted to do the role. I felt so strongly about
playing it because it is a time in my life where I feel these
feelings of frustration and anger, and that feeling of wanting to
punch your fist through a wall and not understanding why. What I
think I have discovered about the military, in my short and
peripheral experience of it, is that they harness those feelings
and focus them towards an end. They give them meaning through
missions. I think that is the intention of the film. It’s almost
the mindset of that. I think that for a lot of people, it creates
a very ambiguous and also a very varied response, you know, as it
should. I don’t think there’s any other intention besides
that.”
The film’s
sexualisation of war and the way that we see the men’s sexual
drives becoming re-directed towards a lethal end is interesting.
“And also,
ultimately, against themselves. If you’re trained to kill and
you don’t get to go and kill other people, then you end up
trying to kill each other. That’s the thing. When you leave 12
guys in the middle of the desert there, they’re bound to do
something odd.”
I read a
quote from your mother where she said that she and your father
tried to impress upon you and your sister, Maggie, a kind of
secular humanism with a dash of politics as children. What did
that mean in practise and how do you think it informs your outlook
today, and the choices you make in your work?
“I think that no
matter what I always look for humanity, like I always look for a
sense of hope. It can be in the bleakest story but I don’t buy
total perversity, utter perversity without hope. I may be naïve
but I believe that there is good to all of this, and those are the
things that move me. That’s definitely a part of my upbringing.
The best part of my upbringing [laughs]. And then the perversity
plays a part of the other part of my upbringing. But without the
hope, I don’t think anything really, really works; in
particular, movies and stories.”
Sorry,
what’s the perversity in your upbringing?
“Oh, I just mean,
you know, like every child . . . I think that no one had a great
childhood, no matter what they say. Even though we all pretend
that we want to go back and be children again, I don’t think we
would really want to, you know? That’s what I mean. Those ounces
of perversity, or maybe pounds, whatever, varying degrees for
everybody, but I just think that we all have had our share of pain
as children. Being a child is very hard in this world, no matter
how you were brought up, and I can see easily how you could spin
that in my case [laughs], but still, no matter what.”
Yes, people
assume that you had this charmed upbringing because you were
surrounded by all these glamorous people.
[Smiles] “Yes, I
know.”
Do they annoy
you, the assumptions people make? I read a piece recently where
the writer seemed almost irritated by the fact that you could even
consider doing something other than you are now, like carpentry or
whatever, because you were living the dream, he said, of many
young men -- although I think it was probably actually his dream.
“Well, I actually
do enjoy carpentry. It might annoy him but unfortunately it’s
something I really do actually enjoy, and to me it’s a little
offensive if, you know, somebody thinks that it’s like not as
exciting a job. Because, personally, I am happiest when I’m
building a table for my mom, you know? Which I did, and do, and I
love woodwork, you know? Our interests are all varying. I don’t
know why I find joy and calm doing that but I do.
“And yeah, my
upbringing: it’s funny how people tinge it and move it however
they want to for whatever they need to move it for. People say,
you know, ‘Oh, Paul Newman taught you how to drive, right?’
and I say, ‘No, my father really taught me how to drive and
he’s getting a really bum rap because one day Paul Newman did
take me out to the race track.’ I said that once when I was
doing press when I was 16 years old and now that’s all people
write. Believe me I was in awe when it happened. But I think
people do sometimes, when I talk to journalists or whatever, kind
of like to go, ‘Well, it was this way, wasn’t it?’ I don’t
know, I don’t understand it completely, but I understand them
[sighs]. . . I have been through a lot even just recently. In the
past couple of days, it’s been very interesting to hear what
people have to say about how I was brought up, because my
experience of it was very different.”
Do you sense
a kind of envy? The journalist who wrote the piece I’m referring
to said you were living the life that many young men dream of
having. I’m not sure whether that’s true or not . . .
[Laughs]
Do you have a
sense of carrying people’s dreams with you?
[We both Laugh]
“Yeah, right. I have no sense of anything and you can quote me
on that. [Laughs] No, I’m surprised at how much people love
Brokeback Mountain [can’t contain his giggles], everything’s a
surprise to me, what people feel about different things. It’s
amazing how people are responding to different things and what
bothers people and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, it seems, I’m
always trying to be as honest as I can and, unfortunately, that
honesty can be used how anybody wants to use it.”
Is it true
that your bah mitzvah was held at a homeless shelter?
