Prince Charming

LONDON — It’s a chilly Wednesday morning and I am rubbing elbows with Jake Gyllenhaal, literally!

Together with nine other “international” journalists, I am seated at a round table at a suite of the posh The Dorchester, located right across from the Hyde Park — seated right next to Jake, that is — that’s why when he gestures as he fields questions about his life (not too personal, please!) and career, with his hands and mine on the table, we keep on rubbing elbows.

Oh yes, the movie we flew here for is Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time which opens nationwide on May 27. It’s based on the popular video game created by Jordan Mechner (who also wrote the movie’s screenplay) in 1998, featuring Jake as the rogue prince Dastan who reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess, Tamina (played by Gemma Arterton who plays a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig’s second outing as 007), and together they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world. It’s directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and also stars Sir Ben Kingsley (as Dastan’s adoptive father and beloved uncle) and Alfred Molina (as Sheikh Amar, one of Dastan and Tamina’s enemies).

I remember Jake as the serious gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain (“Love is a force of nature,” according to the movie’s blurb), an offbeat love story in which Jake’s character Jack Twist falls in love with the character Ennis Del Mar, played by the late great actor Heath Ledger.

I’m delighted to find Jake a funny guy in person, talking tongue-in-cheek and putting on a serious face when answering a rather “trivial” question (Is he flattered to be a sex symbol?, etc.) only to break his sentence with a hearty laughter. There’s a certain sadness in his sky blue eyes that pierce you with the same intensity with which Jake attacks his roles. He’s the laughing type and that makes the interview a refreshing interview, indeed!

I ask him if he knows any Filipino and he says yes, he does, “I had a classmate in school but he’s only half-Filipino.”

The next day during the one-on-one TV interview (airing on Startalk next Saturday, May 22, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. after Eat, Bulaga! on GMA), Jake will smile upon recognizing me, “You’re the guy who is from the Philippines, right?” How flattering it is to be remembered, even not by name, by a great Hollywood actor!

As a kid, you loved playing video games. As a videogame enthusiast, you must have easily identified yourself with the Dastan character, the Prince of Persia.

“I don’t know if I would say I’m an enthusiast but I would definitely say that I have enjoyed playing video games. When I was a bit younger, I played the Nintendo and many games on it. My favorites were Super Mario Bros., Metroid, The Legend of Zelda and The Oregon Trail. Fun games. For me, knowing the world of video games and knowing how they work in a storyline, and how the games translate into movies, is quite an exciting experience. I happen to be a member of the generation that played the first version of Prince of Persia.”

You look gorgeous, so beefed-up, on the movie’s poster. How did you get that kind of body?

(With a straight face) “Well, I rented a camel in Los Angeles and for about 15 hours a day I rode on it through Hollywood and passed by the houses of all the stars who live there. You know, I galloped the camel.” (No kidding now) “The development of the character was massively physical, so I had to get in shape. I studied parkour (l’art du deplacement or the art of movement), sword-fighting and the mentality of a warrior. I trained mostly like totally functionally so that I wasn’t really in the gym most of the time. It was good because I’m not the type who wants to stay inside exercising; I like to be outside and doing many different things. I trained with gymnasts and acrobats. I learned horseback-riding. It helped that I am an avid runner, a cyclist and an all-around athlete.”

Oh, for conditioning.

“Yes, for conditioning. And then I would just eat berries and leaves and other fibrous things just to clear up my body. Slowly but surely, I developed this kind of body.”

You look very sexy on the poster. You could be, you know, the new sex symbol, the sexiest man alive. How do you feel about it?

(Pretending to be serious) “You know, it’s a very difficult position. I would take it on with courage and, hmmmm, if that happened it would be the first time that l’d ever cry in my life.” (Trivia: He is one of People magazine’s World’s Most Beautiful People of 2010.)

Seriously?

“Hahahahahaha!”

In terms of emotional challenge, how does Prince of Persia compare to your iconic role as Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain?

“Well, I think the role of Prince of Persia is already iconic because so many people have played and are playing the video game. I think the Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, who was created in a short story, didn’t become necessarily iconic until the movie came out. It touched so many people and became a part of the celluloid culture.”

Brokeback Mountain is a beautiful love story, isn’t it?

“Yes, it is.”

In Prince of Persia, your character Dastan possesses an ancient dagger that can release the Sands of Time. If you got hold of that dagger, what period of your past would you like to go back to?

“Oh, we’re really going deep now. So what period of my past would I go back to? I won’t change anything but I’d like to see my birth; I want to see how I came out.”

And what part of your childhood would you like to go back to?

