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The Library
Film Stew - Gyllenhaal's Plucky Gals
By Todd Gilchrist
Source: http://www.filmstew.com/Content/Article.asp?Pg=1&ContentID=9650
Since she became the darling of the indie scene with her work in Secretary, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal admits there
has been no shortage of challenging roles.
Maggie Gyllenhaal started her career more than a decade ago with a small role in her father Stephen’s film Waterland
and first earned real accolades playing against her brother Jake in Donnie Darko. But her recent emergence, beginning
with the acclaimed and award winning 2002 film Secretary, belongs solely to the talented thespian herself.
Since then, she’s stolen scenes from many of the best actors in Hollywood, among them Josh Hartnett
(40 days and 40 Nights), Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), Nicolas Cage (Adaptation) and
Julia Roberts (Mona Lisa Smile). Now, she goes tête a tête with John C. Reilly in her latest film Criminal.
Playing Valerie, the sister of Reilly’s character, Gyllenhaal once again enjoyed the opportunity of portraying a strong
if conflicted woman, something that’s become her stock and trade. However, when she recently sat down with FilmStew, she
was quick to point out that she doesn’t perceive Valerie to be particularly strong, even if she squares off against her
on screen brother with both barrels blazing.
“I think she was somebody who was really struggling in the face of people who were dishonest and bullying her,”
Gyllenhaal says of Valerie. “I think she was basically trying to survive it. That was hard - I didn’t know I was
going to feel like that to play it but that’s how I felt.”
“It’s funny, because people have been saying that she’s really strong , but I think she’s definitely the weakest
woman I’ve played.”
Of course, in comparison to Secretary’s textured performance as a submissive who discovers the man she wants to be
her master, Gyllenhaal might just be right; after all, Valerie is perpetually under the thumb of her older brother,
and held hostage by his willingness to manipulate their younger sibling (played by Jonathan Tucker) for his own
personal gain - specifically, winning control of their family fortune. But the actress says she was fascinated by
that complexity, that combination of strength and weakness, and found it insinuating itself into her performance
as filming progressed.
“What interested me about her is that she seemed to be a classic girl in the con movie - a femme fatale - which is
appealing to me, but she’s performing with an intent and I don’t think that she’s necessarily performing it very well.”
“I liked that idea, someone who’s trying to perform herself and not succeeding,” she continues. “I definitely felt
that when I was playing her; I didn’t know where to put my hands. Here I was in this suit and there were times when I
felt I was totally pulling it off, and times I felt like, ‘What am I doing?’ I think that’s what Valerie is going
through.”
In a movie like this, where allegiances flip-flop and each twist and turn redefine the scenes that have already
unspooled, Gyllenhaal says that she can only play the character according to the information that has been revealed,
rather than according to the knowledge she possesses as a result of having previously read the script.
“I play each scene with the information I have up to that point,” the actress explains. “Whatever the circumstances
are, whatever I know up until then, that’s what I [play]. I don’t do anything really for the sake of the audience.”
As is usually the case with films of this milieu, it’s often tough in Criminal to determine exactly whom the audience
should root for. But Gyllenhaal says that the perpetual jumble between heroes and villains is a key element of the
material’s appeal.
“I didn’t think of it as a ‘genre movie,’ although that’s what it is,” she says. “It’s a very classic con movie - I
don’t think it’s doing anything particularly shocking or new - but it’s like a new read on it, really.”
“What is so interesting about this one is that everyone is conning everybody else,” she continues. “When you watch
it, you have to invest yourself; there’s nobody saying this is a person you can trust, this is a person you can’t
trust. It says, trust this person for awhile - ‘Oh look at cute little sweet Diego, he’s definitely not lying’ -
and then you see he’s definitely lying.”
“All of those scenes you valued up until then when he was your protagonist, do you throw all of them away? You have
to invest in somebody, but chances are you’re probably going to invest in somebody who’s going to deceive you because
everyone is deceiving.”
Despite the preponderance of deception that seems to run rampant in Hollywood, particularly for young actresses who
face pressure to kowtow to the wishes of their directors and producers, Gyllenhaal insists it’s imperative for these
women to acknowledge and assert their motives for choosing certain roles, and for making specific decisions once they’ve
accepted them.
“A big part of being an actress specifically is feeling entitled to your artistic opinion, feeling that it means
something, and being able to stand by it,” Gyllenhaal suggests. “Now things are changing, but maybe 10 years ago, it
was really difficult for a young actress to walk onto a set and disagree with the director and have a conversation
about it and everyone be cool with it.”
Gyllenhaal argues that this is the case, whether the character she’s playing is strong or weak, unique or conventional,
though she confesses that she’s found some remarkable opportunities as of late as an actress.
“I just did three movies where I played three really interesting women back to back, so I feel there is no shortage of
real interesting women’s roles.” At the same time, the actress admits that finding so many great roles requires
quite a bit of juggling to keep her schedule balanced between the personal and professional arenas.
“I have to figure that out,” she jokes. “On a film, it’s hard. It’s 12, 14, 15 hours a day and even when you’re not
actually acting. On a movie like [my next project,] Shall Not Want, I was always acting - I was changing my clothes
really quickly and wiping off the lipstick and putting on the other lipstick because it was really yesterday - just
working constantly.”
“It’s either that or you do have an hour off when they told you they were going to be ready in 10 minutes, so even
though an hour has gone by, you’ve been ready for the past 50 minutes.”
The major Hollywood hurdle she has yet to face is one her brother Jake conquered earlier this summer with The Day
After Tomorrow - namely, starring in a grandiose, big budget summer blockbuster. “I would like to do a big movie
that many, many people see, but I just know I would be miserable if it didn’t have something to it, or if I couldn’t
do what I do in the midst of that.”
Though she has entertained offers for projects like these, Gyllenhaal says that she hasn’t found the right one just
yet. “None that have sparked me yet,” she says dismissively.
Regardless of the roles she chooses in the future, Gyllenhaal says that there are a few particular guiding principles
by which she views her career. “I would say that you have a right to your opinion about the work that you’re doing
and that you’re an artist who is as equally important as the director,” she says. “If you believe that, you can work
in any circumstances, however difficult.”
“You’re not going to do good work if you’re not choosing something because it inspires you,” she adds. “You’re just
not. I just don’t know how you could. That’s not going to lead to something good.”
“I mean, every once in awhile you have to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to make this sacrifice to
get this thing,’ but for the most part, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
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