TV Interview - Biding her time

Maggie Gyllenhaal exercises her indie streak

Maggie Gyllenhaal is still waiting to reap the full benefits of her breakthrough performance in last year’s twisted S&M comedy Secretary. Despite being on view in a pair of recent ensemble chick-flicks — John Sayles’ low-budget Casa de los Babys from earlier this year, and the high-profile Julia Roberts vehicle Mona Lisa Smile (now playing) — she’d already shot one and signed on for the other before Secretary ever opened to the critical fanfare that would lead the actress to a Golden Globe nomination.

Gyllenhaal, 26, seems content to keep biding her time. “I have more of a choice over what I do, more power or input or whatever, trying to develop smaller indie movies,” she says. (One of them, the heist drama Criminal with John C. Reilly, is due out late next year.) “But there are so few big Hollywood movies being made that are any good, when |one comes along there’s a whole line of people ahead of me who get to have more of that choice and power and input.”

Meanwhile, she’s currently starring in a Los Angeles stage production of Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul, with plans to transplant the play to Broadway early next year.

Creative Loafing: The Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles characters in Mona Lisa Smile undergo more dramatic transformations than your character does. Did that bother or limit you at all?

Does every character always need to go through some big change, though? This movie takes place from the spring of one year to the summer of the next, and I’m sure a lot of people — most people — have gone a year or so without anything major or life-defining happening to them. To me, it would’ve been a mistake if this free-thinking, sexually active woman had suddenly become pregnant, or if she suddenly broke down and cried and apologized and tried to absolve herself. I really didn’t want to put those kinds of judgments on the character, anyway. I think that would’ve been a trap. It would’ve been too much.

The movie is about how this teacher inspires her students. Is there any correlation between that and working with Julia Roberts? I mean, does a movie star of her caliber serve as any kind of role model for you as a younger actress?

It’s a real burden being so popular as an actor or a movie star. I’m like, “You know what? No thanks.” I watched her be very fair about setting the boundaries between the work that she does and her personal space, dealing with fans in a way that was graceful and yet also protective of herself. Frankly, I wouldn’t want the hassle. At the same time, though, I think it’s great when you have the power to make $100 million movies, and yet the courage to do something like Closer [Roberts’ next film project, based on the controversial Patrick Marber play]. That’s very brave on Julia’s part, and that’s definitely something I aspire to.

Speaking of which, how does working on the stage challenge you differently from working on a movie set?

People talk about performing in front of a live audience, but I find that even when I’m making a movie, the reactions I sense from the crew or from other people on the set tend to feed the work that I do. I think it’s specific to the particular piece. This particular Tony Kushner play is the most interesting piece of material I’ve ever had to tackle — ever — and I’m as excited about taking it to New York as I’ve ever been about anything in my career so far. The bottom line is, theater is just about the work, about honoring the text. It can’t be about your ego. There’s no sense of hierarchy, no amenities, none of that typical Hollywood bullshit.

bert.osborne@creativeloafing.com