Ladies attending this year's Cannes Film Festival were in for a treat on Thursday when Jake Gyllenhaal made his first ever appearance at the event. The hunky 26-year-old, who describes himself as a "Cannes virgin", was attending the screening of his film Zodiac, with co-star Chloe Sevigny.
Oscar-nominee Jake, who has seen the crime thriller several times recently after working on a commentary for the DVD, was a little unclear on the protocol of ducking out of a special screening. "I'm wondering about the impoliteness of leaving once the screening has begun," he told a British newspaper. "They'll probably have security guards dragging me back in if I try to leave," he quipped.
The film is based on a true story of a San Francisco newspaper cartoonist's quest to identify a Sixties serial killer known as The Zodiac. In it Jake's cartoonist's character spends much of his time coming up against the paper's crime writer, played by Robert Downey Jr. And the experience of working with the Good Night And Good Luck actor seems to have made quite an impression on his younger co-star.
"A very good, typical actor has about 25 really interesting choices and ideas within a minute," explains Jake. "And then there's Robert Downey Jr who has, I would say, 500 to 750 ideas. Some people would call that madness. I would call it genius."
After Cannes, Jake - who's just finished filming Rendition with Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep - plans on visiting his sister Maggie in London. The mum-of-one, who gave birth to daughter Ramona last October, is currently filming the new Batman movie The Dark Knight in the capital.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
