Maggie Gyllenhaal is promoting The Honourable Woman, a new BBC drama about the Israel-Palestine conflict. The show is a thriller with the US and the UK involved (thus the participation of the MI6 and CIA), and murders and kidnappings happen. Maggie often chooses heavy material in her acting career, and this project is no exception. Maggie’s been living in London to work on the show, and she admits to adopting an English accent even during her off-work hours. Yep, she’s one of those expat Americans. I bet that’s the only thing she has in common with the likes of Madonna and Goop.
Maggie did a new interview with the Independent. She talks about the show and some of its political implications. She also reveals the real reason why she went shockingly blonde at Cannes this year. Maggie’s already a brunette again, but the hair discussion seems surprisingly poignant. It kinda hit home for a shallow person like myself who is obsessed with hair problems. Some excerpts please:
Her career: “There are never many excellent projects Every year there are a few and you just hope you can be lucky enough to be involved in them. I feel like I’ve had maybe two or three projects in my life that have been extraordinary. And then other times you’re just trying to find a way through something that’s slightly less than extraordinary… But that’s OK. That’s how we all live!”
Her new home: “I love London — I really feel like I know this city I know where to go grocery shopping, I know where the playgrounds are, I have friends here. And I really like doing an English accent. I just talk all day long in the accent so I don’t have to have this embarrassing moment — more than once — of switching. It’s almost like having an alter ego, or like becoming fluent in another language.”
Kids change everything: “I find it difficult to stay politically informed with two little kids, and working. I started running, and listening to this [radio] news station, so I’d at least get the headlines and hear half an interview. And that was enough to get me angry about the things I thought were wrong in the world, and excited about where things were right. But I’ve kinda fallen off of running, so I’m having a hard time. Having children has changed my outlook on life in every way I can’t even remember how I looked at things before I had my kids — it’s completely shifted everything. It’s really hard having children.”
Her drastic hair change: “I dyed my hair blonde because I wanted to feel better about myself. I do like it blonde, but it doesn’t make you happy. The truth is: it was a long hard winter and I thought, maybe this will change my life. But it never does. I should know that by now, I’m 36 years old.”
On The Honourable Woman: “On either side of the Israel-Palestine issue there are people with a vice grip on their point of view — and I don’t think that’s serving anybody And if our show for 10 seconds allows that grip to loosen on either side — if something in the hearts of people opens for 10 seconds — I’ll feel like something was accomplished. I don’t think that’s the only point of art, but it can be a very effective purpose in making movies, and all kinds of art: that it can change your mind by affecting your heart.”
[From Independent]
I wonder if Maggie’s “long hard winter” had less to do with adjusting to London weather and more with (possibly) living away from husband Peter Sarsgaard. They used to live in Brooklyn together. He’s been working on his own projects, and Maggie has previously admitted to struggling with the work-family balance. It IS really hard having children, but I suspect Maggie does have help. That doesn’t make it easy to be an ocean away from your spouse, but I’m completely reading into the situation.
The hair obsession hits home for many women. I’ve done drastic hair changes too, and it never works out as planned. My hair is awful right now because of a highlighting mishap two years ago. No color would cover it, and the highlights kept coming through. I finally got tired of the Jared Leto ombre and chopped it off a few weeks ago. Super short. I thought it would make me feel better to have a solid hair color again, but I can’t wait for it to grow. Did Maggie really think going blonde would change her life? Maybe. I’m jealous that she was able to go back to brunette with little effort.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN
I think she needs a better colorist. Both the blonde and the brunette are too harsh.
I can’t stand Americans who live in London for two seconds and start speaking with a British accent. Yes, we all wish we had one, but we don’t. Face it. Lol
The blonde made her look older, didn’t it? I can’t diss her for it, God knows I once went so blonde in college that I looked like an albino and it took over a year for any darker color to “stick” despite my attempts to dye it back.
Well living abroad does change your accent, it’s not something you do on purpose
There’s a difference between unconsciously changing your accent slightly and suddenly speaking with a full on fake British accent. Don’t we all know that person from high school who went to London for two weeks and spoke with a British accent for the rest of their life? Obnoxious.
@Eleonor
Yeah living abroad for years though… And it doesn’t change immediately… Then you get stuck in the ‘I-ve-no-idea-what-kind-of-accent-I-have’ limbo for years, and everybody in your original country thinks you are a foreigner and everybody in the country you’re living in thinks you are a foreigner…
In a few words, the ‘limbo’ accent is my accent now lol
Oh Eleonor I feel your pain. 🙂 After growing up in Texas with an entire family of strong drawlers sentences like “I like that” sounded more like “Ah lahhk thayat”.
But, yes, even moving to a different region of the US for long periods of time can change your accent. I adopted some northern tones for the pronunciation of Car and Snow after living in North Dakota for a few years. And then living overseas in Germany for almost five years, I’ve become accustomed to over enunciating and dropping as much of any accent as possible in order to communicate with those here who are trying their rusty English with me.
Now, most people don’t know where I’m from. 😛
Yes – it’s almost impossible not to pick it up at least a little. I once went on a 2-week road trip from Chicago to the DEEP south of Texas, using a CB the whole way. By the time I got back I sounded like a long haul trucker – and what was funny was that EVERY trucker sounded like that. They all have this deep twang, no matter where they’re from. Even living in Colorado for 10 years has erased my Chicago accent – until I start talking to friends from Chicago. Accents are fluid.