[Embarrassed laugh]
“Yes, it’s true. That’s part of my upbringing. Yeah, you
know, I think I did grow up with privilege, and I think my mum was
always very keen and very careful of us having perspective on the
world. So yeah, as a young kid I would feed the homeless, we would
buy turkeys for Thanksgiving, and we would go bring them to the
homeless. Yeah, we would do all those things. It’s something I
take for granted and now when I talk about it in the press,
obviously, it sounds like however it sounds. But to me, that was
my mother being very conscious of giving us a perspective, and
ultimately I think it has really influenced me. I think it’s
really important. I think every child, no matter what, should have
perspective wherever they’ve grown up or been brought up, be
free of judgement.”
But on your
bah mitzvah? Aren’t we Jews made to feel guilty enough already?
[We laugh] “I guess
so. But no, I have a lot of other things. But yeah, you’re
right. Well, because my father was Christian too, you know, I
think my parents were always a little unclear in terms of how they
wanted to raise us. But actually they were very clear about it. I
think they wanted to share everything and all those ideas with us,
so when it came around to having a bah mitzvah and doing that, I
think they split the opportunity and basically realised that in
order to do that, ‘Well, let’s go feed the homeless
[laughs]’. Like that would be the most logical religious
response to both Christianity and Judaism, so that was it
[laughs].”
Apparently
Sam Mendes first started thinking about you for Jarhead when he
saw you on stage in London in This Is Our Youth. That was your
stage debut. Why was it important for you to take to the boards at
that point, and why in London?"
"Again, it was
like I read the script and it’s an amazing play. It’s a
masterpiece. And a masterpiece for someone at the age that I was
at doesn’t ever come along. What was interesting is that I
don’t think at the time I was like, ‘Oh, it’s in London’,
and I never realised what that pressure was, and I think that
naivety was a good thing, you know? That play in particular has
totally changed my life. John Madden [who directed him and Gwyneth
Paltrow in Proof] came to see me in that play, Sam came to see me
in that play, consequently four or five other directors that I
hopefully will work with in the future saw me in that play, and
those opportunities have brought me all the movie opportunities I
have gotten. As a movie actor, your representation always says,
‘Don’t do that. Don’t do a play because you could do this or
that and make money, and blah, blah, blah.’ But so many more
opportunities have come from it. And, I was just saying as I was
coming over here, at the time, which is probably a good thing, I
don’t think I realised how special of an experience that really
was. In fact I remember our stage manager turned to me and Hayden
[Christiansen] and Anna [Paquin], like four or five days into the
run, and said, ‘Cherish this time because you’ll never have an
opportunity or have an experience like this again because it’s
really an extraordinary feeling to be such a success that way your
first time.’ I remember registering that and being like, ‘OK,
time to have fun.’ It was amazing. The next thing I’m going to
do will be on stage, without a doubt.”
Yes, I
wondered whether you’d like to keep going between film and the
stage, because that play and your performance in it were huge
successes.
“I just think I’m
fed by it. I’m sucked dry by film and I think I’m fed by
theatre. There’s a start and stop to film where you give and you
give and you give, and you don’t have that give and take like
you do in the theatre, and I think it’s just necessary. I get
rid of bad habits, but it just fills me. Right now I have a
responsibility to the next film director I work with to get filled
up again before I go out on the race track again.”
Which
director? David Fincher, your director on Zodiac?
“No, I’m working
with him now. He’s sapping it right now [laughs]. He does a lot
of takes.”
When I
interviewed Fincher for Panic Room, he struck me as a very
technical director. How is he to work with from an actor’s point
of view?
“You know, I think
initially I thought the same thing about him, and when we first
started working I felt that way. I thought he was a real
technician and visualist and that seemed to be the most important
thing to him. But as we’ve worked together I feel like he really
does like actors, and he knows what’s really good in acting,
too. I have a real, real growing fondness for David and his
relationship to actors. To work with, though, we do on average 30
takes, and we do have up to 80. But I also think that’s great,
too. Every director seems to have a different, especially when
they’re really great, a real personality and style of making
their film. And they’ve all been so different and so wonderful
in all these different ways. I just hope that I’ve taken in as
much as I can from them because who knows when the opportunity
will come again to work with people like that. I don’t know,
it’s kind of amazing.”
Sam Mendes
has said that when he became serious about casting you for Jarhead
he was a little hesitant because he didn’t know if you could
become “enraged, violent and emotionally ugly”. Were you aware
of that and did you now that you had these things inside of you?
