| After exploring S&M in Secretary and prep school debauchery in Mona Lisa Smile, Maggie Gyllenhaal was no stranger to edgy roles. At first, her part in Criminal seems pretty tame. She’s just the sister of a con artist who disapproves of her brother’s line of work. But by the end of the movie, she’s asked to sleep with a mark to help complete the scam.
“I think she was somebody who was really struggling in the face of people who were dishonest and bullying her,” Gyllenhaal said. “I think she was basically trying to survive it. That was a hard one. 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.”
The role for women in con movies can traditionally be that of an object or a mark. Gyllenhaal saw Criminal as a chance to turn those stereotypes on their head. “I guess what interested me about her is that she seemed to be somewhere on the page, a classic girl in the con movie, femme fatale which is appealing to me. I’m interested in that. There’s something attractive about that for me, but I think it’s something that she’s performing with an intention and I don’t think that she’s necessarily performing it very well. And I liked that idea, someone who’s trying to perform herself and not succeeding. I definitely felt that when I was playing her. I didn’t know where to put my hands and 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. It’s not me. And I think that’s what Valerie is going through.”
If viewers have trouble keeping track of all the twists and turns, then the movie will be doing its job. “It’s very classic con movie. I don’t think it’s doing anything particularly shocking or new. It’s like a new read on it really. What is so interesting about this one is that everyone is conning everybody else. So what I feel about the movie is that 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.’ The movie doesn’t say that. It says, ‘Trust this person for awhile. Oh, look at cute little sweet Diego [Luina], he’s definitely not lying” and then you see he’s definitely lying. And then all those scenes you valued up until then when he was your protagonist, do you throw all of them away, some of them away? Wait, where are we? Who can I trust? You have to invest in somebody and chances are you’re probably going to invest in somebody who’s going to deceive you, because everyone is deceiving.”
As her career continues to take off, it’s getting harder and harder for Gyllenhaal to relax. Yet, she still makes time for herself. “I’m pretty good at indulging myself. I really like to travel. I’m about to go travel for a week. I like to get massaged, go into steam rooms. I take care of myself. I would like to have a home in the country that I could go to. First in this country and the other in the Mediterranean. The thing that I do that really helps me take care of myself is hang out with my girlfriends. I have a couple of girlfriends who are like healing. We take care of each other. They know when I need to be taken care of and I have yet to have them really take care of me but I really need to let them.”
One of the things that helps her keep a level head in this business is her college education. Many young girls leave college to pursue acting, but Gyllenhaal made a point to finish her degree. “I feel so, so empowered about having finished college. Because basically what I got out of it was I learned how to articulate myself, I learned how to say what I mean. It basically gave me confidence really more than anything. And also the ability to analyze the text which is not so important in a movie like this but very important in doing a Tony Kushner play. I don’t think I could have done that play if I hadn’t gone to college.”
Gyllenhaal studied English literature, “but it doesn’t matter really what your major is. You don’t have to have that be your major. That just interested me so I studied that. It was really more like sitting in a seminar, saying something and having everyone understand it and feeling. I think the confidence it gave me is the most important thing it gave me. And I think it’s really worth something. 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. 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 having that be okay and have a conversation about it and everyone be cool with it unless you’re working with Robert Altman or all the greatest directors want to collaborate with their actors as far as I can see. I think it’s the people who are less talented who don’t want to. Having an education and being able to articulate what it is you want and why is invaluable.”
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