Maggie Gyllenhaal's comment really is obnoxious - she neglected to mention that Emma Thompson is not just "acting with" her. Thomspon is also executive producer of the film, and co-wrote the screenplay, so her input is not simply as a co-star, but as a woman who has very firm ideas on how the film should be.
@heykoukla: Thank you, so I'm not alone in going 'eh?' to that comment. It's both rather arrogant - there's not one actor she'd accept notes from! And hearing that Thompson's executive producer and writer adds a lot to this annoyance of mine - and it rather pointedly underscores Emma's age. It could be a context/how I'm hearing it issue, of course, but... I wrinkled my nose. I don't like the "Oh, I'll deign to accept it from her... she's old and experienced."
It's strange, I used to really like Maggie Gyllenhaal, but I swear everything I've read over the last year or so has made me want to smack her.
In answer to ampersandparade-I'm not an "army brat",I'm an education brat.
My father sets up education in programmes in developing countries,so I was born in Uganda,just as Idi Amin came to power.Then we moved to Lesotho,where we lived for eight years and where I went to school.It is a very small,independent nation with a black African government and a black royal family,and surrounded by the Orange Free State one of the most Afrikaaner of states, so I grew up in an independant black nation,under apartheid.
Then back to Uganda, where we lived in the middle of nowhere, with intermittent electricity and no running water- the lorry would bring water every day from the papyrus swamp and we would fill the bath and it was sponge baths and flushing the toilet once a day. We were the only white children some of the children in the village had ever seen- they would mob us in the market,pinching our skin and pulling hair-I'm very blonde.
Then back to South Africa and living in Cape Town.
I then went to university in England and studied Italian and English and then I spent two years in Florence, then Paris and now I live between Geneva(reluctantly)Paris and Berlin(yeah!!)
I normally spend time between two cities in a week but it's not unusual to spend time between three.
Having that kind of upbringing does mark and change you.It's only now,I'm almost forty, that I've come to realize what a privilege it is.
I've always felt extremely rootless and I went to boarding school very young and I really feel that my parents sacrificed any life we had as a family to their careers and to our education ( try having a father who is an education evangelist!),it took me a very long time to come to terms with that.
I've never stopped travelling,I've travelled all over Asia,Africa and Europe.
It is the most amazing education,the most amazing exposure to different cultures,different languages, different view points and mores,it really does open your mind.
What it taught me more than anything was that you can change things,my grandfather was a gas fitter in South London,my grandmother was housewife,she won a scholarship to continue at school but was told there wasn't enough money for her uniform so she had to leave school.
My father was the first person in his family to go university and then my brother and I automatically went - my brother to Oxford.You can change your destiny! I speak three languages,I'm pretty much at home wherever I go, because I learned to take my home with me,it's inside of me.
It's an odd upbringing, being dragged around the world and never really having a choice about it - as I said I've finally come to terms with it and relish it but at the same time it is very hard to be so rootless.
The Jolie-Pitts seem to travel as a family and the children see their siblings and are with one or both parents, if they have that kind of support I can only think that an upbringing like this is a good thing
"It's the first time Zahara has been back since her adoption"
Maybe I'm touchy but that really sounds like people consider her a "lended child". Should we really keep a clock on when she's back on birth soil? Her place is with her mom & dad, wherever they are.
@Kali Mama: Also, she can't be more than, what, 5? 6? What would be the point of bringing her back to visit at 3 or 4 when at best she may only have the foggiest snippets of memory of the trip?
I wonder what home life is like for the Jolie-Pitt children. I'm not usually terribly fascinated with celebrity lives; celebrities live in a world I have no interest of being a part of, as I don't think "being glamorous" should be a credential necessary to leverage one's self professionally. And I certainly could care less about their children, which crosses a weird line I'm not comfortable with, since if I had kids I wouldn't want strangers knowing what their faces were, around the world. But to be so constantly in transit must be surreal, and very strange. I think it's wonderful that these kids have a home, and especially with parents who are genuinely intelligent and liberal and will teach them things that will be useful, about the world and fairness and things like that. But do the children ever feel a bit place-less, for lack of a better word? I remember moving very often as a child, traveling an awful lot as well, and it making me very uncomfortable; I've spent most of my years as an adult trying to reclaim that sense of security, that feeling of being grounded I never really had before. And we just traveled around the south! I cannot imagine the experience of waking up as a five year old in Asia and Africa and Europe, and it being treated as a normal way of living. It just seems strange, but I imagine in many ways it's educational and will serve them well as adults, perhaps give them an even greater wonder about the foreign world than I had being stationary in these United States.
