PRISONERS : Media alert/press interviews/ other publicity

[jo]

The cast and the director at the Hollywood premiere!

Ten months ago, he led the all-singing cast of LES MISERABLES in the London premiere. In July, he led the all-fighting cast of THE WOLVERINE, also at its London premiere. Now it is an all-dramatic acting cast of PRISONERS with whom he shares the premiere in Hollywood.

Life is good for Hugh Jackman, Actor!


Jo

[jo]

More photos with pro wrestler Maria Menounos, who hosts EXTRA --

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2419714/Hugh-Jackman-playfully-punches-pro-wrestler-Maria-Menounos.html







More ...from the link.


Jo

[jo]

Media alert, if you can get the French Channel --

myclap.tv/le-grand-journal/inscriptions/inscription-au-grand-journal

It seems Hugh may be in Paris, as he is due to appear on French TV on September 24.

Mardi 24 septembre de 15h à 20h30 : DIRECT
Tony Parker, Hugh Jackman...

I wonder- is there going to be a premiere there or just a media appearance? The San Sebastian ( Spain) Film Festival is on Sept 27 and the Zurich Film Festival is on Sept 28, where he will be honored separately ( presumably with screenings of PRISONERS).

How about London and Berlin -- he would have covered the key film markets in Western Europe (except for Rome), if there are also premiere screenings there? Or maybe media appearances?


Jo

[jo]

Re the popular San Sebastian Film Festival on the Basque coast --

Patricia Vallejo‏@kudetap23m
@realhughjackman SAN SEBASTIÁN FILM FESTIVAL.No tickets availables for Prisoners and HJ award..I'll have to watch in my nearest cinema.Sniff

[jo]

Close-up moment at the Hollywood premiere --

[foxie]

Terrific as usual on Leno!!!

[JH4HJ]

No surprise that Hugh will be busy on both coasts, but check out this one if you live in "middle America" - -
ALERT - for fans near Iowa Falls

Hugh will attend the Prisoners' premiere at the newly renovated theater in this small Iowa town!
(The guy who owns the theater is the father of Hugh's agent.)

Jackman's Sept. 21 visit will be part of a promotional tour for his new film, "Prisoners." His other recent film, "The Wolverine," will play in the building's second, smaller theater. Jackman will give introductions before the start of each film.

Full article

[jo]

www.allkpop.com/article/2013/09/hugh-jackman-shares-how-much-his-daughter-loves-korean-dried-seaweed#axzz2eufCTNVC

Hugh Jackman shares how much his daughter loves Korean dried seaweed

September 14, 2013 @ 7:14 pm

by starsung


Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman and his family love gim (Korean dried seaweed)!

KBS 2TV's 'Entertainment Relay' got the chance to interview Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal from the new movie, 'Prisoners'. Hugh Jackman, who is known for his love for Korea, also showed off his Korean skills and revealed his hope to come back to Korea.

The reporter gifted Hugh Jackman with a set of gim, making the actor gasp in excitement. Hugh Jackman shared how much his daughter Ava loves gim and revealed, "You're going to make me so popular at home. She loves it. She eats it almost every day... Thank you for this. I'm going to give it to my daughter."

Maybe it is partly because they are neighbors with Marja ( Kimchi Chronicles) and Jean Vongerichten and their daughter Chloe?


LOL - the children in our family also enjoy eating this very much, with only rice rolled inside the seaweed ( if you're familiar with sushi - I think this is the outer covering), including two half-American kids in the group. Children seem to be developing foodie tastes these days



Jo

[jo]

An insight on Jake Gyllenhaal --


www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2013/09/15/1-pairing-with-jackman-intrigued-actor.html

Pairing with Jackman in Prisoners intrigued Jake Gyllenhaal



By Cindy Pearlman

New York Times SyndicateSunday
September 15, 2013 5:54 AM

J ake Gyllenhaal views the barometer on his career as easy to read: “No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can always go a little bit deeper.”

And deeper the actor does go in the film Prisoners, opening on Friday in theaters nationwide.

