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The NewYork Observer:Maggie Gyllenhaal on Heath Ledger, Her Brother, and Her Shrink
by
Irina AleksanderJuly 14, 2008
For its August issue,
Marie Claire recruited
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Batman's girlfriend in
The Dark Knight—and stroller-pushing Park Sloper—to talk about her career, her brother Jake, and what it was like losing co-star and Brooklyn neighbor,
Heath Ledger earlier this year.
You already know what's next: Highlights!
On the death of Heath Ledger: "We live pretty close to them. [But] it was disgusting. I had journalists call me on my cell phone. There were these two shy girls sent from some rag magazine to camp in front of my house. I came home with [my daughter] Ramona and I was so shocked and angry. These poor girls, it wasn’t their fault. They were out of their element."
On seeing a shrink: "For me it's about getting to know my own mind... It makes it easier to grow, and to grow up. I'm always thinking about what I want to take from my mother and what I don't."
On her younger brother, Jake: “We lived with him in Los Angeles when
Peter [Sarsgaard] and Jake were making Rendition. Jake has a beautiful house, much nicer than a hotel. He’s great with kids—it comes naturally to him. He really has that touch.”
On turning 30: “I’m not the youngest person at the table anymore. I’m not the young precocious one... I feel like I’m engaging with people in a different way now. I am a woman. I’m treated with respect, as an equal.”
http://www.marieclaire.com/hair/celebrity/behind-scenes/maggie-gyllenhaal-interview-dark-knight?click=main_srFrom
Marie Claire:Mega Maggie GyllenhaalOnce the queen of quirky indie movies, The Dark Knight star Maggie Gyllenhaal braces for the highs — and surprising lows — of blockbuster-size fame.
By
Meryl GordonFor her breakthrough role as a kinky office assistant in 2002's
Secretary,
Maggie Gyllenhaal earned $65,000 for a performance that required her to be spanked and deliver mail on all fours. The budget was so low for her star turn as a troubled ex-convict in
Sherrybaby (2006) that she didn't have a trailer; the crew carried around a hospital cot so she could take catnaps between scenes. Now, the onetime indie queen finds herself squarely in Hollywood blockbuster territory, playing Batman's girlfriend in
The Dark Knight — budget $180 million — where there are as many pitfalls as perks. Consider: Suddenly, she's a target for the fashion police.
"Oh, my God, all the time," says Gyllenhaal, her voice rising. After she wore a sweeping purple Peter Som gown to the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute gala last May, her photo appeared on a "worst dressed" Website accompanied by vicious put-downs from bloggers. "I thought I looked great," she says. "Sometimes it freaks me out. I've been so hurt and felt so bad." But with extra star wattage from her actor fiancé,
Peter Sarsgaard, and her famous younger brother,
Jake, she knows that everything about her is considered fair game — now more than ever. "People will always say mean things about you if you put yourself out there," she says — and she has never been one to hold back.
"Maggie's got a lot of sass," says
Aaron Eckhart, who stars as the disfigured vigilante Two-Face in
The Dark Knight. He starts to laugh as he adds, "She has very strong opinions on acting and things outside moviemaking. She's not afraid to speak her mind."
On this sunny afternoon at the cozy restaurant
Savoy, a Soho mainstay, Gyllenhaal, who has come directly from her 8-year-old niece's dance recital, is dressed — full fashion alert — for comfort, in sandals, blue jeans, a gray jersey wrap top, a Miu Miu red cardigan sweater, an antique diamond engagement ring, and a gold necklace with her 22-month-old daughter
Ramona's name engraved on a tiny angel pendant. Tall and slender, she has a throaty voice and a lopsided smile. It has become de rigueur for anorectic actresses to consume big meals when dining with reporters to prove they do eat, but Gyllenhaal does not appear to be acting when she digs into a plate of pork sausage.
When I first met Gyllenhaal two years ago, she was very pregnant and house-hunting. Today she's deep into motherhood and renovating the 1860s brownstone she owns with Sarsgaard ("We made every mistake you can make"). Gyllenhaal — who's been cool with playing tortured characters and graphic sex scenes — admits that it took her a while to adjust to the mommy role. "I've spent all my time learning how to be a mother and make a home with a child," she says, adding that when Ramona was first born, "I didn't know what I was doing. It's so hard and requires so much work and careful thought. You just get stronger and stronger."
She thinks a lot about the kind of example she wants to set for her daughter, a topic she frequently hashes out in therapy. "For me it's about getting to know my own mind," she says of regularly seeing a shrink. "It makes it easier to grow, and to grow up. I'm always thinking about what I want to take from my mother and what I don't."
Gyllenhaal was raised in a close-knit baby-boomer household in California with politically active parents (her father,
Stephen, is a director; her mother,
Naomi Foner, a screenwriter). "They were not celebrities," she notes, which allowed her and Jake to have tabloid-free childhoods. Born in 1977, she came of age with the impression that it wasn't important to wear makeup, nor was it OK to manipulate people with her feminine wiles. "I always felt there was something dishonest about dyeing your hair to make it more beautiful," Gyllenhaal says — although she's over that now.
http://www.marieclaire.com/hair/celebrity/behind-scenes/maggie-gyllenhaal-photosBehind the Scenes with Maggie GyllenhaalThe onetime indie girl is back in a whole new way. Playing off a vintage-inspired set, she channeled the '30s with jewel tones and lots of va-va-va-voom.
