JAKE GYLLENHAAL IN “LIFE”

Press release

FOR JAKE GYLLENHAAL, SEARCHING FOR “LIFE” ON MARS MAY BE GOING TOO FAR

In Columbia Pictures' terrifying thriller, Life, Oscar-nominee Jake Gyllenhaal stars as astronaut David Jordan who has the distance and remove of a man who has spent over 473 days on the International Space Station.

Photo credits: Columbia Pictures

No one knows this home better than he does. The new crew members joining him are there using his home in space as a base for their game-changing mission.

Also starring Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds, Life is about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station whose mission of discovery turns to one of primal fear when they find a rapidly evolving life form that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.

The film is directed by Daniel Espinosa, who previously dazzled critics with Safe House. “I think Daniel Espinosa wanted to create a world that was suffocating, in a way,” says Gyllenhaal of his director. “In other movies, you can separate yourself from the reality of what you’re seeing. Daniel wanted to create an environment where everything was truly alive. Not only feeling that from the creature itself, but also truly alive emotionally.”

Gyllenhaal was intrigued not only by the script’s scares, but the larger ideas behind the characters. “It was a beautifully paced, terrifying script. It’s a fun idea – you think you know where it’s going, and then it evolves into something where you really, really don’t,” he says. “The life form is literal, but it’s also an incredible metaphor for what can happen. Curiosity is one of the most important human traits, but I think searching too far can be full of hubris. In that way, the life form is a repercussion for that kind of curiosity.”

While Gyllenhaal was attracted to the project for the script and story itself, he also saw a way to honor a family legacy with his role. “My grandfather was a doctor, and Daniel and I talked about the similarities in my character to my grandfather,” he says. “It’s a bit of an homage to him.”

Jake Gyllenhaal has established himself as one of the finest actors of his generation. With his new production company Ninestories, he is also on his way to becoming a filmmaker of note – sourcing material, developing it from the ground up, collaborating with bold storytellers, and shepherding the projects through release.

In 2014, Gyllenhaal starred in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, which he also produced. Playing an eccentric loner who finds his calling as an investigative crime journalist who will stop at nothing to get the story, Gyllenhaal received BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Critics’ Choice, and Independent Spirit Award nominations and was recognized as Best Actor citations from numerous critics’ groups.

Working with some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers in both independent and studio films, Gyllenhaal starred in Ang Lee's classic Brokeback Mountain, for which he received an Oscar® nomination and won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor; David Ayer’s End of Watch, which placed in several critics’ Top 10 Films of 2012; Jean Marc Vallee's Demolition; Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama Southpaw; Baltasar Kormákur’s Everest; Denis Villeneuve’s highly acclaimed films Prisoners and Enemy; Richard Kelly's cult hit Donnie Darko; Jim Sheridan's Brothers; Duncan Jones’ Source Code, David Fincher's Zodiac; Sam Mendes' Jarhead; John Madden's Proof; and, most recently, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, for which he earned a BAFTA nomination.

Opening across the Philippines on Friday, March 24, 2017, Life is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

REBECCA FERGUSON IN “LIFE”

Press release

REBECCA FERGUSON MUST CONTEND WITH AN ALIEN CREATURE IN “LIFE”

Coming off The Girl on the Train and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Rebecca Ferguson now stars as a feisty scientist in Columbia Pictures' terrifying thriller, Life.

Photo credits: Columbia Pictures

Also starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, Life is about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station whose mission of discovery turns to one of primal fear when they find a rapidly evolving life form that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.

The film is also about men and women under extreme pressure and facing an unknown, ever changing threat where there’s nowhere to run from it.

“Even though our characters are experts in different areas when that expertise goes over the threshold into human instinct, it’s about what your behaviour is when you are threatened or scared?” explains Ferguson.

The actress plays Miranda North, on loan to the mission from the Centers for Disease Control. By the book and focused on her work, she is there to keep everyone on the crew and back home on Earth healthy - no matter what they encounter in space.

“Miranda is a microbiologist sent up to protect everyone on Earth from whatever this is that we find,” Ferguson says. A rigorous scientist, she has set up multiple firewalls to protect themselves and Earth from possible contamination. “The firewall is, first, the container that the specimen was in. And then the room. And then the station itself. She has to do whatever she can do to protect Earth, because we don’t know what this life form is.”

Ferguson says that each of the characters responds to the moment of discovery – and the threat it represents. “We all have our own relationship to this creature. Some of us love it, we nurture it. Some of us want to kill it off in the beginning. And that creates an incredible tension in the group,” she shares.

Co-star Ryan Reynolds has nothing but praise for Ferguson. “Rebecca is such an incomparable actress in what she is able to say and convey,” comments the Deadpool star. “Her character has a real conflict that she is dealing with throughout the entire film. I would say that the central female character is really the heartbeat of the whole film. She really has to carry a whole burden that none of the other cast members have to carry. And she is so good; she is such an intelligent, emotional and smart actress. It was really a pleasure to watch her work. She does these simple, subtle movements and moments and she just tells everybody everything they need to hear in the most emotional way possible. She is really quite a gifted performer.”

The stunning Golden Globe-nominated European actress first caught the attention of international audiences playing the iconic Queen Elizabeth in the hit BBC/STARZ series The White Queen. For her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville, Ferguson was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film, and the months that followed established her as an actress to watch.

Opening across the Philippines on Friday, March 24, 2017, Life is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.