American actor Jake Gyllenhaal spent last weekend at the site of last year’s volcanic eruptions, Eyjafjallajökull glacier and Fimmvörduháls mountain range, in fierce weather to shoot an episode for the survival television series Man vs. Wild, hosted by English adventurer Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel and Channel 4.
Gyllenhaal flew straight to Iceland from Rome where he was promoting his latest movie, Source Code. He is not the only film star who has starred in Man vs. Wild; it has also featured the survival strategies of US actors Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell, Fréttabladid reports.
“We can confirm that we were with Gyllenhaal and Grylls but I’d rather not comment any further on the story,” said Thór Kjartansson at the Icelandic production company True North which assisted the show’s crew on the glacier. “But they definitely got the wildest and best of Icelandic nature,” he added.
According to the newspaper’s sources, the shooting on the glacier ended on Monday night. Before heading out for the wild, Gyllenhaal dropped by the store 66°North on Bankastraeti and the Laundromat Café on Austurstraeti in Reykjavík.
“He came here twice, on Friday night and Saturday and was totally relaxed,” commented Steinn Einar at Laundromat. Apparently, the actor wasn’t anxious about the experience that awaited him on the glacier.
Approximately 1.2 million people watch Man vs. Wild regularly, so Gyllenhaal’s adventures on Eyjafjallajökull and Fimmvörduháls might prove good advertisement for Iceland.
What an excellent episode of Man Vs. Wild! Jake and Bear did a fantastic tyrolean traverse crossing! Completely hair raising and amazing!