Gyllenhaal co-stars with Hugh Jackman in the raw, unrelenting look at a double kidnapping.

Advance reviews of the film, which premiered at the recent Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, have been favorable.

He plays detective Loki, who is assigned to investigate the disappearance of two 6-year-olds, neighbors who vanish while playing outside on Thanksgiving in a small Pennsylvania town.

Jackman plays one of the fathers, a carpenter and recovering alcoholic who butts heads with Loki early in the investigation and later threatens to take the law into his own hands.

“Hugh’s character is the beating heart of the film,” said Gyllenhaal, 32. “I’m more the brain or the mind. I’m the analytical one.”

The actor almost turned down the role, he said, because he had played a police officer as recently as last year, in End of Watch.

“I had done so much research to play that previous role and had immersed myself for so long into that world — honestly, I thought I might want to explore something else.

“Luckily, we ended up going to a whole different place with Prisoners.”

Detective Loki is a character bound by the conventions of police work.

“You have to walk the line between being fascinated and infatuated with the mind of the criminal,” Gyllenhaal said. “At the same time, you have to care so deeply about the victims. You can’t show the victims how much you actually care because you have to follow protocol. You also have to keep everyone a suspect, including the people in the family and around the family who grow to hate you.”

Jackman’s character doesn’t think that Loki can save his daughter, prompting the men, inevitably, to clash.

“The idea of this movie, deep down inside of it, is that, if only these two men came together, they might find these little girls before it’s too late,” Gyllenhaal said. “When they do help each other, Hugh’s character ends up confessing so much to me. There’s this strange vulnerability between these two men who are working on the same side but don’t really like each other.”

Working with Jackman for the first time, Gyllenhaal came away impressed.

“Going into every scene with him, I could see what was going on with him as a person. Hugh’s an open book.

“But what I also found with Hugh is that, despite the fact that he has played all these tough characters, there’s a beauty about him that comes from a deep vulnerability. And he’s all about that vulnerability.”

Jackman, 44, a native of Austrailia, returned the compliments.

“I loved working with Jake,” he said. “I think you can see it in the movie. We’re lone wolves who want to find these little girls in our own ways.”

His only regret, Jackman said, is the limited time that the two share the screen.

“We only have four or five scenes together, and we wanted to make the most of those moments. As actors, none of us really wanted to leave the scene. We wanted to dive in and investigate.”

The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Jake — like Maggie, his sister and a fellow Oscar nominee — slid naturally into the family business.

At 10, he made his film debut playing the son of Billy Crystal’s character in the 1991 hit City Slickers.

He studied Eastern religions at Columbia University in New York but left after two years to focus on his acting career. He quickly moved into lead roles in films such as October Sky (1999), Donnie Darko (2001), Jarhead (2005), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and End of Watch.

He earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for his performance in Brokeback Mountain (2005), in which he and Heath Ledger played a closeted gay couple.

The secret to his success, Gyllenhaal said, lies in the words.

“I’ve grown up loving storytelling,” he said. “To me, the movie only works when the story works.

“More than my performance, it has to be a great story.”

[JH4HJ]

Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave has staked its claim to Oscar glory by winning the People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman as a father seeking his missing daughter, was named second runner up.

Full article

[jo]

The news is perfect timing for the release of the movie this week. I bet Warner Bros is scrambling to insert the plug into its publicity material ( just like how Broadway shows uses those one liners!)

Jo

[jo]

Another informative interview - re Prisoners, XMen, Days of Future Past, the PT Barnum movie musical project, the Oscar hosting and Oscar races, etc. --


www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/16/hugh-jackman-on-prisoners-the-oscars-x-men-days-of-future-past-and-more.html

Hugh Jackman On ‘Prisoners,’ the Oscars, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ and More
by Marlow Stern
Sep 16, 2013 4:45 AM EDT


The Aussie delivers one of the best performances of his career in the riveting thriller Prisoners. He sat down with Marlow Stern to discuss the film, the dangers of parenting, post-9/11 torture, and the disaster that was Movie 43.