That being said, I imagine they have a lovely family dynamic, and I pass no judgment or condemnation on them as people, since that sort of thing isn't really even my business. I'm just curious for what that is like for a child, and how that must feel, as someone who wants a few mini-people of my own in a few years. Perhaps some Jezzies who are children of military personnel can share some correlating insight, unless there are children of international celebrities posting here as well.
That Gyllenhaal quote is genuinely fascinating, as is our collective response to it. I think the assessment that there's something a bit odd and stilted about her description of Thompson is dead on, but it's not entirely a slam either. One can sense genuine respect, and even a kind of envy for Thompson in her words.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with simply acknowledging that a colleague is older and more experienced. Gyllenhaal didn't express the idea with much elegance, but I can't be contemptuous of her for stating the fact. Being fifty isn't something to be ashamed of, or something to hide. It's frankly amazing. Describing someone as fifty years old is not an insult. It would be amusingly hypocritical of me to castigate Gyllenhaal for that.
But what is genuinely odd is her admission that she would not allow another actor to give her advice. That is bloody strange. Surely anyone working in a creative field would be eager for any useful feedback. I know there are times when it is a distraction, but a film is a collaborative effort, not a solo exercise. I mean, I know how it can sometimes be irritating when people offer unsolicited advice. When I'm making soup, my sister constantly hovers over my shoulder and tells me it needs more salt, and I want to gut her. But if I were working in a kitchen with other professional chefs, even legendary ones, their input and well-trained palate would be a fantastic resource to mine. Gyllenhaal's prickly insistence that she does not allow advice is, well, rather silly, isn't it?
@Harlot Brontë: :) may i butt in? in the world of acting, it can be very disruptive and inappropriate for an actor to give another actor notes. only a director should give an actor notes. or perhaps that actor's coach. it can only be someone of authority. there are so many reasons why - for instance, one actor may give notes to a fellow actor that conflict with the director's notes. or, it may interfere with one actor's process. there are ways to collaborate on a scene together but in the end, actors should not give each other notes in a professional environment. the director will step in if needed. however, if i were maggie, i would take notes from someone venerable and much older. it's sort of...an exception to a rule.
I found Kim Kardashian's comments about her sisters' bodies a bit startling, given that she's spoken out loudly about being tired of people talking about her body, embracing her body, etc.
"The support that I got from other artists and from the fans and so many people sticking up for me that's what got me to the place where I could accept the apology. And I'm just very thankful that everyone could show me so much love."
Not to take anything away from the whole Kanye-was-a-jackass-and - Taylor-is-a-wronged -sweet-young- thing, but this quote really drove home to me the vast difference between the outcry, from celebrities, fans, and strangers alike, about Kanye's interrupting an MTV acceptance speech and Chris Brown beating the hell out of Rihanna.
I mean, WTF, America? Kanye was a douche, yes, but the difference in the outpouring of public support and public outrage on behalf of Taylor v. Rihanna has been pretty stark.
@greeneyedfem: we saw Kanye in action. we didn't see the Chris beat Rihanna. It took a while to sink in because there wasn't an immediate release of information. when those pix were illegally released, it changed public opinion mightily.
@meanteeth: I agree that having video/witnesses makes a difference.
But even after the leaked photos, we still didn't hear a lot of flat-out condemnation of Brown from celebs: there was just a lot of "oh, well, we have to let them work through what happened, they're young, love is hard, etc etc." Even with the photos of her face! And there was no uniform outpouring of support for Rihanna -- a lot of the online conversations were actually about what she must have done to set him off and how hot-tempered "those Island women" are. Brown's supporters were everywhere online defending him -- from what I've seen, the vitriol directed at Kanye the past couple days has been more uniformly outraged than anything Chris Brown faced in the aftermath of his assault.
It's not just about the video. It's also about race, and how seriously this culture takes relationship violence.