[Laughs]
“I did know about his hesitation completely. And his hesitation
made me hesitate. But I feel like I knew I had it in me.
[Hesitates] I think I knew I had it in me. And yet proving it to
him was a hard thing. Trying to get his faith that I could do it
was a hard thing, and it took a while.”
How did you
convince him?
[Hesitates] “I
mean, well . . . [clicks his fingers] at a certain point it was
like I read with him and I did a really bad job and I feel like he
moved off of me as a prospect. When I read the book, there was
something about how Tony [Swofford] wrote, which is with a deep
sensitivity and a real empathy and a real understanding and regret
for everything he had experienced, but at the same time a real
appreciation for it too. He walked this fine line and there’s a
conflict inside of him continuously about what he’s been through
and learning the things he learned, and not ever having wanted to
learn them; and then also at the same time just loving it too and
falling in love with it. Somewhere in me I just felt I could do
it. And I called Sam in the middle of the night and I said,
‘I’ll do anything to play this part. I’ll do anything.’ To
tell you the truth, I don’t know if I really knew. I put a lot
of faith in Sam and said to myself, ‘He’s good enough and he
knows. If he’s sure I can do it, then I know I can do it,
too.’”
You’ve said
recently that you realized in hindsight that both Brokeback
Mountain and Jarhead were films about extremes of loneliness and
what people discover about themselves there. Why do you think you
were looking for that at that point?
“Well the irony of
it is I don’t think at the time I knew that I was doing films
like that. Until I showed up on the set of Jarhead, in the middle
of the desert, in the middle of nowhere, you know, I didn’t
realise that I had been doing movies like that, and that maybe I
had been grappling with some sort of thing. I mean again, I can
see how you can say, ‘Where does this loneliness come from, or
this interest in loneliness?’ To me I think the most interesting
things happen when you sit with yourself and when you’re alone.
Like if you really let yourself be that way. When we were in
Calvary [on Brokeback Mountain], I was alone for a very long time;
I mean not even with Heath. We would get off work and we would be
literally in the middle of nowhere, living in trailers, on our
own. Sometimes we would get together and all have dinner together,
sometimes we’d all be alone. Something about the topography of
the spaces I was in, just sometimes even the geography, that it
was nowhere near anywhere I had ever been or knew at all, I needed
to explore. I needed to explore that territory. You grow up in a
city and there’s everything around you all the time, and I
don’t think you realise how lonely you are until you get out of
there. You know, what I think about Brokeback Mountain is that the
reason why these two men fall in love is out of loneliness. Like
there’s just nothing more in their lives when they meet and
it’s the best thing that happens to them when they meet there.
And the same thing, I think, in a weird way, Tony Swofford has to
go to that place of almost utter, desperate, horrible loneliness
in order to become, in a way, the writer that he became. I don’t
know, I just feel like you got to go to those places and somehow,
unconsciously, I was there all of a sudden. I don’t know really
why I picked those films.”
And have you
emerged a different person?
“Yes, definitely.
To me, it’s hard to be sitting here and dealing with the result,
you know, and talking about the result of them. For a long time I
was very interested in the result, what people thought and all
these things, but to me these experiences were not that at all. To
me I’m a different person because of the process of both of
these films, not because of the result of them. That, to me, is
really important to distinguish, regardless of people’s
judgements.”
Have you
discovered a greater sense of self?
“Uh, I think it’s
just like I’ve grown up [laughs]. I don’t know if it’s a
greater sense of self or just feeling a little closer to being
able to be an adult, and that is pretty hard in the movie
business, you know what I mean? [Laughs] But I feel that way. And
working with these people, what I’ve gotten from them as human
beings, like yes, Sam Mendes is a brilliant director, and yes, Ang
Lee is a brilliant director, and yes, David Fincher is a brilliant
director, and yes, Peter Sarsgaard is an amazing actor, and Heath
Ledger gives an incredible performance in the film, all those
things, but just the interactions that I have with them as human
beings, I’ll never forget. I talked to Ang last night and yeah,
he was my director and all those things, but he’s a wonderful
person. Sam and I spent a ton of time together as friends and that
matters to me the most and it’s because we’ve all been through
these experiences. I was in my trailer while Ang Lee was doing Tai
Chi outside of his every morning, for months, so we shared
something special. And that’s the most important thing to me
now.”
|
- posted by Ally
- credits:
Netribution.Co.Uk
-
March
10th 2006
FANS
SUPPORT BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - AD CAMPAIGN
Hollywood, California-In an unprecedented show of support for Brokeback Mountain, a website discussion board has spearheaded a campaign to collect donations from around the world to place ads in trade and national publications in support of the movie. In the first 48 hours, the group raised nearly $16,000 from over 400 contributors, and a team of volunteers designed a full page color ad to run in the March 10 Daily Variety.