When Prisoners, a studio thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, was announced as one of the hotly anticipated “sneak previews” at the Telluride Film Festival, critics were nonplussed. On paper, the film looks like your standard thriller, with some ludicrous character names to boot—Jackman, a blue collar dad, is named Keller Dover, while Gyllenhaal plays the hotheaded Det. Loki.


Boy, were we wrong.


Directed by Denis Villeneuve, whose 2010 drama Incendies was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, Prisoners is not only one of fall’s biggest surprises at the cinema, but also one of the best thrillers in years.


Jackman's character is a carpenter, husband to Grace (Maria Bello), and father of two. One day, the Dover clan pays a visit to their neighborhood pals Franklin (Terrence Howard) and Nancy Birch (Viola Davis) for Thanksgiving dinner. When the two couple’s daughters go missing, Keller is convinced they’ve been abducted by Alex Jones (Paul Dano), a loner whose RV was parked near the Birches’ home. The police assign Loki to the case, and he’s forced to let Jones walk due to lack of evidence. So, Keller takes the law into his own hands by capturing Jones and torturing him in a desperate attempt to locate the girls. Prisoners is a lurid, mesmerizing thriller in the vein of Se7en boasting a labyrinthine screenplay, expert lensing by the legendary Roger Deakins, and a pair of award-worthy turns by Jackman and Gyllenhaal.


This is probably the most American character you’ve ever played—a real blue-collar guy.


Very. It took a little massaging because I didn’t want it to feel generic, or too obvious. In the original script, there was a little too much religion for me. Not that I’d be against playing someone who’s very religious, but the last thing I wanted was for the audience to write him off as just a religious nut. As an Aussie, we are amazed at some of the stuff which happens with religion, and churches, and stuff in America. We’re just way more moderate with it. So, the last thing I wanted was for people to go, “Oh, well I’m nothing like him and I would never do that, because I’m not religious like that.” I think it’s a good way to understand his sense of control and how he makes sense of the world and has that faith, and it’s also interesting to see how his faith is tested.


You follow Hinduism, right? I remember reading about how you and your wife had a message in Sanskrit inside your wedding bands.


I’m certainly in line with a lot of that, with some Buddhist stuff, with some Christian stuff. My feeling is if you had Jesus and Buddha and Krishna all at a table, they wouldn’t be arguing mate. I think they’re pretty much all saying the same thing in different forms.


What was it like filming those scenes where you’re torturing Paul?


His cane he’s got had nothing to do with the filming! I don’t know if you’ve seen him, but he’s hobbling around in a cane right now because he just had an operation. I was like, “Come on man, everyone’s going to think I did it.” He’s amazing, man. There’s that scene where I smash the hammer very close to his head, and he doesn’t even flinch. By the way, none of that was rehearsed or planned. Even I didn’t know that was going to happen.


What’s the most freaked out you’ve ever gotten when it comes to your kids? My mom once lost me in a mall once.


I’ve done 45 minutes in a mall. I did 20 minutes when my son was two, and we were in Prague and had just landed, and we were on our way to the apartment and were stocking up on supplies. I was reading the label and then I turned my head and gone. That’s when I realized that I was basically in the Wal-Mart of Prague, and within thirty seconds, the pit of my stomach. The funniest time was at a beach in Sydney and I was panicked, and I knew there were paparazzi there following and I thought, “This whole thing is being documented and it’s a nightmare.” I could feel this guy running behind me and then he started yelling my name and I thought, “Oh no, he wants a photo of me looking all panicked,” and he goes, “Hugh! He’s up there in the tree!” It’s the only time I’ve been really grateful for paparazzi.

“
This might be one of the best ensembles ever assembled… Apart from Movie 43.
”

What do you think this film says about torture? The torture that your character inflicts really chips away at his soul.


Violence begets violence, and violence is destructive, and uncomfortable, and horrible, and he unravels. As one character says later, it’s like bringing out the demon in someone. To be honest, the most interesting portrait of the whole torture thing is Viola Davis’ character. She thinks about it and in the end she says, “We’re not going to stop him, but we don’t know anything about it, and we’re not going to have anything to do with it.” And isn’t that what a lot of the world, and a lot of people in this country, did after 9/11? People knew that things were going on, it was written about, but because people were terrified and frightened, they were just like, Let people do whatever they want to do at Guantanamo Bay. It’s fascinating what happens when people are pushed to a frightening place. They’ll let things happen that they normally wouldn’t.


