Interview

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a broad-in-waiting, the kinda-wanna-sorta brunette who cracked wise through Hollywood's Golden Age. You could see as much four years ago when she made Vanity Fair's Hollywood cover, slumped in a chair on the far right of the gatefold, separated from the gilded company she was keeping, wearier, worldlier. This summer, she's bringing her New Age Rosalind Russell smarts to the role of lawyer/love interest Rachel Dawes in Christopher Nolan's latest Batman vehicle The Dark Knight. Indie queen to multiplex goddess? If there's any justice in Gotham City's legal system . . .

Launch Mediaplayer »

TIM BLANKS: Did you have any doubts about saying yes to a part like Rachel Dawes?

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL: Sure, I did. At the same time, I knew who was in the movie-Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Heath [Ledger] and Christian [Bale], all these really great actors. I'd seen Chris Nolan's movies, so it didn't feel as though there was any chance it was going to be a compromise. I had a meeting with Chris, and my daughter Ramona was probably 3 months old. I had huge, milky boobs, and was still kind of in that hazy mom state. Chris asked me if I wanted to read the script, which was a big deal. And someone had to come and wait in my driveway while I read this huge script. I was mommying, so it took me 20 full hours to get through it, and this guy was sitting in my driveway. I liked it and I talked to Chris, and with every idea I had, he was either totally excited by it or had a great reason as to why it wouldn't work. I thought, This will be collaborative. But I also thought, It's a huge movie, it can't be that collaborative. Chris probably will say, "Do your thing. I need to worry about the thousand extras." I was totally prepared for that, but it wasn't the case. I was shocked by Chris Nolan. There would be literally a thousand extras and he'd be working with the DP on complex shots; then he'd come to me and have really exciting ideas about my tiny little scene. And every place where I thought, Okay, I need to make sure Rachel is not just the damsel in distress, I'm going to push it a bit, he would push me even further. So it ended up being really fun.

TB: Is this your investment in mainstream Hollywood?

MG: When I decided to do the movie, it wasn't. But now? Sure it is. Now I really feel I want to make movies that people see. I want to play strong, beautiful, powerful, elegant women. Now I really feel like there is something about mainstream Hollywood that I absolutely embrace. I've shed that adolescent part of myself that wasn't interested in it before. When I took this movie, I was hesitant. My daughter had just been born, and we were living in New York. We had been accosted by paparazzi at every turn in the worst ways. I thought, "I don't want that life. I'm only fueling that if I do Batman." But then I also thought, "I can't live my life afraid. If I believe in being an actress and I love it, then I should do it." Now I'm really embracing that. Mainstream Hollywood makes a few good movies a year. And in order to be in one of those, you have to be one of five people. Hollywood makes many bad movies too, which I'm not interested in being a part of. But there are only a few good independent movies a year, and many, many bad ones. I want to be in good movies, and I want people to see them.