On this stifling October evening in Los Angeles, the official premiere of the film "Version." As usual, there will be a rush of Hollywood stars of all stripes, but the paparazzi will only be interested in what is between Reese and Jack? Are they just friends or not easy? Do they have a novel, or is it a clever PR move of the managers of the actors involved in the same film? "Nonsense," Reese waved, presenting the picture a week ago at the Toronto film market. "What the reporters will not do ..."
Tonight again we have to weave another nonsense. In the foyer of the cinema, he passes with an absent look past Reese, hugs the director Gavin Hood in a friendly way and releases a few jokes about his classic costume: on shootings he did not get out of old jeans and shabby t-shirts. Reese in elegant black dress from Nina Ricci gaily chatters with eight-year-old Aramis Knight, his movie son. Own children of the actress, Ava and Deacon, remained at home under the supervision of the pope. Jack personally does not know Ryan Phillippe, but he already hates him in absentia. Reese does not water her husband with mud, but he knows that she is unhappy in a marriage. And here's the reason why both are forced to pretend: Reese is married, and the last six months have to show the world that there is no romance between her and Jack. They keep flawlessly, they do not get used to the difficult acting tasks. At the premiere arrived in different limousines, almost did not talk and even avoided being photographed together, not to mention frivolous embraces or - God forbid! - Kisses. Jack Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon connects a lot together. But at an informal cocktail in the restaurant after the premiere atmosphere warmed up. Insolent reporters remained outside the door, and Meryl Streep (in the movie "Version" she played a cynical politician) even decided to throw off tight shoes. Mrs. Streep settled on the couch and began to remember:
The others sighed sympathetically. In Hollywood, everyone knew about the scandalous break of Vojta with her daughter - Angelina Jolie: she adopted a bunch of children from all over the world, and she does not want to talk to her own father even with a phone call.
After Reese, she reprimanded Jack for this offer. And if John Voight had guessed something? He only depicts himself as an unfortunate father, and himself only to scratched his tongue ... But everything turned out. Voight did not suspect anything. Meryl Streep translated the conversation into her last work: she is shot in the musical "Mamma Mia!", The scene with the song "The dancing queen" is pure delight ...
Jack smiled absentmindedly, no longer listening to the chatter of his colleagues. He was thinking about that blessed day when all this pretense will end, and he and Reese will happily live in one house. And in that they immediately come together, Jack did not doubt a moment. Of course, it will not be easy for him to get along with Reese's kids - apparently they are not spoiled enough. But he will feed them on the first evening with a delicious dinner: cooking is his horse. The chef at Restaurant Babbo, inimitable Mario Batali once noticed that Gyllenhaal could quite earn cooking. At least, the stew with sweet sweet potato and nettle from Jack Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon was no worse than that of Mario.
"A good dinner for my tomboy?" - Reese raised her eyebrows when Jack shared with her plans for the first family party. "Perhaps you'd better buy them a new computer ... Home lasagna?" Believe me, there is no greater joy for Ava and Deacon than the usual pizza for the twenty.
This phrase disappointed Jack ... Apparently, he knows little about modern children. For him, there was nothing dearer than a home dinner in a warm family circle. Perhaps for this trivial reason, and the relationship fell Reese and Ryan: in their luxurious mansion in Bel-Air, there was never a hot hearth in the very real sense of the word. That's Jack's mom and dad together for thirty years, and all because they are ready to serve the cause of unification of the family with the help of cooking.
The center of the family house of Gyllenhaal was the kitchen. Here they always roasted something, steamed, baked.
"There are good people living in a house where there is good food," Naomi's mother said, throwing peas and carrot slices into the pan.
"A talented chef always has many friends," her father echoed, kneading the dough for the ravioli. Famous Hollywood director Steven Gyllenhaal in the pavilions of the studios built graceful mise-en-scenes, and the house did not shun even the most drafted kitchen work.