Have you ever been to a dark place like your character where you just lost it?


It used to happen in rugby all the time! [Laughs]


Just seeing red?


Oh, fully. And then five minutes later, you’re like, “What happened?” And you just look around to make sure there aren’t any dead bodies. I’m fairly moderate and even-tempered, but I’m certainly not one of those people you want to make mad, because then the proverbial lid on the pot, Boom.


The claws come out.


The claws come out! I’m a little like that. I always hate when I get like that, but it does happen occasionally.


Is this P.T. Barnum film with you and Anne Hathaway happening?


I don’t know about Anne. It is pretty crazy-awesome, and it’s really hotted up in the last month. It’s been in development for three or four years and it’s a musical, and the music is really phenomenal. It’s not like the Barnum that’s onstage, but it’s about that character. But yeah, that could happen. It might happen next year.


I gotta ask you about Movie 43, and the balls on the chin.


Go for it, man. I think I’ve ruined my son’s life. He’s 13. He hasn’t seen it yet, but I know as soon as he and his friends do, he’s going to be like, “Really, Dad? This is destroying me in the playground!” But I still have the balls lying around. I always laugh. One of the producers, I won’t say who, came up to me after and said, “I have two things to say about the movie: sorry, and sorry.”


But you were nominated for an Oscar for Les Miserables 10 days after it opened, so that must have softened the blow. What was it like to finally be nominated after, what, 14 years of acting in films?


First of all, being asked to host it five years ago was ridiculous. I’m a kid from the northern suburbs of Sydney and my father was an accountant at Pricewaterhouse, so we always used to get so excited when the accountants would go onstage, like, “Yeah! That’s it!” That’s about as close as we thought we’d come—that maybe my dad, one day, would appear with a briefcase looking really dorky onstage. But it was amazing and something I’ll never forget, and the chance to perform together onstage was really great. The first day of filming for Prisoners was the [Oscar] nominations, and I actually found out I got nominated on the way to set.


So, did you have to film a really intense scene and the director’s all, “Hugh, stop grinning!”


“Why are you wearing a tux underneath your costume, man?” [Laughs] Luckily, it was the hunting scene and as I walked on set, I was on cloud 9. I said hello to Roger Deakins, who had just gotten nominated for his 10th Oscar, and I went up to him and said, “Between you and me, Rog, that’s eleven nominations right there!” So it was very humbling.


Hosting the Oscars is really the most thankless job. Nobody is ever happy with the host.


Totally. There’s no winning. I remember Baz Luhrmann coming up to me two days after the Oscars and he said, “I don’t care what the LA Times says, I thought you were great!” and I hadn’t read any of the reviews, so I was like, “Wait… what did they say?” It was an amazing experience, but everyone said to me, “Whatever you do, don’t do the Rob Lowe/Snow White thing.” I hadn’t seen it, so I Googled it. It is atrocious and you’re just watching it going, “Who signed off on this?” But the most terrifying thing is that it got a standing ovation from the crowd. So literally, when I was up there and I got a standing ovation I was like, “Oh shit, Snow White.” [Laughs]


I’m a fan of the X-Men movies. X2 is probably my favorite. But what is the deal with the new film and combining the two casts? I’m confused.


I’m happy that you feel that way, because I think some people are saying, “Ah, this just sounds like an excuse to get all these actors together and make an Avengers-style movie,” but the truth is that it’s a great script and Bryan is very ambitious to make the best movie of them all. He’s got the biggest cast, the biggest budget, and he started it all, so it’s his legacy. He’s a fan of time-travel movies, and the detail that’s gone into it is incredible. I’m quietly confident that it will be the biggest and the best of them all. When I sat there on that panel at Comic-Con, and looked down at all the actors, you think, “This might be one of the best ensembles ever assembled”… Apart from Movie 43. [Laughs]


Are we going to see you and Fassbender throw down? You’d have my $15 right there.


