Mark vs. Jake: Indie Flick Man Fight!!
Oh, it is on! Yesterday morning we brought you a few quotes from a recent article in which Jake Gyllenhaal talked about how difficult it was to work with the notoriously picky David Fincher on Zodiac. At the time we noted that Jakey, while adorable, came on as a touch whiney in the article. Apparently we weren't the only ones who noticed. Yesterday, his co-star in the film, Mark Rufalo, had some choice comments of his own on what it was like to work with the director. Here's more:
"Yeah, you hear stories about him being so hard and intense," Ruffalo said. "And then I met him, and I immediately just loved the guy and was thinking , 'Well, when is he going to change? When is this guy that you keep hearing about going to pop up?' And my relationship and friendship with him got deeper as we went along. I think Fincher, what he has no patience for is incompetence or just a casual attitude toward the work. If you come in and you don't know your lines and you're not prepared, Fincher's going to eat you for breakfast. You know? And so the actors who complain about Fincher are usually the ones who don't show up knowing their shit, kind of."
Oh. Snap. For more of Thinly Veiled Zing-alo just read more
Ah. So that whole thing last week with Jake Gyllenhaal's thinly-veiled Fincher critiques ("So there came a point where I would say, well, what do I do? Where’s the risk?") in The New York Times -- was that blown out of proportion?
"Like I said," Ruffalo replied, "Fincher only has a problem with people if they're not prepared -- if they're not ready to work when they show up. Whatever form that takes -- whether it's a prop person, an actor or whatever. I thought there were a lot of weird sour grapes in that New York Times article. We're actors, man; we get paid way too much. It's like 'Wah, wah, wah' to me to hear an actor bitching and moaning when they get paid as much as they do and we have a pretty great life. I don't have much sympathy for it."
Wow, soooo I take it he's not a huge fan of Jake's work ethic or possible sense of entitlement? It will be interesting to see how, if at all, Jakey responds to this, because we're thinking there might be a finely chiseled face somewhere in NY whose feelings are a touch hurt. Talk about an awkward red carpet much? Play nice, Boys.
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Mark Rufalo has always seemed mature and down to earth.
1I'll get the popcorn!
Who's bringing drinks to this soon to be steel cage match?
**~~Everyone who's anyone has been on sesame street.~~**
2It's hard to disagree with any points he makes here... I think I've always had a wee bit of a crush type thing on Ruffalo. And Jesse Bradford, too. Can't Jesse get involved somehow in this potential spat?
3Good for you, Mark! David Fincher may be exacting, but it's HIS name up there as director. He has a reputation to uphold and if you can't take working for someone who is exacting and a perfectionist, don't sign up for one of his films.
4Go Mark!
5I love Mark but he doesn't have to put up with the same pressure/paparazzi/gay rumors that Jake puts up with.. they are not exactly on the same fame meter..though they are on the same talent level. His comments might come off wrong...though I completely understand his point.
Every actor has a different style as well as every directors..some work better with some than others.. its all subjective.
6__________________________________________________________
Beware of the Green Umbrella..it attacks paps without warning!
Wow...as much as I love Jake this Mark guy seems pretty realistic and down-to-earth. He even admitted actors get paid way too much...when everyone else in Hollywood thinks they should get paid more.
7I like him...I still love Jake but this Mark guy is the truth.
I think I love them both.
8Sounds like love between Mark & Fincher!
9Id choose Mark over Jake anyways.
10Wow you tell 'em Mark.
11Mark's lookin a little older in these pics but I still love him!! Love Jake too though!
12Love Mark Ruffalo!!
13Here are Mr. Gyllenhaal's comments (in full context) in the NY Times article:
For Jake Gyllenhaal, who stars in the movie as Mr. Graysmith, Mr. Fincher’s attentiveness was a mixed blessing.
Mr. Gyllenhaal said he came from a collaborative filmmaking family: “We share ideas, and we incorporate those ideas.” He added: “David knows what he wants, and he’s very clear about what he wants, and he’s very, very, very smart. But sometimes we’d do a lot of takes, and he’d turn, and he would say, because he had a computer there” — the movie was shot digitally — “ ‘Delete the last 10 takes.’ And as an actor that’s very hard to hear.”
Mr. Gyllenhaal, 26, partly blamed culture shock; he’d just finished “Jarhead” for Sam Mendes, who gave him a much freer rein. Mr. Gyllenhaal stressed that he admired and liked Mr. Fincher personally. And he noted that other members of the “Zodiac” cast had far more experience, adding: “I wish I could’ve had the maturity to be like: ‘I know what he wants. He wants the best out of me.’ ”
That said, Mr. Gyllenhaal spoke candidly about his frustration with Mr. Fincher’s degree of control over his performance.
“What’s so wonderful about movies is, you get your shot,” he said. “They even call it a shot. The stakes are high. You get your chance to prove what you can do. You get a take, 5 takes, 10 takes. Some places, 90 takes. But there is a stopping point. There’s a point at which you go, ‘That’s what we have to work with.’ But we would reshoot things. So there came a point where I would say, well, what do I do? Where’s the risk?”
It is clear that this is a well-elucidated opinion on how an actor should be able to express himself within the director's constraints, and not something dealing with the subject of whether actors get paid well or not.
Here are RDJ's and Mr. Ruffalo's comments in the same article:
Robert Downey Jr., impeccably cast as a crime reporter driven to drink, drugs and dissolution, called Mr. Fincher a disciplinarian and agreed that, as is often said, “he’s always the smartest guy in the room.” But Mr. Downey put this in perspective.
“Sometimes it’s really hard because it might not feel collaborative, but ultimately filmmaking is a director’s medium,” he said. “I just decided, aside from several times I wanted to garrote him, that I was going to give him what he wanted. I think I’m a perfect person to work for him, because I understand gulags.”
Mr. Ruffalo too survived some 70-take shots. “The way I see it is, you enter into someone else’s world as an actor,” he said. “You can put your expectations aside and have an experience that’s new and pushes and changes you, or hold onto what you think it should be and have a stubborn, immovable journey that’s filled with disappointment and anger.”
He said Mr. Fincher was equally demanding of everyone — executives, actors, himself. “He knows he’s taking a stab at eternity,” Mr. Ruffalo said. “He knows that this will outlive him. And he’s not going to settle for anything other than satisfaction, deep satisfaction. Somewhere along the line he said, ‘I will not settle for less.’ ”
Their opinions as expressed in the NY Times article are quite reasonable. Mr. Ruffalo should have left it at that.
Both he and Mr. Gyllenhaal have the right to express their own opinions without being misrepresented or misunderstood. From the above, it seems obvious that Mr. Gyllenhaal's comments were never meant to cast mindless asperities on Mr. Fincher's method. Mr. Ruffalo would be so wise as to follow suit in the matter of Mr. Gyllenhaal's comments.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/movies/18halb.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
14Not everyone works together harmoniously. We all know that from our own work lives. It's the same in show business. Everyone operates their way, and some people work together really well and some don't.
15By some accounts I've heard, Ruffalo's performance blows Jake's off the screen. Guess we'll have to wait on that one to see if it's true.
I just hope I don't fall asleep during three hours of picture.
16I
17Tell it!
18Mark definitly seems to have his stuff together. I've always really liked his acting. Definitely underrated this one. But I like Jake too, even if he does come across as Mr. Whiney because, frankly, he choses great movies.
19i love mark. i always have. jake's over-rated.
20Totally agree, Jake is overrated. Mark is a fantastic actor with lots of insight.
21Snooze-fest.
22don't fight!!!!
23Post New Comment
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