- When I grow up, I will work in a restaurant, - with this thought the younger Gyllenhaal fell asleep and woke up. But as they grew older, this childhood dream seemed more and more ridiculous. Why would a boy from a movie family bend his back to someone else's uncle in a restaurant, while in Hollywood all the doors are open before him? For other children from Kansas or Texas, the "dream factory" is akin to an impregnable fortress, whose inglorious assault sometimes takes decades, and the black-eyed gilded Gyllenhaal here to all the bosses like a son of his own ... The godmother Jack Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon became Jamie Lee Curtis, in the house there was Paul Newman. Once he personally showed Jack how to check the brakes: the guy then used a second-hand "Volvo". In the morning in the kitchen of Gyllenhaal, you could easily meet Jack Nicholson, who was scouring the cupboards for sugar or cream. No other life path, except for the cinema, for Jack could not have been. Unlike his older sister, who no-no and yes talked about that she would not mind being a teacher of literature or philosophy. Together with Jack, she even moved to New York, where she attended a course on oriental religion at Columbia University.
But the wisdom of Buddhist doctrines, even if voiced by the pleasant voice of the local professor Robert Thurman, did not go, in any comparison with the magic of cinema. At the age of ten Jack already played the son of Billy Crystal in the movie "Urban dudes". Over the film "Dangerous Woman" they worked as a family. Mom wrote the script, Dad directed, and the children acted as actors. With the help of his parents, Jack gradually learned to choose a variety of tapes. Together decided that for him and Maggie will be right to participate in the independent project "Donnie Darko." Parents also advised their son Melodrama "Mile moonlight", where Jack's partners were Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon. An important advice on the career gave him and Dustin Hoffman:
- If you want to take place as a great actor, and not get stuck forever in the image of a "boy from Hollywood", go to London and find a place in some kind of enterprise.
And Jack thought about it for a long time and took a plane ticket. In the play "It's our youth" on the West End, he played with Hayden Christensen and Anna Pakkuin, and all three after the stage debut oh-ho-go how famous ... At the premiere in the auditorium sat the venerable English filmmakers John Madden and Sam Mendes . Both under the impression of Jack's game later invited him to their films. However, Mendes hesitated for a long time before he approved Gyllenhaal for the role of marines in the movie "Marines".
"We are looking for an actor who can be strong, violent, even aggressive," the director told his assistants, "and Jack with his big eyes reminds me of a whiny boy ... Do he have enough inner strength to play what I need?"
Half a year Mendes was tormented in meditation, and Jack could not resist - he called him once at two in the morning to finally find out: take it or not?
It turned out, still take. To reliably play the role of sniper Svafford, Jack trained for a month in a military camp, where he was shaved and drilled from morning till late at night. When her son was released for a short stay home, Naomi threw up her hands ... Her child was shining with a bare skull, was black from sunburn, and in the place of the front tooth there was a hole: during the rehearsal of one of the battle scenes, the partner accidentally knocked him out with a rifle.
"You look like a real man," his father remarked.
"It's high time for them to become," sniffed Sister.
She was still deadly angry at Jack: her younger brother scraped her role in the movie "Crazy Cecil B.". In vain, by the way, sulk: Jack told her only the truth. Maggie should thank his brother and for the fact that he brought to their home the actor Peter Sarsgaard, his partner in the movie "Marines". It was Peter who became her husband and the father of a small Ramona.
Sister, however , did not remain in debt ... She, in turn, introduced Jack to Kirsten Dunst. But, unlike Peter and Maggie, Jack and Kirsten did not go all that smoothly, although it was Kiki - so friends called the windy and extravagant actress, like a chanterelle - became his first real girlfriend.
However, they honestly tried ... Tried to build relationships as adults, but behaved as children. Any other Hollywood major boy would have presented his brilliant ring for a twenty-year anniversary with a diamond, and Jack brought Kiki a gray-white fluffy kitten. She squealed, clapped her hands, brought him a bottle of milk from the refrigerator.
"Let's call the kitty Sophia," Kiki suggested. - In honor of Sofia Coppola: I have in many respects everything happened due to her ...
Seriousness in the charming Kiki was not a penny. To her twenty years she never had time to grow up. Jack, in general, too. I was offended when my friend did not answer his calls, I suffered reading the gossip about her shenanigans with Tobey Maguire in the newspaper. They were so inexperienced, and around huddled hordes of reporters ... It was the paparazzi who poisoned their lives. It got to the point that Jack and Kirsten could not get out of the house quietly-and they, of course, lived in a common house, so that everything really would-and the annoyance of the lost hopes, the loss of love they did not even know how to save, accumulated and multiplied ...