“Probably, I’d like to go back to the eight-year-old who wants to go see Indiana Jones and bites the goonies. That was the inspiration for me and the reason why I was excited about doing this movie. I would tell that eight-year-old, ‘When you are 29 years old, like I am now, you’re gonna play the Prince of Persia; it’s a little bit like Indiana Jones, a little bit like the goonies.’ If I were that eight-year-old, I guess my head would explode from the excitement.”

That was about the time you started acting, right?

“I started acting professionally when I was old enough, probably around 12 years old.” (Adding with a serious face) “But I actually started acting since my birth which is why I’d want to go back to that period of my life. I’ve always been b------t, you know.” (And then he laughs and laughs)

Obviously, you enjoyed doing the movie like that eight-year-old surely would.

“You know, every day on the set (in Morocco) was like a sporting event. You drive to the set and you pass by miles and miles of cars. Most of the crew were international and they didn’t live there, so everyone was driven to work. So there’d be like 500 Land Rovers parked there. There were thousands of extras, a huge crew and an army of people getting ready and you had 40 minutes to put on your costume. It’s unlike working on a movie with a crew of four or five people and you feel like family. On this movie, we were like an army but we did get close.”

Which do you prefer, a huge company or a small one?

“Both. I mean, what I prefer more and more now in my life is a little more humor and taking myself less seriously. I do believe that variety is definitely the spice of life.”

You did grow your hair for the movie, right?

“Oh yes, I did. It took me months to grow my hair. Dastan speaks in standard British accent to be consistent with the rest of the performers so I worked hard at that, too, with a dialect coach.”

What is sexy to you?

“To me, the most important thing is for people to discover what the character is all about, what’s the inside of this guy. The essence is mythological and simple but he has to have a good heart, and he does a good thing, and he’s rewarded for doing a good thing. It’s very simple but it’s very clear. Hopefully, that’s sexy to me.”

How do you feel being a movie star?

(Pretending to be horrified) “God, man, it is just soooo hard.” (Laughs and laughs again) “I mean, it’s a hard job and, please, please, please insert the irony that’s needed in that statement. Actually, it’s a pleasure to do the job. It’s a great job. I mean, there are days when you can catch me when I’m...Grrrrr! But most days, it’s all good. Not bad.”

You are a child of cinema, your father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, being a director and your mother, Naomi Foner, a scriptwriter. At 10, you played Billy Crystal’s son in City Slickers. I guess you didn’t have a choice but become an actor.

“I have lots of interests but I’ve always found movies most interesting. Being an actor in movies is, I think, a great thing to do and a lot of fun. Movies themselves are what I love. I love the thrill of making a movie, particularly when you’re involved not just in acting but in the story of the movie. That’s the way I grew up, you know. If I wasn’t excited about the movies, I wouldn’t be doing them no matter how good the money was.”

What was the one movie that made you realize that you wanted to be an actor?

“The one movie? There wasn’t just one movie. I told you that when I came out at birth, I was already acting.” (Laughs some more). “I was born in the atrium of a film agency. The agents pulled me out — you know, ‘We got him, we got him!’” (And then he can’t stop laughing)

“I was to the movies born.”

Are you the type of actor who takes risks in choice of roles?

“That’s a question I should ask people, the public.”

I mean, you dare take a role like the one in Brokeback Mountain which most actors would shy away from because they think that playing a gay character has a “stigma” to it.

“Oh, I would like to be called that then, an actor who takes risks. I think I have made a lot of choices that made people go, ‘What!?!’ I did Brokeback Mountain because I read the script and I was, you know, so moved by it. In my opinion, you’d be a fool not to have done that movie. I was like weeping while reading that script. When a script can elicit that kind of emotion, it’s there, it’s a blueprint. Whatever fears come to mind about how people are gonna perceive you...if you have those fears that would stop you from giving a good performance. If you are moved by script, then go with that first instinct. When I read the first page of the Prince of Persia script, I felt the same way. Forget those fears, follow your instinct.” (Trivia: In a scene in Brokeback Mountain, Jake and Heath are shown jumping naked into the river. In a GQ interview, Jake admitted that it was only Heath who stripped and a “double” did it for Jake.)

Any role that you would not play?

“I won’t say specifically what roles but there have been roles that I turned down and that went to other actors, even if people told me that I would be amazing in them. If I feel that I can’t do it, then I’d rather not do it.”

How do you spend your time away from work?

“I spend my time with my family; I spend a lot of time with my family. I love, you know, cooking and I love to grow the food that I cook, mostly vegetables. I spend time with my sister and my brother-in-law and my niece. I’m really a homebody.”

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