It’s fair to say we don’t get on that well. I get sent back to the past and he has no idea who I am, but you can imagine Wolverine has a bit of fun with that.

[jo]

Another video interview ( this time with ComingSoon.net) --

www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=108826

Once again, there is mention of GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH ( PT Barnum movie musical) at the end. This has me intrigued - will it be Hugh's next film project? Even if he has to make way for HOUDINI first?


Jo

[jo]

The first part of his appearance on the ELLEN show is already on YouTube!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm9Ww7QLpfI&feature=youtu.be&a

Also, the weightlifting challenge --

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaKkeQvt748

Jo

[jo]

[jo]

His appearance on EXTRATV -- check out the video clip:

www.extratv.com/2013/09/16/hugh-jackman-prisoners-was-the-most-intense-thing-ive-ever-done/

[mamaleh]

Nice little segment on "Ellen." One new story: Oscar appears to be in full-tilt brooding teen mode. Hugh was saying how he'd recently had to be away for longer periods than before when shooting a movie. At home, he asked Oscar to pick up after himself and talked about responsibility. Oscar responded by saying something like, "Really, Dad? You're telling ME about responsibility when you're never home!"

Ouch! Love the teen years. Not much.

Ellen (not the one who dances and lifts weights on TV)

[jo]

PRISONERS and THE WOLVERINE will be featured on the two screens at the renovated theatre in Iowa Falls! Hugh will grace the reopening of the landmark theatre owned by John Whitesell ( Patrick Whitesell's father) and will introduce each movie!

Hugh Jackman‏@realhughjackman1m
THANKYOU for camping out Iowa falls.Really looking forward to reopening the cinema on Saturday #prisoners #wolverine pic.twitter.com/neEf5PfKmH

How long are they going to camp out there - or was this just for buying tickets -- the first set available sold out in 35 minutes while the raffle tickets will give people a chance to see any of the two movies.

[jo]

Video clip of interview with Barbara Chai of the Wall Street Journal --

live.wsj.com/video/hughjackmanonprisonersx-men/26A6F225-1F91-4071-8330-3622569149AE.html#!26A6F225-1F91-4071-8330-3622569149AE


Jo

[jo]

This video clip shows the cast ( except for Viola) talking about the film -- not sure but it oould have been part of the post-screening Q&A in Toronto?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pl4qHl6RDc

It kind of reminds me of how the Les Miserables cast would share their experiences while filming the movie. In this case though, the moral issues are very much part of the discussions.


Jo

[birchie]

Here's a very nice article about the Iowa theater event that Hugh will be attending and the renovation project undertaken by Mr Whitesell:
Theater owner: Jackman appreciates theater restoration

Theater owner: Jackman appreciates theater restoration
September 16, 2013 11:01 am • By BARBARA RODRIGUEZ


IOWA FALLS (AP) — When word got out that actor Hugh Jackman was going to visit a North Iowa city for the reopening of its old movie theater, John Whitesell didn’t think it was unusual.

The new owner of the 114-year-old Metropolitan Theater in Iowa Falls had known Jackman for years, and recalled how the Australian actor called him a few months ago to express appreciation for his efforts to restore the famed but rundown theater.

“He said, ‘You know, as I grew up in Australia, every little town had a movie theater.’ He said, ‘What happens is, cities start getting the bigger theaters and little towns start losing their theaters.’ He said, ‘I’m so glad that you’re (restoring), because every little community should have a theater.’ ”

Jackman told Whitesell he’d like to visit the theater, which is nestled between several businesses on one of Iowa Falls’ main roads. A few months later, Whitesell — whose adult son is Jackman’s agent — got the green light that Jackman’s Sept. 21 visit would be part of a promotional tour for his new film, “Prisoners.” His other recent film, “The Wolverine,” will play in the building’s second, smaller theater. Jackman will give introductions before the start of each film.

“Everyone’s walking around pretty shocked,” said Mark Hamilton, the theater’s publicist. “This is quite big news for people here.”

