Jake Gyllenhaal, who is godfather to Heath Ledger’s two-year-old daughter Matilda, has been devastated by last week’s news. Says one Gyllenhaal friend, “Jake is taking this harder than most people.”

Nowhere is that more apparent than on the New Mexico set of Gyllenhaal’s latest movie, Brothers.

“This has had a strong personal effect on [Jake],” says a set source. The insider adds that Gyllenhaal left the set immediately after learning of Ledger’s Jan. 22 death – but he flew back on a commercial flight to shoot an additional scene on Thursday.

“He was there, but he wasn’t with us. It was obviously a major trauma,” says the movie source. “These guys were very close. [Jake] was sitting in the director’s chair staring off into space.”

Gyllenhaal has been off since shooting that scene, and was photographed Saturday looking subdued with girlfriend Reese Witherspoon in Los Angeles. Set sources say director Jim Sheridan is shooting around the grieving actor during his personal leave.

The 27-year-old’s somber mood is a sharp contrast to the happier times on the set of Brothers. During one intense early prison scene, Gyllenhaal jokingly reached into his pocket and took out a picture of his Brokeback beau to stick on the prison wall. “Like those prisoners put [loved ones] on the wall, but Jake’s was Heath Ledger,” one set source recalls. “That was hilarious. It was a nice moment.”

The source adds, “When you think back on it now, it’s touching.”

Source

TMZ is now reporting that Jake Gyllenhaal is in New Mexico shooting the film Brothers. The actor who co-starred in Brokeback Mountain with Heath Ledger, is Matilda Rose’s godfather. He is reportedly so broken up about his friend’s passing that he is unable to speak to the media.

In addition to that, they have closed off the set to all non-crew members and they have beefed up security.

Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon both respected each other by waiting until their divorce became final before announcing any new romances. Sources say that Ryan is upset by how much time their kids, Ava and Deacon, are spending with Reese’s man, Jake Gyllenhaal.

According to a family friend, the kids love Jake so much that when it’s time for Reese to hand them over to Ryan , little Deacon can’t stop talking about Jake. “It’s Jake did this, Jake brought mommy flowers and coffee, Jake says we should recycle,” the friend tells OK!

Sources say that Ryan called Reese and suggested that she stop letting Jake spend so much time with the kids and he wasn’t nice about it. Reese barely let him finish his sentence before she told him that what she does with her personal life is none of his business!

You go girl!

WENN

Universal Pictures has tapped Jake Gyllenhaal to play Hall of Famer Joe Namath in its as-yet untitled biopic about the former New York Jets quarterback.

Scribe David Hollander (creator-writer of CBS’ The Guardian) will write the script once the writers strike is over.

The movie will tell Namath’s story as the promising young kid from steel town Beaver Falls, PA who rose to rock star status in the 1960s as the nonconformist socialite known as Broadway Joe, who would sit on the sidelines wearing a full-length fur coat.

In one of Namath’s most memorable moments, he guaranteed an upset victory in 1969’s Super Bowl III, when his Jets played the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts, and delivered on his promise.

Gyllenhaal is currently shooting the Jim Sheridan-directed Brothers with Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman and will next team with Doug Liman on an untitled DreamWorks project that about a moon expedition.

Source

I hate sports.  Hate probably isn’t even a strong enough word for how I feel about sports.  I literally feel sick whenever I hear it on tv.  (Only thing I can figure is when I was sick as a child, I would be stuck in bed – or on the couch while my dad watched sports.  I’m not joking – they make me physically ill!)  Thing is, I have 2 sons – so of course, I’ll have to go watch sports as they grow up.  Thing is, I don’t mind that. I can sit there and watch my boys look all cute in their little jerseys.

Even though I hate sports, I love me some sports movies!  I love a feel-good-underdog-beats-the-odds sports movies.   Lately there have been some great football movies – Invincible, We Are Marshall… maybe it’s the men I love, and not the football. Hmmm.

Esquire honored its favorite performances of 2007 — Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr. and Emile Hirsch — with two different covers for their December issue.

I officially have a new favorite celebrity couple! Reese and Jake were spotted in Napa Valley on November 10th, where they checked into a private house at Carneros Inn, complete with jacuzzi.

“They looked like they didn’t have a care in the world,” a witness tells Us, adding that after Jake gave her a kiss, “Reese looked like she was in heaven!”

Us Weekly reports that just ten days after Witherspoon, 31, and Gyllenhaal, 26, were spotted smooching on Halloween, the pair took their love on the road to Napa Valley, California.

On November 10, Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon checked in to a private house with a rooftop jacuzzi at the exclusive Carneros Inn. Over the weekend, they relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company, taking in a couple’s massage, dinner, and a laid-back morning picnic.

“They looked like they didn’t have a care in the world,” a witness tells Us, adding that after Jake gave her a kiss, “Reese looked like she was in heaven!”

For pictures of Reese & Jake in Napa Vally, go here!