Jake admits Tobey is extraordinary in "Brothers"

"I think that watching Tobey in the movie is the most extraordinary piece of it," Gyllenhaal admitted. "I have been blessed to watch actors who people didn't feel could perform a certain thing or were a sort of way, and I've been honored to watch that. It's always nice to see when people, like journalists, have never thought of someone one way can see them in another way. I watched Tobey go from the first part of the movie, then we had a Christmas break in between and when he came back, he was another person from who he was in the first couple weeks we started shooting. That was an extraordinary transformation, not only to watch as an actor, but now watching the movie as an audience member, I now feel that way, too." Portman talked about the research she did for the role: "I spoke to some Marine wives and talked to them about their experiences and how their kids reacted when their father was away and the kinds of things husbands would do before they left and what it was like when they came back and how everything changed. I think the most interesting thing was that they viewed it as the home being their own front, that they had to really keep everything under control at home so their husbands could do their job. Even if there was something going on (like) the kids were acting up or it was hard to pay the bills, you never ever tell your husband, because they need to focus on their job and there's nothing they can do because they're away. They're tough because they're soldiers in their own right."And Jake: "I can say that in researching the character that I played, Jim and I went to a lot of different jails and juvenile halls in L.A. county and I met these kids in this writing program and they were extraordinary kids. One of them was this incredible storyteller that Jim ended up putting in the movie as one of the guys in the helicopter with Tobey."Gyllenhaal added his own two cents on the matter. "It's funny that people are asking whether this is some kind of war movie, and I've definitely been involved in movies that people have said that to me in press conferences over and over, and as a result of trying to sell the movie, there's an inclination to not talk about that. You're kind of backed into a corner, but I don't actually think anybody is trying to pretend like we're in some corner. We're not in a corner. The movie is a journey and how they're selling the movie is fascinating because the most extraordinary part of the movie is not given away at all in any of these ads or how they're selling it. It's the journey that Tobey's character makes to get back home. It is intertwined with a lot of other complications but it's mostly about what this man does to get back to the people that he loves and his life." Finally, Maguire mused on why stories about soldiers like the one he plays need to be told. "People don't like to talk about that stuff so much. I mean, people will, but these folks go over there and suffer these traumas and feel alone. They don't feel like people can relate. I'm generalizing obviously. Some people can talk about it, some people do get help, but a lot of folks go over and feel like their worldview has changed. They can't relate to us, the civilians, and it's very challenging for them. There's a lot of shame and embarrassment and they try to take it on themselves and they're suffering. They're dealing with some really complicated psychological problems. They need us to be a little more proactive in society to reach out to them and to lend a hand and to have a conversation about it." Source: www.comingsoon.net