Iowa Falls is a city of about 5,000 people, 60 miles north of Des Moines.

The theater, built in 1899, originally housed a grand opera house that featured performers like actor Otis Skinner and composer John Philip Sousa. Known first as the Metropolitan Opera House, it was converted into a movie theater around the 1950s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It is the dominant thing on main street,” Hamilton said. “It’s a gorgeous building.”

The three-story building has multiple stained-glass windows inside, as well as chandeliers and a lobby mural that once graced the ceiling of the original opera house theater. There’s a ballroom on the top floor.

After a renovation in 1993, various people managed the building. Whitesell, a retired attorney from Iowa Falls, had admired the building for decades. So he bought it out of bankruptcy in May. While it had remained open, the theater had fallen into disarray over the years.

“I kept thinking, ‘I can’t let the theater go down like that,’ ” he said.

So he closed it for a short period over the summer and renovated the interior with new air conditioning, heating and electrical wiring. Most importantly, he installed two digital projectors. While he won’t disclose how much he’s spent fixing the place up, his goal is to make the theater financially sustainable.

“I just want to make sure it’s here all the time,” he said. “If we break even, keep it going, I’d be happy.”

For its opening night Sept. 21, limited ticket holders will walk down a red carpet leading to the theater. Jackman will also walk the red carpet, and organizers hope the star will be accessible to scores of visitors unable to win tickets.

“The idea, as far as I’m concerned, the event has two aspects to it,” Whitesell said. “One, is to let people realize what a great city we have here in Iowa Falls. No, we’re not a metropolitan area, but we are just a fantastic city. Secondly, to show how we’ve really come to love this theater that’s remodeled.”

Special $100 tickets were offered on a first-come, first-serve basis on Friday and sold out in 35 minutes. The remaining tickets are on sale until Sept. 19 as raffle tickets for $25. Winning tickets will be selected through a drawing a few days before Jackman arrives, and each winner will get two tickets for one of the two movie showings. The event is serving as a fundraiser to buy patient equipment for the local Ellsworth Municipal Hospital.

Customers can buy unlimited raffle tickets, meaning sheer luck could play a role if interest continues to grow. The big theater has 184 seats, and the small one has 107.

Aubri Rochlitzer, who sold popcorn at the theater when she was 16, recently became the theater’s new manager. The 21-year-old unpacked several boxes of newly delivered concession stand items last week.

She said she was hopeful for the theater’s future.

“It’s going to be a wonderful new start to this theater,” she said. “And Hugh will help with that.”

Sue

[foxie]

ugh is on Today show this am

[foxie]

Hugh is on Today show this am

[jo]

More on the storied renaissance of that former grand theatre in Iowa Falls!

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wmes-patrick-whitesell-buys-theater-630887

WME's Patrick Whitesell Buys His Hometown Movie Theater

8:00 AM PDT 9/18/2013 by Rebecca Sun


Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Warner Bros./AP Images

The agent and his dad spent $65,000 to buy (and $500,000 to renovate) a bankrupt Iowa movie palace. Now client Hugh Jackman will help reopen it with the "Prisoners" premiere.


This story first appeared in the Sept. 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.


Patrick Whitesell was 6 years old when his father took him to see Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory at the local -- and only -- movie theater in Iowa Falls, Iowa. It was 1971, and in the years to come there would be many more trips to the Metropolitan Opera House, either with his father or as a tagalong with his five brothers every time a new picture came to town: Jaws, Rocky, Star Wars.

"There really was no other place," says Whitesell of the theater in his hometown of about 6,000 people, located about 75 miles north of Des Moines. So when the WME co-CEO and his father, John, learned in May that the 114-year-old Met, most recently owned by Iowa theater chain Big Time Cinema, had fallen into bankruptcy, the two decided to step in. Together they paid $65,000, according to property records, to buy the theater and about $500,000 to fix it up.


