Watching the sun rise together on a special day - Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal - 'he knows'

Maggie Gyllenhaal's pure delight in receiving her first Oscar nomination comes with an added blessing for us - a glimpse into that close relationship she shares with her brother Jake. Maggie's nomination is a family affair. They've experienced this before and will undoubtedly do so again.


Maggie on ET: 'I wasn't nominated for anything else so I was really surprised this morning! We're staying at my brother's and so my daughter, my husband and I were all in the same room. I didn't want to wake them up and so I ran to the hallway and my brother's housephone rang. And my brother got up and he said 'Did you get nominated?' I said yes and we were just shaking! He said 'Your phone is going to ring all day'... He said he didn't do this stuff, interviews and stuff, as he was working so he just went straight to work. But I was thinking when I was sitting with him, I thought in these kinds of interviews, in junkets, journalists alwas ask me 'Does it help having your husband and your brother doing the same work as you?' I actually was thinking this morning, sitting with him, I thought 'This helps'. It helps that he's been through this. That he knows how it feels. So exciting and overwhelming and scary and thrilling. And he knew.'


Maggie told In Contention: 'The thing is, you know, I’m so proud of the movie and I always have been, more proud of it than any of the work I’ve done so far. But because I wasn’t getting nominated for anything, I wasn’t expecting it. My phone was ringing so early and I thought, “Wait, maybe!” I was staying at my brother’s in LA. He said to me, “Your phone is going to be ringing all day.” He made me a cup of coffee and then we watched the sun rise. It was pretty mellow. But this wouldn’t be happening for Jeff [Bridges] or me if it wasn’t for Scott [Cooper].'


You can see Jeff Bridges describing his own pleasure at Maggie's nomination here.

Edited to add: Another lovely interview with Maggie here for Access Hollywood. Just look at that face! That is a happy face.

Thanks to Monica for the heads up on In Contention. Thanks to IHJ for the pics.