The ad campaign was started by members at the Ultimate Brokeback Forum as a positive way to deal with their emotions surrounding Brokeback Mountain's loss for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Instead of responding in anger, members wanted to find a way to thank the cast and crew of the film and to find a way to highlight Brokeback Mountain's unprecedented string of Best Picture wins.
The disparate group quickly decided to start an ad campaign, and soon word spread to other sites, and donations started to pour in from around the world. "I think most fans of the film were stunned by the Best Picture surprise, which raised the question of how and why the Academy could have been so out of sync with virtually every other organization that awarded Best Picture honors," site organizer Dave Cullen said in explaining why so many diverse people worldwide were donating to the campaign.
According to industry watchers, no movie has generated this sort of fan response after a loss for Best Picture. Fans are happy their support for Brokeback Mountain is becoming part of industry lore. They hope that others looking for a way to honor Brokeback Mountain as the Best Picture of 2005 will contribute to the campaign, so more ads can run to help raise awareness that the film garnered nearly every Best Picture award bestowed for 2005. "Only one major organization did not name Brokeback Mountain as Best Picture," says campaign chair Peter Greyson.
In part, this one snub for Best Picture was why those involved with the campaign wanted to send a clear message that Brokeback Mountain was embraced by people around the world as well as highlight their gratitude for the film and remind people of the spirit of the film as expressed by Ang Lee: "[Jack and Ennis] taught all of us who made Brokeback Mountain so much about not just all the gay men and women whose love is denied by society, but just as important, the greatness of love itself."
The organization spearheading the ad campaign is the Ultimate Brokeback Forum, hosted at davecullen.com/forum. The forum has 2,500 members and in only three months of operation is averaging 12,000 unique visitors each day and over 200,000 page views. For more information you can find them on the web at:
www.brokeback.davecullen.com
<http://www.brokeback.davecullen.com>
A copy of the ad going into the Daily Variety can be found at: <http://davecullen.com/brokebackmountain/img/ad-final.jpg>
- posted by Ally
- credits:
Brokeback.DaveCullen.Com
-
March
4th 2006
Presenters
Announced
for 78th Academy Awards®
Beverly Hills, CA — Academy Award®-winning actor Jack Nicholson will join Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Eric Bana, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, John Travolta and Ziyi Zhang as presenters at the 78th Academy Awards ceremony, telecast producer Gil Cates announced today.
These presenters will join Hilary Swank, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Jessica Alba, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Will Ferrell, Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Meryl Streep, Will Smith, Steve Carell, Nicole Kidman, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Uma Thurman, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Lily Tomlin, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez and Salma Hayek on the telecast.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST. A one-hour red carpet arrivals show will precede the telecast at 4 p.m.
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©A.M.P.A.S.®
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972
(310) 247-3000
www.oscars.org
publicity@oscars.org
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posted by Ally
- credits:
Oscars.Org
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March
4th 2006
Hollywood actor JAKE
GYLLENHAAL has never worked harder in his life since starring in upcoming
DAVID FINCHER movie ZODIAC. The Oscar-nominated star,
25, plays real-life author ROBERT GRAYSMITH in the real-life story of the
police hunt for the zodiac serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco
Bay area of California in the 1960s and 1970s. To this day, the murderer has
never been caught. Gyllenhaal, currently
filming the thriller, admits he is having to get used to shooting repeated
takes to satisfy perfectionist Fincher. He says, "My idea of
what is easy and what is hard has been completely changed by this film. "The first day, the
first set-up, we did 67 takes. I was trying to determine if it was a
joke."
GYLLENHAAL
CHANGES ATTITUDE TO ACTING
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posted by Ally
- credits:
ContactMusic.Com
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March
4th 2006
A
Tale of Two 'Brokeback' Cities
Williams and Gyllenhaal get very different reactions
A number
of blogs, including Dlisted, Jossip, and Towleroad, have picked up on a
story first published in the San Diego Union-Tribune about Michelle Williams
being shunned by her Christian high school over her role in 'Brokeback
Mountain.' Jim Hopson, Headmaster of Sante Fe Christian High School, said,
"We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that
movie." Hopson, whose school is located just outside San Diego, Calif.,
went on to say, "Michelle doesn't represent the values of this
institution."
