New! 5/29/2000 - Trailer for Cherry is ready! Go check it out in our "Cherry" section, along with a link to a detailed summary of the plot thanks to Blockbuster.com!

New! 5/20/2000 - A place of our own! This is now Jakeweberfan.com (though you may still have accessed it through our old cultureland.com site)! Please click on this jakeweberfan link and bookmark it. Then you'll be walking through the front door! :)

New! 5/7/2000 - Trying to find the videos for some of Jake's films? We're offering several for sale, courtesy of Amazon, to make it easy for you! In addition to videos for "Pushing Tin," "Meet Joe Black," "What the Deaf Man Heard," "Liberty: The American Revolution," and "Dangerous Beauty," we've got the novelization of "U-571" and the script to "The Big Funk." Check out our Jake Store links throughout our site--we'll keep adding more as we can!

New! 5/5/2000 - As you've probably noticed, we've got a new design and format! Things are easier to find now, I hope. Best of all, we have a new message board. Please stop by and share your thoughts on all things Jake!

New! 5/3/2000 - According to a post on our new message board, it appears Jake is a newlywed! At U-571's opening down in Austin, TX (a benefit for the Austin Film Society), our poster Shannon and her husband met Jake - and his new bride. Shannon says our boy Jake was quite gracious and friendly. His new wife's ID is unknown, but she could be Nora Ariffin, the co-star of "Skin Art," with whom Jake has been involved for several years. Whoever the lucky lady is, congratulations to them both!

New! 5/2/2000 - U-571 still torpedoes the competition (sorry, couldn't help it) at the box office. This past weekend, it took in a respectable $12.2 million, for a total of $38.1 million overall. It beat newcomers "Viva Rock Vegas" (why oh lord, why make this film?), "Frequency," and "Where the Heart Is."

4/25/2000 - Apparently Jake became friends with David Keith during the U-571 shoot, because he was in attendance at Keith's mid-April wedding. Click here to check out the story from the Knoxville News-Sentinal.

4/25/2000 - U-571 is tops at the box office after its first weekend, earning $20.3 million in 2583 theaters, for a $7859 average. There are several reviews, nicely excerpted, at Rottentomatoes.com's U-571 page - so far, the film's more "fresh" than "rotten." It seems to be a film (yeah, I haven't seen it yet!) that doesn't lend itself to reviews of actors--the good reviews cite it as a rockin' good, pulse-pounding action pic, not a character study. There are thus very few JakeMentions (TM) as yet. His character has been called "shady," "haughty," and (gulp) "wimpy." Considering most of these critics are guys anxious for some violent blowed-up-real-good action, I shall assume that these terms should be translated into "complex," "well-bred," and "intelligent," respectively.

Ooh wait, I just found a quote at Mr. Showbiz, that master of all things Hollywoodish, where critic Richard Jameson calls Hirsch "a sallow-faced git...who mostly communicates in clipped German except for the announcement that he will be in operational control of the mission." Ain't it amazing how so many critics hate smart characters?

3/31/2000 - Official U-571 site now has bio info on Jake and the rest of the cast. Happy day, Jake is listed fifth in the credits--below only Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bon Jovi, Bill Paxton, and Harvey Keitel. Not too shabby!  And check out the great background image of Jake-as-Hirsch looking pretty intense.  Also, if you are looking at the "enhanced" version of the site, click on the "Mission" section and you'll recognize the voice as Jake's.  For more new details, including an interesting couple of quotes from Jake, click here to visit our U-571 section.

3/31/2000 - Here's a quick sample of some of the big photos waiting for you on our U-571 page. It's a long wait when you get there, but oh-so-worth it! 

3/31/2000 - There's now a New Line Cinema site for The Cell (not much info there now, but there is some plot description).  According to the site, opening date is now August 18, 2000.  My birthday, not that this will mean anything to anyone. On 3/30, there was a preview of a rough cut of the film. An audience member at the screening didn't describe it very positively, and didn't mention Jake or his character. Vince Vaughn is playing the hunky FBI agent opposite Jennifer Lopez; Vincent D'Onofrio is the psycho killer (qu'est-ce que c'est?).  The audience member did mention that Jennifer has a group of "boring" sidekicks that helps her try to find D'Onofrio's victims; alas, I think that's probably Jake's gang.  Call it a hunch...  

3/22/2000 - If you've seen the full version of the U-571 trailer, you may recognize the gentle tones of Jake throughout the voiceover!  In this trailer (there are a couple out there), Jake is quite prominent throughout: Hirsch appears to be an intelligence agent specializing in secret codes.  It's Hirsch who briefs the others on the mission, and he seems to be one of the leaders of the men.  Don't miss our obsessive and detailed look at Jake-ish moments in the trailer!

3/22/2000 - Looks like Cherry's coming to video and the Sundance Channel!  Great news, huh?  The Making Cherry website has been revamped accordingly, including (gasp!) a lovely cover page with the movie poster.  With Jake on it!  Here's a glimpse:

Also, you can check out a positive review of the film from the New York Times, right here in our new Cherry section. Here is a link to Blockbuster Video's page for Cherry.  (Not currently available for sale, but you might get lucky at your  local Blockbuster rental counter!)

8/2/1999 - Jake's character in U-571 has a name: Lt. Hirsch!  At least it seems that he's playing an American.  I had the dread feeling he'd be a Nazi.

8/2/1999 - Long drought of info over!  In mid-July, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez will star in "The Cell," a thriller about a top scientist (uh, Lopez) who delves into the mind of a comatose killer to try and discover where he's keeping a kidnapped girl. Jake's listed in the Variety summary of the film, though there's no indication of his role. The cast listing so far--hopefully in role size order--is: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dylan Baker, Jake Weber, Pruitt Taylor Vince (bet he's the serial killer!), Patrick Bauchau, James Gammon, Gerry Becker, Catherine Sutherland, Gareth Williams, and Musetta Vander. The Avery Pix production (filming starts 8/2) will be distributed by New Line Cinema.

3/5/1999 - Filming has begun in Rome for "U-571," Jake's newest feature. "U-571" stars Matthew McConaughey ("A Time to Kill," Universal's upcoming "EDtv"), Harvey Keitel ("Pulp Fiction"), Jon Bon Jovi ("Moonlight & Valentino"), and David Keith ("Indian in the Cupboard").

Jake's role is uncertain; all we know is that this WWII film follows a a group of Americans involved in a daring plan to steal the Enigma coding device from a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic. Allied intelligence needs this machine so that they can decipher enemy movements and stop the attacks on convoys carrying vital supplies across the Atlantic.

Does he play a German? An American naval officer? Or even a Brit? (The "Enigma" machine was decoded by British intelligence, not Americans. We shall see!  For more info, see our Media page.