Long story short – if I lived in the UK I’d probably end up with an accent change too.
I saw her in Homebody/Kabul at BAM years ago and her British accent was distractingly bad to me, so I can see where she feels the need to really work at it to achieve some authenticity for a BBC drama.
LOL @Goodnamesalltaken – I agree with you. What I love about it is that Goopy and Madge have tried so hard to be British and Dame Jolie just swoops in there and gets a title with no fakery or pretension involved. I love Maggie though so I can’t say anything bad about her. I know I read a lot of books by British authors (nothing heavy just chick lit and regency romances with of course the classics thrown in) and some of the words or expressions they use get so common to me that I start using them myself them realize I look pretensious for doing it.
Yes, hahaha about Goop and Madge – they must have been boiling! I like Maggie, too, and I think she was just practicing for her role, maybe. I was thinking more about someone I knew in high school who was all pip pip cheerio after two weeks abroad. Lol
But she needs an accent for the job, so it’s probably hard to switch all the time. Didn’t Forest Withaker say he kept the accent the entire time he was playing Idi Amin?
I love Maggie.
Yeah, as I said above I was just thinking more generally. I can see how she’s doing it for the role.
Daniel Day Lewis stays in character when shooting movies as well, including accents.
I lived in London for 6 months and the accent came on right away. I don’t think you can fault someone for that. To anyone who has a good ear for languages (or music), you automatically start tilting toward whatever accent is around you.
I was busted once when I lived in London and at the train station asked — in my British accent — for a ticket to my destination and the guy replied, “That will be 2 bob.” I had no idea what a “bob” was and just dumped all my change in the slot, red in the face!
I think she’s beautiful but short hair doesn’t suit her. Nor does blonde.
Having done the color change thinking it would help something – anything, too, I can commiserate with Maggie. It ends up being one more thing to deal with –
I think any drastic change you make when you’re depressed can backfire, right?
Absolutely. GNAT, I was violet before it became fashionable. 👀
I tried to be a strawberry blonde once and it came out pink. Really, really pink. Waaay before it was fashionable. Lol
Better to do a gradual, more subtle, shift. Then you can change back or go forward depending on how you feel about it.
@Kiddo – yes, and you also have a better chance of avoiding the dreaded green head of hair (too much ash tone).👀
Yeah, it’s not the deepest comment int he world, but I think it’s been true for a lot of people. I’ve certainly been in her shoes (and man, do I like horrible as a blonde).
That new drama series sounds good. I like her blonde & brunette. Good bone structure.
That’s not true that drastic changes never work out. I was in a hair and life rut, and going from long brown hair to shoulder length blond hair 3 years ago, was the motivation I needed to start changing other things in my life. I love it and never regret it for a second. All that long hair was just weighing me down, I’ll never grow it out or go back to brunette, blond lightens my features and makes my dark eyes stand out.
I think Maggie looks great with the blond pixie cut, maybe one day I’ll get the full chop.
This is also true. I also chopped my hair off once because I needed a change in my life (yes, one of these moments) and it was the best idea. I looked and felt better, lighter. I even started to think more positive. My hair was a burden, dead weight.
“I dyed my hair blonde because I wanted to feel better about myself.”
If only a hairstyle change could cure a person’s problems… we’d all be the happiest people alive right now.
I guess I’m the only one who likes her blonde, lol. I was dark blonde my whole life and I went full blonde at about 25 and never looked back. I’ve had some missteps but it takes a while to find the right color and sometimes you just want a change, so you do something drastic. I was very blonde until I was 5-6 and my eye/skin coloring just looks better as a light blonde. Although I’m a golden/platinum right now, I’m going to go for a more honey blonde with some lighter streaks in a couple of weeks.
Lainey did hint that things may not be all OK with the Gyllenhaal siblings for different reasons. Maggie with her husband and Jake with whatever… she said at the most recent smut soiree that he was becoming sad smut, but she didn’t elaborate.
Peter Sarsgaard is very creepy but I like them together. By creepy I mean that he plays creepy very well in film. I have never had any interest in Jake so no comment there. I just wonder why if everyone says he is gay, including Lainey them why does she do columns about who which latest model he is dating and why is she always gossip genying him with female actors such as Rachel McAdams.
She’s the only gossip who insists he isn’t gay. I think that rumor persists so hard because of Toothy Tile back in the day.
i like Maggie G – always have, but the short hair just doesn’t suit. The best she ever looked was in the Dark Knight. I would love to see her go back to that look.
Ex pat Americans that act British get on my nerves. Particularly if you don’t share the heritage. My family immigrated from England and British traditions have been passed down to me. I’m proud of my family’s history and culture but I know in my heart I’m American through and through no matter where I live. It must be nice to be able to afford to live in London.
I loved loved loved this interview. What an honest interview and actually answers that were not only honest but showed such vulnerability as an actress and her career, as a woman and the things we do outwardly sometimes to feel better and spark a shft in thinking, and as a mother and how your life changes in all kinds of ways.
Compare this to a GOOPY interview.