Later, when the lovers finally parted, Kiki unexpectedly stated in the press that for two years of her life with Gyllenhaal she was forever disappointed even in the very idea of marriage. Jack was offended, but did not join the squabble. In the depths of his soul, of course, he suffered greatly: the sharp teeth of the chanterelle bit off a piece from his heart.
It's strange that after such a personal drama, he dared to fall in love again, even in such a wonderful girl as Reese ... Then, experiencing Kiki's betrayal, he was completely beaten. The proposal to play a homosexual cowboy in the film Ang Lee "Brokeback Mountain" came in handy ... Many young actors have already abandoned the script - the love scenes were explicitly spelled out in it, but Jack in his state of deep melancholy could not confuse much. After when the Brokeback Mountain had already collected a whole bunch of prizes, including the Oscar, Jack Gyllenhaal began to write that he was gay. Well, or bisexual. Otherwise, how can one skillfully play the attraction
to the man? Communities of homosexuals of different countries for several years proclaimed the actor his gay icon. The release of the film on the screens was accompanied by protests of the puritanical morals, it came to the point that at a meeting with students of Kansas University, President Bush was attacked by questions, did he see the "Mountain" and what does he think about it? The president confusedly stated that he did not, than he confirmed his fame of one of the most ignorant politicians of a great power ...
Yes, those forty- two shooting days in Canada later nearly turned the world, not to mention Jack's career: her, this film thoroughly advanced. One nomination for "Oscar" for the role of the second plan of what it costs ... But he is especially precious only one day from those that they spent in Alberta. No, it was not the same when the thirties of the hot love scene in the hut on the river were made, and the one when Jack first realized that between Hit Ledger and Michelle Williams something was happening ... The actors were just glowing with love, and looking on them, Jack felt that he wanted more than anything in the world to fall in love.
His anguish gradually passed, and his heart was ready to open up to a new feeling. A gentle, sensitive, sympathetic girl - that's who he was looking for ... Actress Reese Witherspoon, with whom he was reduced in one project self-serving producer calculations, did not possess all of the above qualities. Reese was distinguished by a rare stubbornness, perseverance and uncompromising. But ironically, it was she who stole Jack's heart.
The plans of the actress with the appearance of Thumbelina and the penetrating abilities of the maneuverable tank did not include a spontaneous service romance. Reese had a family - children, her husband, and she was used to taking care of the well-being and comfort of her loved ones. She earned money while her husband lay depressed on the couch, hired a servant, meticulously studied the nannies resume, and sometimes did not have time to show up for home affairs even at awards ceremonies, while still earning prestigious awards and nominations for very good pictures. Reese insisted that most of the filming of the political drama "Version", in which it was approved along with Jack Gyllenhaal, was held in Los Angeles, and not in Toronto, as originally planned.
"I'm not only an actress, but a mother," she told the staggering producers, "and I can not afford to leave my children for a long time."
And the schedule of filming pereststali for Reese. But the heroic struggle of the actress for saving her own marriage did not bring any results: her husband, fair-haired handsome Ryan Phillippe, in whom she fell in love ten years ago, became more and more alien. Like a pesky neighbor in the house. Even at such a strong girl, as Reese, hands dropped. And then Jack was right next to him. They did not have a single joint scene in the film, they only saw each other a couple of times, but this was enough: love broke out like dry brushwood, and rumors of a new novel filled American newspapers.
Half a year of tricks and lies! Meetings, secreted no worse than the appearances of Arab terrorists! They both learned to hide their connection, that it was right for both of them to change Hollywood to FBI headquarters: first-class secret agents would come out of Jack and Reese ... Only after the formal dissolution of the marriage between Reese and Ryan Phillip, they stopped hiding. Although Jack had always been ready to scream at every corner that he fell in love and spit on their age difference, her husband and the whole world (Witherspoon older than him for almost five years), Reese was a stubborn and very well-mannered lady. And for her, norms of decency always stood in the first place. On the second place were the beloved children, then there was work, material stability, social responsibility and only then Jack. But before this stunning opening was still very far away ... On their first joint vacation, they flew with Reese to Rome, they walked a lot, holding hands like children, and absolutely did not pay attention to the paparazzi with the cameras. Jack was happy: his dream of real great love seems to have come true.
