Crazy Heart, Brothers & Geek Film Top 5

"Sister of Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie has established herself as a solid actress capable of creating a myriad of characters, including her latest as Jean in Crazy Heart.

Mirror: How did you as the actress get past Bad Blake’s (Jeff Bridges) dysfunction and have your character fall in love with him?Maggie: When you have a wonderful script and you’re acting with Jeff, it’s easy.Mirror: Have you ever been attracted to the wrong person?

Maggie: I’ve been attracted to people who have been terrible for me. Sometimes you work through it and other times you don’t. That’s part of the reason why the movie is so good – because they are unlikely lovers.Mirror: Jean is attracted to him when he’s an unkempt drunk, but when he’s clean and sober and ready to build a new, healthy life with her, she rejects him.Maggie: He gets out of rehab but how does she know he has his addiction licked. He lost her child (Buddy) and although she loves Bad, she couldn’t take a chance. He could fall off the wagon and lose Buddy again and it would completely be her fault.
Mirror: How do you compare yourself to Jean and how much personal sacrificing have you made?Maggie: You can’t sacrifice everything for your children or you’ll be an empty shell. I don’t usually like to talk about my family, but my experience with being a mother is tied to this movie. I made the movie when my daughter was almost two. Before that, I had been focusing almost exclusively on being a mother and started to get restless. I’m an actress and had so much to express. It all came out in Crazy Heart and in a way very similar to Jean’s experience because she was trying so hard to balance being a good mom and have a career. At that point, she needed something for her. I had the same feeling. I needed something for me.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard worked together in "Jarhead" (2005), directed by Sam Mendes.

Mirror: Your brother Jake and your husband Peter (Sarsgaard) are pretty awesome. Do you talk about your careers at the dinner table?

Maggie: We try not to. My husband has a great way of thinking about awards. There are people who don’t care but most actors like awards, especially me. I know it’s not good for me to think about it because it’ll make me crazy". Source: www.smmirror.com

"Maguire plays a soldier who goes missing and is presumed dead while on a mission in Afghanistan, leaving his wife (Portman) and brother (Gyllenhaal) to help each other through their grieving, only to have to deal with paranoia and suspicions when Maguire returns home a completely changed man.Like some of the greatest directors, Sheridan is one of those enigmatic filmmakers who you never quite know what to expect, but he's also very open to talking about his process, as you'll learn in this exclusive interview with ComingSoon.net":
Some of the things we discussed with Mr. Sheridan include:

* How he'd feel about having one of his own movies remade
* How the project was presented to him
* What appealed to him about the story
* What he felt he could bring to the script/movie
* Remakes – whether or not to watch the original?
* How he approached the casting, especially casting younger actors
* Balancing the lighter aspects of the movie with the intense drama
* Some of the changes he made to the screenplay
* Shooting the movie during the writers strike
* Where and how improvisation fit into the mix
* Working with the actors and working with kids
* How he'd love to do a kids' movie
Source: www.comingsoon.net

Donnie Darko chosen #9 The Cult Film of The Decade by Total Film issue 163, February 2010.

Den of Geek Film Of The Year 2009 - Top 5:
1. Moon2. District 93. The Hangover4. Drag Me To Hell5. In The Loop

"Three films standout as cast iron locks for the best of the year. Low-fi sci-fi mindbender Moon, with its retro style and use of old school miniatures and models, took science fiction back its golden age of the 70s and 80s. Sam Rockwell gives a superb central performance (sign that petition to get him an Oscar nomination!). Is Moon the best ‘cult’ film since Donnie Darko? Could just be".
Source: www.denofgeek.com