"It had not had any love and care for about 10 years," says John, 85, a retired attorney who has lived in Iowa Falls with his wife, Patricia, since 1952. The electricity had been shut off, and everything from the air conditioners to the fire doors to the ice machine needed to be replaced. In addition to installing new lighting and a digital projection system, the Whitesells also hired contractors to remove "updated" interiors added by previous owners and restore the theater's original features, including a waterfall curtain that opens to reveal the larger of the Met's two screens. The Whitesells now are hiring staff, and John plans to be a frequent presence.

"Everything is going to be as it was," says the elder Whitesell, noting that the theater, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, also is retaining the stained glass windows and proscenium arch commissioned by local benefactor Eugene S. Ellsworth in 1899. At that time, the Met was considered the most beautiful opera house in Iowa, and in the ensuing decades, it hosted everything from community theater productions to concerts by John Philip Sousa.

Another celebrated entertainer will visit the Metropolitan when it reopens Sept. 21: Hugh Jackman, who will host a premiere of his new thriller Prisoners in Iowa Falls and also will screen his summer hit The Wolverine. The younger Whitesell, Jackman's longtime agent, says the actor came up with the idea in July at the London premiere of Wolverine, and Prisoners studio Alcon Entertainment agreed to fly in the movie and its star for the occasion.

"When Patrick told me about what he was doing with his dad for the theater in his hometown, I immediately wanted to be involved," Jackman tells THR. "It's not your typical place for a premiere, but the story behind the theater was just so compelling, I had to be there."



Locals began lining up the night of Sept. 12 for the chance to purchase a $100 ticket for Prisoners, which will screen in the larger, 180-seat theater. The next day, all 100 tickets sold out within 35 minutes. The remaining seats, which include the Wolverine screening in the 102-seat theater, will be raffled off for $25 apiece. All proceeds will benefit Iowa Falls' Ellsworth Municipal Hospital.

"The community is just thrilled," says John about the return of the Met, which will show first-run movies and occasional retrospectives. "I want people to understand that Iowa Falls is a lovely, beautiful little city and that we have the greatest little theater you're ever gonna see."

[jo]

Jake Gyllenhaal talks about co-star Hugh Jackman --

www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a516538/prisoners-jake-gyllenhaal-hugh-jackman-is-a-ridiculously-good-man.html

'Prisoners' Jake Gyllenhaal: 'Hugh Jackman is a ridiculously good man'

Published Wednesday, Sep 18 2013, 16:00 BST | By Justin Harp | Add comment





Jake Gyllenhaal has praised his Prisoners co-star Hugh Jackman as a "ridiculously good man".

The movie stars Jackman as an individual who comes into conflict with a local detective (Gyllenhaal) when his daughter and her best friend are kidnapped.


Discussing the film with Flicks and Bits, Gyllenhaal said that Jackman was an extremely generous collaborator on the Prisoners set.

"He is a ridiculously good man, it's annoying," Gyllenhaal teased, adding: "He sings, he dances, he saves children... the guy is just... it's frustrating."

The actor added more seriously: "For me what was fascinating was that I had met him before and he was so nice, so I thought, 'What was going on, what can we get at?' And what I found was this incredible vulnerability, and his strength comes from an engine of vulnerability.

"He is a man that I admire because he is not afraid to show that, and I think what is underneath is what you see in this performance. In this performance is a man who's struggling deeply. The truth of who he is comes out in so many ways and in some extraordinary scenes. He's extraordinary in Prisoners."

Gyllenhaal also discussed improvising certain Prisoners scenes with Jackman.


"Working with him, we improvised a lot, he loves improv and so do I," he said. "We would throw things back and forth at each other. We were questioning and trying to discover our characters together, particularly at the beginning."

He went on to say: "And those few scenes we did at the beginning, and then particularly at the middle and end, we could both feel an evolution. He was a real guide for me, in what I was trying to figure out about Detective Loki, and I hope vice-versa. But it was really really fun.

"With a subject matter like this, which can seem not that way, it was incredibly fun acting. It was invigorating and enervating and you can see that his energy is like that. What I would say about Hugh is that I don't think he's always 'the nice guy', I just think he's a really, really good man."

Prisoners opens on Friday (September 20) in the US and on September 27 in the UK.