When did he realize that he was ready to meet old age with Reese? Oh, to this idea he was pushed by Heath Ledger - the best friend in some incomprehensible way constantly influenced the relationship of Jack Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon.
January 22, 2008 the world flew horrible news: in his New York apartment was found dead famous actor Heath Ledger. He seemed so strong and strong, and died of a trivial overdose of sleeping pills. Police for a long time led the investigation, confusing facts and testimonies. And Jack Gyllenhaal then lost not just a friend - a soul mate ... And this sudden absurd death of the charming twenty-eight-year-old Ledger finally convinced Jack that Reese needed him as air.
His salvation was many hours of telephone conversation with his beloved. In the afternoon Jack listlessly performed the commands of director Jim Sheridan: New Mexico was in full swing shooting a new film "The Brothers", and spent the nights in a hotel room with a telephone receiver. Reese on the other end of the phone chirped about how her days pass in a country house in Ohay. Laughing, she told me how she went to buy seeds of cucumbers and tomatoes with her children: "I still decided to show them where the food comes from ..." Deacon saw little yellow chicks at the fair and did not calm down until she bought him a dozen. Now they have a chicken coop, and, probably, somehow grown chickens will start to carry eggs, and there and then you can look and fry a couple of chicken on the grill ...
In Reese's sweet voice, there was so much warmth and life ... Her regular reports on simple everyday matters comforted Jack. And the pain of losing a friend was dulled. Yes, death can overtake each one of us so suddenly, so ruthlessly, but in the world there are things for which it is worth living. Love, for example ... Back after filming in Los Angeles, Jack made a friend offer. What was his surprise when Reese resolutely answered "no"!
"Understand, I think we are not quite ready yet," she explained. - Let time pass, and then we'll see ... Besides, the children are obviously not happy that you will become their new father.
Jack had to agree. Reese's children, in fact, did not particularly cling to him. However, with the Deacon they quickly became friends, together walked with the dogs and played the ball, but Ava ... When he transported his things to Reese, the girl asked my mother:
"This man ... Will he stay with us for long?"
The obstinate beauty kept herself like a prima ballerina. You do not even know how to approach her ... Ava adored her father and constantly repeated that he was the most beautiful and talented person in the world.
Jack was silent . A couple of times he wanted to politely say that this is not so - Ryan Phillipp's career in the deep ass, but Gyllenhaal just signed a contract with Jerry Bruckheimer himself for three blockbusters about the adventures of Prince Persia. In these films, Jack will have the main role - the savior of the world - with a fee that counts in the millions. He had already opened, it was, his mouth to put the girl in place, but Reese eloquently shook her fist: do not you dare dissuade the child!
The second time Jack made an offer to his beloved on his twenty-eighth birthday. They celebrated this event together in a restaurant, in a trusted environment ... Reese shrugged her shoulders and again suggested not to hurry. Jack was offended. But Reese here, so gently put her head on his shoulder, so gently embraced his neck ... He thawed ... The third time Jack decided to try his luck on the very day when Maggie and Peter were married by legal marriage. Yes, it was an outstanding day ... On this occasion, his sister Maggie dressed in a white white dress. Limousines, a sea of flowers, tears of happiness - well, what kind of girl will not be touched by the romantic wedding atmosphere? Any ... but not Reese.
"Maggie and Peter lived together for eight years before they ventured to get married," she said. - And we've only known each other for two years. Why hurry? We are so well together after all.
Of course , it was good for them, but Jack wanted more ... After the third refusal in his head, someone whispered: "Oh, she does not want to marry you? Says he's not ready yet? Do not believe! This woman does not love you. " The oil was also poured into the fire by reporters: in newspapers, every now and then there were reports of how Gyllenhaal buys a beloved engagement ring, and regular reports of a new date for the wedding of actors. Several times Jack was thrown with congratulations by friends: "That's it, finally! We are so happy for you! "Once Naomi's mother came to the newspaper duck and called to find out when and where they were going to arrange a celebration. In general, the whole story with the wedding turned into a joke-filled anecdote ...
As for Reese, she had her reasons for doubt. For her, the affair with Jack got too fast. She did not have time to catch her breath after the collapse of the first marriage, and then she immediately offered a second.
