Sunday, June 10, 2018

Jake Gyllenhaal is Busy, Busy, "Congras" Busy - Part 1 of 2


via GIPHY


Last November 2017, the rumors strongly began:


 

And, continued through December, January... 

Look how decisive the tweet below was.  Of course, the hyperlink will still take you to Deadline's site, just not to the Batman story. Instead, the link is for a story about Sunday in the Park With George! 


 

Additional permutations of the rumor ensued:


Here the "authoritative" source claims to be close to Warner Bros. and says that Matt Reeves intends to keep his projected release date.



"Matt Reeves hopes to have the film out by 2020. Plot details remain under wraps but Matt has indeed met with other people about replacing Affleck. Initially it was just a tactic to get Affleck to sign on for more films, but then when that didn't work, it got through to the studio that Affleck really didn't want to stay. Gyllenhaal really wants the role, but the studio isn't 100% sold on the idea yet. They might use Flashpoint to make him younger, but I don't know how that will work." - Jake Gyllenhaal Wants Batman Role, Warner Bros. Isn't So Sure



But, by April, after months of pointless speculation, Jake calmly tells everyone, "Nope sorry",  not going to play Batman. Basically, the PR equivalency of, "Just kidding."



Not to fret, though!  On May 1, comes a new announcement!  Jake is going to star in and produce a new project, the biopic of Leonard Bernstein.



Not really a surprise proclamation, especially given Jake's success on Broadway, right?  Still, as has become a disturbing trend with Jake's career lately, it's not long before we find out that the Hangover star Bradley Cooper is also doing a film on Leonard Bernstein with director Steven Spielberg.   Dueling Bernsteins quickly becomes the story.  The newly minted narrative consisting of cacophony of tweets pitting Jake and Bradley in a rock 'em, sock 'em boxing match:



 

 via GIPHY

 Ahem.  So Bradley is pulling a Harold Hecuba™ (starring and directing) with a juggernaut of a production crew, including Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.  To pad his Harold Hecuba™ resume, Bradley is doing some producing, some writing , and driving the team bus as well.  *wink*  

 Then just a few weeks later, came this crushing blow:

So Jake was riding high one minute and within weeks, down for the count.  Twitter did not disappoint, either.  As was expected, along came the "Jake can't catch a break" pity party laments:



Not to fret for too long though, because the latest news soon erupted onto the scene.  Early in the morning of May 21, twitter broke out with a new contagion:

Right out of a Uganda radio station's twitter account.  ;-)

Are you keeping up?  Are you still with us?

via GIPHY 

So, Batman is out. And, the Bernstein biopic is in, but in a second fiddle sort of way. With the paint hardly even dried on that story wall here comes Jake as a Mysterio character in the next Spiderman movie, a flick that is supposed to begin filming in July.

 Amid all this activity, Jake was supposed to be packing his bags this summer for Sri Lanka and London to star in a film formerly known as Rio, now known as Let It Fall Back.  Jake fans have been quite excited about this project because it stars A-Lister's Benedict Cumberbatch and Michelle Williams, plus the recently acclaimed director, Luca Guadagnino of Call Me By Your Name fame, heralded to be at the helm.  Filming dates for Let It Fall Back have been hazy at best, but according to this Michelle Williams fan site twitter account, the production was anticipated to start in June/July; that is, until these pictures appeared.

Well, what do you know.  Seems like Michelle has begun filming a different movie called After the Wedding once she completed Venom, based on a Marvel universe character.  Benedict Cumberbatch, on the other hand, has been busy filming Avengers, a TV series Mowgli, and is currently voicing for The Grinch.  As for Director Luca Guadagnino?  Well,

Let It Fall Back is no longer listed on his IMDb page, despite a video earlier in the year of him talking about having the movie on his upcoming agenda.  Courtesy of jakebullshittingovereverybody instagram:

So what happened there, one has to wonder? 

Meanwhile, back on the Jake "State" farm, what has he been up to while his IMDb dance card has been filling up? Well, he was named the new ambassador for Cartier watches in March:


 

A new commercial unveiled:


 

In the meantime, Jake filmed the Untitled Dan Gilroy™ flick in March on location in Los Angeles. As far back as January, March 19 was the starting date being projected:


 

So instead of cast interactions or on set captions, we get Jake, allegedly, walking "his" pooch Leo in early May:

Reading in April:

More dog park hangin' in April according to this gem of a picture  with someone who doesn't even resemble Jake, but we are told to understand that it is:


Jake, supposedly gazing into NYC store windows in May:

Allegedly, bridge walking with beard Greta Caruso (no, we won't call her his "romantic friend", we'll call her what she is - she's a beard):


And, with the aid of an enabling make-up artist/designer who strategically sprinkled Instagrams and tweets to keep Jake in the public eye filming and "wrapping up" his LA shoot, we are subjected to the  longest film wrap I've ever experienced on social media!  Here's Jake doing some shoulder peering:

In the midst of the book reading and window shopping, there was Cannes Film Festival 2018 in May where Jake's movies Wildlife AND The Sisters Brothers were screened.  Not only that, but his biopic The American (about Leonard Bernstein) was to begin international sales.

 "International sales will commence at this month’s Cannes Film Market; shooting starts this fall." - via indiewire


With fellow hand-clutcher, Paul Dano making his debut at Cannes as a director, surely we should have several Kodak moments to share. But alas, no Jake at Cannes.  [At least for the cameras.]

WHEW!  Are you as worn out as we are after that winter/spring in review? Definitely, a lengthy period of time in which it looked like Jake was such a busy, in-demand guy. But, once all the smoke and mirrors were removed, let's just say, not so much.

 via GIPHY

What could all this Jake-in-motion mean, though?  So many pre-productions, so many dead-end rumors, the bridge walking, the dog walking, the selfies, the non-attendance at Cannes....

In Part Two, we'll prune away the underbrush to see what really might be happening behind the scenes.

Click Here for Part 2 of 2 


pic sources: Giphy, IHJ, Oh My Godot, IMDb
our playlist: Where Do You Go - Flor
                    Must Be Dreaming - Frou Frou
                    The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
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