But TMZ did some digging 100 miles up the coast and found Jake Gyllenhaal
got quite a different reception from his private, Los Angeles high school.
Sharon Cuseo, a dean at the exclusive Harvard-Westlake School, says the
school "embraces" Jake's 'Brokeback' success. Cuseo, who was
Jake's counselor, says that the school has openly gay faculty who freely
discuss gay issues with their students.
Cuseo is a bit surprised that not a single parent has called to complain
about Jake's role in the film. Quite the opposite; she says a number of
parents have taken their children to see the movie.
Ted Walch, Jake's acting coach at Harvard-Westlake, says he wasn't shocked
at all that Jake took on the role. Walch says that Gyllenhaal's godparents
are a gay couple and that Jake's family has always been open-minded.
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posted by Ally
- credits:
TMZ.Com
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March
4th 2006
Gyllenhaal:
Cowboy, Marine roles 'from my heart'
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Jake Gyllenhaal should have no fears of
typecasting.
Soon after finishing the gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain," Gyllenhaal launched into the role of a testosterone-fueled young Marine thirsty for Gulf War action in "Jarhead."
"Jarhead" will be released on DVD next week, right after the Academy Awards -- where "Brokeback" is a favorite and the 25-year-old Gyllenhaal is up for best supporting actor for his portrayal of a lovestruck sheepherder.
It's a thrill for Gyllenhaal, who started his movie career at age 11, playing Billy Crystal's son in "City Slickers." Eight years later he was an aspiring teenage rocket scientist in "October Sky," and he broke out in 2002 as Jennifer Aniston's love interest in "The Good Girl."
But the blue-eyed actor says his roles in "Jarhead" and "Brokeback" are among the most meaningful he's played. Though he only had three months to go from gay cowboy to Marine recruit, he says the disparate characters are more similar than they seem ...
AP: What was the transition like between these characters?
Gyllenhaal: There are a lot of physical differences and a lot of differences in terms of intention, but ultimately both of them come from parts of me. In that way, they're the same, kind of. They both come from my heart and it's the same derivation. There's definitely a rage that ("Jarhead"'s) Tony Swofford, the character of Swofford, had that the character of Jack Twist doesn't. He's much more open and engaged, much less cynical.
AP: You went from horseback riding to boot camp. Talk about the physical differences.
Gyllenhaal: ("Brokeback" director Ang Lee) put a set of weights outside my trailer because he wanted me to kind of bulk up for that part. I tried my best but I didn't do it as well as maybe he wanted. But then for "Jarhead," it was sort of mandatory. So I spent those three months reading, and I started working out like really heavily.
AP: What appealed to you about these two roles?
Gyllenhaal: With "Jarhead," it was just kind of like a perfect match. When you get to be a certain age and you're learning how to be a man, there are probably physical, hormonal things and just, I don't know, spiritual things that happen. The feeling of wanting to punch your fist through a wall and not understanding what that is. It's just inherent in growing up. But that's a real, legitimate feeling, and those feelings and that part just coincided perfectly. And there is a resistance in both of the characters. They're not allowed to be their full selves, and I think that I was really drawn to that.
AP: It seemed like "Jarhead" was destined to be a blockbuster, but "Brokeback" is the one that captured audiences. Did the reception of the two films surprise you?
Gyllenhaal: With "Brokeback," you're dealing with a genuine love story. I think that's what people have responded to. That's what's so amazing, is that people can watch it as that, even with the quote-unquote political subtext. And with "Jarhead," it's overtly political. People took into that film, unfortunately I think, they took their own opinions and issues. I love that there are people who loved it and hated it. Both of the movies had that same response. There are some people who have said thank you for making this movie, I've been waiting for it my whole life, and others who have said it's all right.
AP: Were you disappointed with how "Jarhead" fared at the box office?
Gyllenhaal: We live in a world where you need initial response, a big jolt. People want to know something was historic immediately for some reason. I've witnessed, with a lot of movies I've been in, a slow crawl and an appreciation as people have had time with it. Even a movie like 'Donnie Darko' or something, it's insane how people have responded to that film. Initially, someone could have said are you upset with how it went, and maybe at that time I may have (said) yeah, maybe I am. But I'm not. At all. It's found itself. I'm so proud of it. My mentality has changed.