And where is the guarantee that it will be more successful than the previous one? Unquestionably, Jack is worthy of love. This was shouted at all voices by magazines, newspapers and even the Internet. Reporters found that in the Google search engine for eight thousand requests, "I love Jack Gyllenhaal," there are only three "I do not like Jack Gyllenhaal." For comparison: Ben Affleck was not loved once a hundred more ... Hollywood kinodivs sang a young actor dithyrambs. The tone was set by Susan Sarandon: "Jack is not like other Hollywood handsome men who just scream:" Hey, everyone is looking at me! "He has a poetic soul, he is talented, intelligent, thoughtful." "This guy is the most charming of all I know," Charlize Theron echoed in the presence of her boyfriend Stuart Townsend. "He's so sweet that it's just ... impossible," admitted Natalie Portman. - Jack knows everything, even the recipes of home remedies for strengthening hair, and he also sings wonderfully and plays the guitar. Everyone is drawn to it: adults, children, even dogs. " Jack really was too good. Too that it was true ...
And Reese had not believed in fairy tales for a long time . Career in Hollywood was given to her later and blood. She worked in front of the camera from the age of thirteen. And no one cleared the road for her with a shovel. Mom is a therapist, father is a military physician, what did they know in the film business? At first, the girl was vegetated without roles and money, along the way she got to Ryan Phillippe, who was the same as she, a stranger in Hollywood. The film "The Blonde in the Law" raised Reese Witherspoon to the top of success, but the fact that this success did happen to her, merit her. She does not have an influential godmother. Or Dad, who is on a short leg with all the movie ace.
Of course, Jack knew they were too different. He is sentimental, she is pragmatic. She achieves everything with her own labor, and he grows up in a magical greenhouse from a young age: whatever he wants, he gets everything. Listening to the stories of Reese about the hole in which she lived, before she moved to Hollywood, how she saved by taxi and walked on the heat, he felt uncomfortable to him, life was much more generous. But, as is known, all systems tend to balance. And in the well-tailored fate of Jack, sooner or later had to break out.
This happened a month before Christmas. In the evening, when Ava and Deacon calmed down in their bedrooms, Jack decided to find out the relationship with Reese. All that has accumulated in the soul in recent months, burst out. What is happening between them? Why does it seem to be near, but at the same time always far away? And why the hell does not want to marry him? As a result, the conversation ended in a mutual decision to part ways. Jack suggested it and could not even imagine that Reese would agree - and she took and agreed:
- Maybe you're right. Let's rest from each other ...
And calmly poured apple juice ...
For his things to the former lover Jack Gyllenhaal sent an assistant - he simply could not physically see Reese, and himself, frustrated, broken, went to his parents' country house. But here, in this quiet place, Jack was waiting for another blow: his family is no more. Parents, whose marriage he always considered ideal, decided to divorce.
"I do not think you and Maggie should be particularly upset about us," Naomi said, packing the porcelain set into large cardboard boxes. "You and your sister have long been adults." And our marriage with my father for the past five years has been popping at the seams. And do not say that you did not know about it ...
Honestly, he did not know! I did not even guess. Until recently, it seemed to him that everything around him was shining with rainbow colors. At least in his life, everything sparkled and exploded with fireworks until the beloved gave her resignation. Probably as bad as now, he did not feel himself ever. Maybe that was what director Sam Mendes had in mind when he asked if Jack was ready to get his own portion of suffering:
"Do you understand that one day I must pay for the success that came so easily to you?"
Then Jack just shrugged his shoulders: what is it about? But now everything is clear: it was his time to pay the bills.
Jack looked around: there were empty boxes, books, utensils in the Gyllenhaal's house. His favorite dog Attikus plaintively whines under the door, and on the kitchen table the dust is thick in the finger. Here no one cuts the onion, does not fry the sausages.
"It would be nice to make a fire and cook a whole spaghetti pan," Jack thought. A sauce ... Yes you can any. Tomatoes, cream, mushrooms, more parmesan and a handful of dry rosemary, which is kept by the mother in a pot-bellied bottle. By the way, with such a luxurious dish, it's not a shame to appear on Reese's eyes: he did not cook the promised dinner for her kids ... Time will pass and Miss Witherspoon will necessarily starve. Exactly. He remembers what a wolfish appetite she has after filming ... And who knows, maybe their love will still work out. Just like a well-burnt sauce for spaghetti ...