Maggie Gyllenhaal admits that she felt a latent jealousy toward her brother Jake Gyllenhaal early in their careers.
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"I don't think I was in touch with the envy, but it was there," she said.
The Dark Knight actress directed her brother for the first time in her new film, The Bride: "It meant so much for me to interact with him."
Maggie Gyllenhaalis reflecting on her relationship with her famous brother,Jake Gyllenhaal.
The actress discussed her latent jealousy toward theBrokeback Mountainstar during their early careers in a new interview.
"In general, I am very interested in envy," theLost Daughterfilmmaker said ina broader conversation about envywithThe New York Times. "I think there's a reason it's a seven deadly sin. I'm interested in it in terms of watching other people's movies come out. Admiration versus envy. What creates it? I think it's usually feeling starving, like you don't have enough."
Gyllenhaal added that she contacted director Emerald Fennell in the lead-up to her latest project,Wuthering Heights. "And just the act of reaching out to her — and she's great — frees the competition up and you realize: No, no. We're actually 100 percent on the same team," she said. "There absolutely is enough to go around."
But theStranger Than Fictionactress didn't possess the same wisdom about jealousy during her early acting days, when she felt that her younger brother had quickly surpassed her in success.
"I don't think I knew that at first, when I was young and Jake was a movie star right away," she said. "I don't think I was in touch with the envy, but it was there."
Both Gyllenhaals began their onscreen careers as children in the early 1990s. Jake made his debut in the 1991 Billy Crystal comedyCity Slickers, while Maggie first acted inWaterland, a 1992 drama directed by their dad, Stephen Gyllenhaal, in 1992.
After the siblings played supporting roles in their dad's filmsA Dangerous WomanandHomegrown, Jake landed his first leading role in 1999'sOctober Sky. Two years later, he headlinedBubble BoyandDonnie Darko, the latter of which costarred Maggie as his onscreen sister. She played her first lead role in 2002'sSecretary.
Maggie's sophomore directorial project,theBride of FrankensteinreimaginingThe Bride, hits theaters next week. It features Jake in a supporting role, marking the first time the siblings have worked together sinceDonnie Darko.
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"I waited until I was absolutely sure that asking him to do this part was the right thing to do," Maggie toldThe New York Times. "I remember asking him and tearing up alone in this hotel room I was in, because it meant so much to me. It meant so much for me to interact with him."
TheDark Knightstar admitted that she'd previously kept some distance from her family's creative endeavors. "In the past, I've had to be separate from my family, from my brother," she said. "Like, cool, I've got my own thing going. We both started so young."
The filmmaker said that "reaching out" to her sibling felt "honest" and "vulnerable" after 25 years of their careers staying separate. "Just basically saying, I want to interact, and I know that this is a place where we can do it," she explained. "I'm not asking him to do something that he can't do. I'm making an offer, which is a generous thing to do."
Maggie also indicated thatThe Bridehas fostered a new level of connection with Jake. "We've never been estranged, but we've never been as close as we are now," she reflected. "We're finally, maybe in the last five years, more and more and more, even each day, really interacting, which is hard for people to do."
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The directortoldEntertainment Weeklyin December that working with her brother was "like icing on the cake" as she helmedThe Bride. "He came in, and we fit him in when he was available, and he wore this great tuxedo; he danced, and he sang," she said. "He was so funny, so generous, so loving, and such a pleasure to have on set."
Maggie noted thatJake also made several contributions to the film's soundtrack. "He's such an incredible singer, and I love hearing him sing," she said. "If you sit through all the credits, at the very end is one of his beautiful songs he sings. That was really a live, exciting connection, working with him on set."
The Bridehits theaters March 6.
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