Here’s a photo of Jake Gyllenhaal at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Everest, which is exactly what it sounds like. The film, directed by Baltasar Kormakur, reenacts the unfortunate 1996 Everest ascent that was a fatal climb for eight men. The actors in the film made a real-life ascent to Base Camp, and this was a total Gyllenhaal move. He’s completely obsessed with putting himself through the physical paces for a film role. He can’t get into character mentally if he’s not also there physically. Jake sees this as part of his art, and he desperately wants that Oscar. Will Everest get him there? Perhaps it will do so faster than Southpaw ever would.
I’m also including photos of Josh Brolin and Jason Clarke, and Kaiser will cover the other photos (da ladies) from the premiere. This isn’t a “who would you rather?” post because that seemed inappropriate when it comes to a sullen douchebag (with possible anger issues) like Brolin. Instead, let’s talk about this Variety interview where Jake discusses what it was like to portray climber Scott Fischer, who was the first American to reach the Everest summit. Here are some excepts about Jake’s usual method-acting madness:
On playing Fischer: “There’s a tremendous responsibility trying to re-create something which has happened.”
He met Fisher’s two children: “It was a beautiful thing to sit down with the two of them and hear what their father was to them and to feel him through them.” His responsibility, Gyllenhaal said, was “to try to find the the energy, not the specifics, ultimately it was the essence of Scott Fischer which was most important. The essence of that expedition was the essence of everybody on it.” His interest in the movie “has always been about the people who climbed Everest on this expedition and their reasons for doing it. It’s not about getting to the top; it’s about community and the connection with the climbers around you.”
The 30,000-foot altitude simulator with Brolin: “Josh and I decided to stay longer. We thought we could handle it, and we were feeling good. We were laughing and talking about the fact that we didn’t think it was so bad, and then, all of a sudden, we got out of the chamber and just felt sick. We realized the power of being so high up and what that does to your mind. … We stayed in there (simulator) too long because we were enjoying ourselves. We were between 26,000 and 36,000 feet … Three days after that, we were in a severe depression.”
[From Variety & Houston Chronicle]
I wonder if Jake and Josh felt high in the altitude simulator. They have those things in some of our local gyms so people can simulate climbing, but I don’t think anyone is weird enough to take those things to 30,000+ feet for the heck of it. And it really makes no sense for these guys to “go method” at this altitude anyway. Everest Base Camp is only 18,192 feet above sea level! So much method, so much Gyllenhaal. He’d better win an Oscar someday because he really wants one.
Photos courtesy of WENN
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