AP: So you're willing to give the audience time to come around to "Jarhead"?
Gyllenhaal: Yes. And I think they will.
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posted by Ally
- credits:
CNN.Com
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March
4th 2006
First
a cowboy, then a soldierAssociated Press
Jake Gyllenhaal should have no fears of being typecast. Soon after finishing the gay cowboy romance ``Brokeback Mountain,'' the actor launched into the role of testosterone-fueled soldier Anthony Swofford, thirsty for Gulf War action in ``Jarhead,'' which will be released on DVD next week -- right after the Academy Awards, where ``Brokeback'' is a favorite and the 25-year-old Gyllenhaal is up for best supporting actor for his portrayal of cowboy Jack Twist.
It's a thrill for Gyllenhaal, who started his movie career at age 11, playing Billy Crystal's son in ``City Slickers.'' Eight years later he was an aspiring teenage rocket scientist in ``October Sky,'' and his breakthrough was in 2002 as Jennifer Aniston's love interest in ``The Good Girl.''
The blue-eyed actor says his roles in ``Jarhead'' and ``Brokeback'' are among the most meaningful he's played. Here are excerpts from a recent conversation:
Q What appealed to you about these roles?
A With ``Jarhead,'' it was just kind of like a perfect match. When you get to be a certain age and you're learning how to be a man, there are probably physical, hormonal things and just, I don't know, spiritual things that happen -- the feeling of wanting to punch your fist through a wall and not understanding what that is. It's just inherent in growing up. But that's a real, legitimate feeling, and those feelings and that part just coincided perfectly. And there is a resistance in both of the characters. They're not allowed to be their full selves, and I think that I was really drawn to that.
Q It seemed like ``Jarhead'' was destined to be a blockbuster, but ``Brokeback'' is the one that captured audiences. Did the reception of the two films surprise you?
A With ``Brokeback,'' you're dealing with a genuine love story. I think that's what people have responded to. That's what's so amazing . . . that people can watch it as that, even with the quote/unquote political subtext. And with ``Jarhead,'' it's overtly political. People took . . . their own opinions and issues (into that film). There are people who loved it and hated it. Both of the movies had that same response. There are some people who have said, ``Thank you for making this movie, I've been waiting for it my whole life,'' and others who have said, ``It's all right.''
Q Were you disappointed with how ``Jarhead'' fared at the box office?
A
We live in a world where you need initial response, a big jolt. . . . I've
witnessed, with a lot of movies I've been in, a slow crawl and an
appreciation as people have had time with it. Even a movie like ``Donnie
Darko'' -- it's insane how people have responded to that film. Initially,
someone could have said, ``Are you upset with how it went,'' and maybe at
that time I may have (said), ``Yeah, maybe I am.'' But I'm not at all. . . .
I'm so proud of it. My mentality has changed.
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posted by Ally
- credits:
CentreDaily.Com
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March
4th 2006
Stars
to Arrive at Oscars in Green Cars
Oscar nominees Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and Frances McDormand are among those expected to step out of green vehicles and onto the red carpet at the Academy Awards ceremony Sunday.
In all, 25 VIPs are participating in the fourth annual "Red Carpet, Green Cars" event sponsored by Toyota Motor Corp. and the environmental organization Global Green USA. McDormand, Phoenix, Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney are all expected to arrive at the Oscars in Toyota or Lexus hybrids, including the Toyota Prius, Lexus RX crossover and a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry, which goes on sale in May.
Event spokeswoman Kathy Kniss said the program began with just four participants in 2002, but interest in fuel-efficient vehicles has grown exponentially since then.
"There's a huge, huge following. People are flocking to the hybrids," Kniss said.
Other automakers are also getting into the act. Ford Motor Co. said Cathy Schulman, the producer of best-picture nominee "Crash," plans to arrive in a hybrid Mercury Mariner, while best-supporting-actor nominee Gyllenhaal's entourage is scheduled to show up in a Ford Excursion powered by clean-burning biodiesel.
General Motors Corp. also will be bringing VIPs to the ceremony, but its focus will be on luxury rather than fuel efficiency. GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said a fleet of 50 Cadillacs — mostly 2007 Escalade SUVs — will be used to pick up and drop off celebrities. Carney said the automaker also will run ads during the broadcast featuring GM's two other luxury brands, Hummer and Saab.
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posted by Ally
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Yahoo! News
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