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Gyllenhaal and Hathaway Hit Sydney
Stars of the upcoming Love and Other Drugs, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, talk about Sydney, love scenes and hosting the Oscars.
A fusion of social drama and rom-com, Love and Other Drugs sees Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway reunite on the big screen after their turn as a married couple in Brokeback Mountain. When asked at a Sydney press conference what the co-stars found different about working together this time around, Gyllenhaal replies without missing a beat, "I got to be into her this time."
Having touched down in Sydney on Sunday morning to promote their new film, the two are pretty much what you would expect. Gyllenhaal - slightly the more press shy of the two - has a self-deprecating but undeniable charm and Hathaway seems sweet and at ease in the limelight. This being his first trip to Australia, Gyllenhaal - a self-declared "foodie" - spent most of Sunday soaking up the sun, meeting with friends and "eating my way around Sydney." Meanwhile, Hathaway paid a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art, a different experience to the actress' last trip down under almost ten years ago to promote The Princess Diaries. "Well, seeing as how I was eighteen, and the drinking age is quite a bit lower here, I don't think I have any memories from that particular trip," she laughs.
Directed by Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, Defiance), the nineties-set Love and Other Drugs sees Gyllenhaal tackle the role of Jamie, a charismatic underachiever who finds his calling as a sales rep for Viagra. With his career on the rise, he strikes up a relationship with Maggie (Hathaway), a talented artist and early-stage Parkinson's sufferer who accommodates him in the bedroom but isn't after anything more serious. When Jamie's business prospects suddenly take a turn for the better, he finds his future complicated by his feelings for Maggie.
After reading the script, Gyllenhaal reveals that he was driven to convince Zwick that he was the right man for the role. "When I first read the script I was so moved by it," the actor recalls. "From the first ten pages, I loved the character. I thought he was gross and charismatic and wonderful and I was crying by the end of it. Ed didn't really think of me for the role so I sold myself to Ed like my character in the movie does. Then we went begging Annie to be in it with us."
When probed whether it took much begging for Hathaway to sign on to the film, Gyllenhaal replies with a grin, "Like any wonderful woman, it took a good amount of begging."
In gearing up for his role as an overeager salesman, Gyllenhaal explains that he met with as many pharmaceutical reps as he could. How did he prepare for the other facets of his role - namely that of a Viagra advocating womaniser? "I can safely say that I have never tried Viagra," Gyllenhaal says before the question can be put to him. "But my character in this movie obviously has a lot of sex, so I had to practice all that. That was very important. You have to devote yourself to your character and obviously give everything you can, and I was fully devoted to my research," he laughs.
Turning to her co-star, Hathaway jibes, "You're a real credit to your craft Jake." For her part, Hathaway says that in playing a character with early Parkinson's she wanted to know everything she could about the illness so she met with patients in all stages of the disease, support groups and neurologists. "I was just blown away by people's openness and their courage to share their stories with me, and my entire performance is indebted to them."
The easy rapport the two actors share in real life is obvious, and it's this bond which made the film, even in its raunchier moments, seem natural. "In a love scene when you're working with anybody who has any sense of craft, there's always going to be the right sense of boundaries," Gyllenhaal explains, "but I think within those boundaries, it's much better when there's an actual natural occurring thing."
Hathaway - who comments that "seventy-five percent of all my nude scenes have been with Jake" - agrees that Gyllenhaal made the intimate moments easier to shoot.
Having spent a considerable amount of time in one another's company, the two have high praise for each other. "It's wonderful when the qualities of someone you really respect and admire stay in place and they've just grown even more into themselves," Hathaway says about her co-star. "That's what I've witnessed with Jake. He was still the same person, he was just more grown up and his confidence had deepened. All the good things, and how much fun we had together, were still in place."
After talk of the film subsides, discussion shifts to the recent announcement that Hathaway is set to co-host next year Oscars with actor James Franco. Hathaway reveals that she's "text buddies" with Franco and sees the job as "a great adventure." Is she daunted by the task? "I'm excited that I'm doing it with someone. I think that's what's going to make it more fun than terrifying, although it's still terrifying. I'm excited to have it be one more thing I can tell my grandkids I did," she smiles.
Love and Other Drugs is released on December 16.
Picture caption: Hathaway and Gyllenhaal at Sydney Press Conference December 6, courtesy of Getty Images. Taken by Brendon Thorne.
