Peter and Maggie off Broadway and Jake in the beginning - 'Some rocket has gone up for me'

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard are currently consolidating Peter's Chekhov' experience by appearing in Uncle Vanya off Broadway - in a small theatre where a week's seat takings wouldn't have filled the theatre for Seagull. In this play, the couple have attracted relatively little attention, with the paps staking out the coffee shops for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, not for Peter and Maggie.


And so, the couple can enjoy the experience for what it is - a chance to enjoy working together out of the movie world and, to some extent, out of the limelight. Fortunately, as they both admit, the publicity pull of Peter and his 'lover' is something that they appreciate for the play's success during a time when a theatre seat is a luxury.


This very enjoyable article in the New York Times, not only includes an interview with Peter and Maggie, but it also features audio interviews with the two, complete with the sounds of coffee cups and cafe life. In one of these, Maggie reflects on how she was able to combine motherhood with Batman. Now that Peter and Maggie are working together, a babysitter is a necessary need - fortunately mum Naomi is on hand: 'My mom kept saying: ‘Michelle Obama’s mom is going to the White House with them. It’s fine,’' Peter's satisfaction on working with his 'lover' is wide open. There is more about the play here.


Talking of Batman, following Christian Bale's little outburst on the set of Terminator 4, there has been talk that maybe he should hangup his tights and hand in the keys to his batmobile. For some, Jake Gyllenhaal might be a candidate... He's the number one choice for this site: 'At some point, Tobey Maguire was talking about leaving the Spider-Man franchise to do serious fare (cue Seabiscuit trailer), and in the slim amount of time between when that statement was issued and retracted, Jake Gyllenhaal had emerged has a favorite to replace him. So clearly, Gyllenhaal, who in the past has played Jennifer Aniston’s stalker, a gay cowboy and some guy in Jarhead who traipsed about in a Santa hat, has a distinguishable superhero mark.'


Years before Jake could be considered as a candidate for superheros, or for the Prince of Persia, he beat 'a cattle call of a thousand to play the teenage version of NASA science engineer Homer Hickam Jr' in October Sky. '"Forgive me if I'm a little daunted," grins the 18-year-old, fresh-faced newcomer, who embarks on his first starring role in October Sky, opening this week. With his blue-eyed, sensitive gaze and aw-shucks ways taking up nearly every frame in the film -- based on Hickam's autobiographical memoir, Rocket Boys -- the teenager is poised to become the thinking-girl's Leonardo DiCaprio. "I don't think I'm ready for that," he assures us.'


'"The passion that Homer has for his rocketry, I have for my acting," says Gyllenhaal, whose previous film work includes bits in City Slickers and A Dangerous Woman. On the black, dusty set of crumbled asphalt in Knoxville, Tennessee, Gyllenhaal met up with a true test of his talent -- the real Homer Hickman. "He pulls up and it had just rained and the sun was shining bright, reflecting off the black ground ... and Homer looked at us and was crying," recalls Gyllenhaal. "How honourable and flattering that was."'


'"The movie-making process is supposedly romantic," he laughs. "You think it's all walking on red carpets to the makeup trailer. But there was something strangely, uh, humbling about Tennessee." Between lighting changes and scenes, "I was doing math or taking a quiz," says Gyllenhaal, the youngest of the group, finishing up high school via tutor during the shoot. "It was a really delicate balance trying to maintain both at the same time. It was hard."'


'But as a freshman at Columbia University, the actor is adamant to keep on schoolin', even if fame beckons. "I'm reading your dead, white males," he jokes, of his homework of poetry and novels he's lugging around with him to scan between interviews. "I hopefully won't abandon school. Going to college is really about human experiences and being human and being ordinary among the 16,000 people that are there," he says, "instead of sitting around a table being interviewed and being the only one talking."'


'"Doing this movie is like a dream coming true," he says. "Some rocket has gone up for me in some strange way."'


Includes pictures from IHJ and links.