Batman’s new lady friend dishes on the secrets of ‘The Dark Knight’
Is Maggie Gyllenhaal the thinking woman’s Katie Holmes? Pieces of evidence like her early work (“Donnie Darko” vs. “Dawson’s Creek”), racy fare (“Secretary” vs. “The Gift”) and choice of partner (Peter Sarsgaard vs. Tom Cruise) suggest so. Not that she would ever say it; the 30-year-old actress has nothing but praise for her “Batman Begins” predecessor. In any case, if anyone had to follow up Holmes’ performance as Rachel Dawes, you couldn’t do much better than Gyllenhaal, who tears up the screen as the brainy love interest of both Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). The role was good enough to pull the actress out of full-time motherhood; she and Sarsgaard, who live in Brooklyn, have a 1-year-old daughter.
You and Aaron get a lot of snappy dialogue. did you have good chemistry right off the bat?
I loved Aaron; I felt like Rachel and Harvey were kind of one of those old-time movie couples – Hepburn, Spencer Tracy. There was that kind of banter, really smart, where they take each other down but love each other. That was what we liked about it.
Your character goes beyond the typical female roles in action movies this summer. She’s very involved in both the courtroom and the interrogation room.
Well, I didn’t want to do it if it wasn’t going to be fun and meaty. When I read the script, [director] Chris [Nolan] said to me, “In this draft, she’s not quite finished.” I wanted to make sure she was smart and feisty and awake, a real woman with a mind. And I also wanted to make sure she was just as involved and active in finding justice for Gotham as all these guys were.
what was it like being the only significant female character in the movie?
When we got to the set, I thought, “OK, I’ll just do my thing, and I’m sure Chris will be very concerned with the 2,000 extras and the explosions and the bat-motorcycles and stuff.” When, in fact, that was really not the case. He pushed me further [dramatically] than I even intended to go.
Did you worry about taking over for Katie Holmes?
I wanted to be sure, first of all, that I had her blessing. And I was assured that I did. I’m a big fan of hers, I think she was really great in the first movie. And yet I felt like it wouldn’t have done anyone any good if I tried to imitate her. Really what I decided was that it had to be a whole new woman. If I’m going to do what I do well, I have to be free to do it.
Did it ever strike you as odd to find yourself shooting serious scenes opposite a man in a rubber bat suit?
It’s so funny, often while shooting I just forgot, because it was so important to Chris that we play everything for total truth – that’s why the movie is unusual. And then every once in a while we’d be doing a scene and I’d be taking it really seriously, and all of a sudden I’d hear myself say something like, “Listen, Bruce Wayne’s penthouse is the safest place in Gotham!” And I’d be like, “Oh, right. It’s about Batman.”
PICKING her BRAIN
“I was looking at [my] Agent Provocateur ads with Peter, saying: ‘I don’t think I look like that.That underwear really is good!’ “
“I couldn’t believe how it made me look. When they came out, though, I was a bit surprised. Somehow I hadn’t understood that there’d be all these pictures of me out there in my underwear. I did it as an art project.”
“I think it’s undeniable that the world is in a really chaotic and violent place right now. I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to do everything they can to help sort out as much as they possibly can. But I’m not going to stand on any kind of high horse and say I’m doing all that much.”
“Motherhood really does crack you open in every way. I never knew that I could be so tired. I never knew that I could work so hard. I never knew that I could love so much or be so patient or be so excited by the tiniest, tiniest little thing. Everything about it has surprised me!”