Maggie, darling, I wouldn't take acting notes from Emma Thompson because she's older than you. I'd take them from her because she's got four more Oscar nominations for acting and one more win than you do. And that's not counting the one she got for writing the Sense and Sensibility screenplay.
@trollprincess: Oh yes indeed. Mags, I love ya - up until that comment anyhoo - but let's hope when YOU are 50 (not so scary OR far away my sweet) let us hope you have these accolades behind YOU.
@trollprincess: Also, reading above that Emma is executive producer and writer on this project underscores for me how ridiculous a comment is... she's not a peer, she is indeed a person of power in in this project.
Davy Jones, you are better off alone than married to someone who beats you up. The sooner everyone in the world understands this and acts on it the better off we'll all be.
@Sarah Dove: Very true, abusive love is not better then no love. Some people however are convinced it's only love when there is a firey passion that leads to physical abuse.
I am very young to know the show the Monkees so well but I grew up watching re-runs and always had a small crush on him. It was a little wierd when I realized how big that age gap is. One can't really judge based off of what one see's on TV but he always came across as a sweetheart. And at an age when bones start getting brittle, he really should re-think being with someone who has cracked one of his ribs.
Just for the record, "are you sleeping with him, did you have sex?" is certainly not the first question my mother asks me when I tell her I am in a relationship.
@Sputnik_Sweetheart: Word. I'm almost 35 and I think my parents like to think that I'm still a virgin. This is one case where "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy is fitting...
Maybe it's my Emma Thompson obsession showing, but the Maggie Gyllenhaal quote rubs me the wrong way. It's like she's preteding to not mind the notes, but is actually pretty pissed. If you're pissed why bring it up in an interview at all? Or maybe I'm a tired old grouch who is totally misreading...
@kontrolle: Yeah - it does come across as: "She's like what, 50? That's, like, sooooooooo much older than me. Of COURSE she knows more!" F off Maggie Gyllenhaal. I saw Batman and I'm pretty sure Emma Thompson can give you notes any day of the week.
@kontrolle: I agree. Maggie sounds completely affected. That woman needs all the help she can get. Then again, I too am a big fan of Emma Thompson. I think it might be because we both want to die the same way..."By the river, in Scotland, clutching a good bottle of wine."
09/16/09
telling a cop to lower his voice is unforgivable diddy. see what i did there?
09/16/09
09/16/09
It's strange, I used to really like Maggie Gyllenhaal, but I swear everything I've read over the last year or so has made me want to smack her.
Also: Emma Thompson is a goddess.
09/16/09
My father sets up education in programmes in developing countries,so I was born in Uganda,just as Idi Amin came to power.Then we moved to Lesotho,where we lived for eight years and where I went to school.It is a very small,independent nation with a black African government and a black royal family,and surrounded by the Orange Free State one of the most Afrikaaner of states, so I grew up in an independant black nation,under apartheid.
Then back to Uganda, where we lived in the middle of nowhere, with intermittent electricity and no running water- the lorry would bring water every day from the papyrus swamp and we would fill the bath and it was sponge baths and flushing the toilet once a day. We were the only white children some of the children in the village had ever seen- they would mob us in the market,pinching our skin and pulling hair-I'm very blonde.
Then back to South Africa and living in Cape Town.
I then went to university in England and studied Italian and English and then I spent two years in Florence, then Paris and now I live between Geneva(reluctantly)Paris and Berlin(yeah!!)
I normally spend time between two cities in a week but it's not unusual to spend time between three.
Having that kind of upbringing does mark and change you.It's only now,I'm almost forty, that I've come to realize what a privilege it is.
I've always felt extremely rootless and I went to boarding school very young and I really feel that my parents sacrificed any life we had as a family to their careers and to our education ( try having a father who is an education evangelist!),it took me a very long time to come to terms with that.
I've never stopped travelling,I've travelled all over Asia,Africa and Europe.
It is the most amazing education,the most amazing exposure to different cultures,different languages, different view points and mores,it really does open your mind.
What it taught me more than anything was that you can change things,my grandfather was a gas fitter in South London,my grandmother was housewife,she won a scholarship to continue at school but was told there wasn't enough money for her uniform so she had to leave school.
My father was the first person in his family to go university and then my brother and I automatically went - my brother to Oxford.You can change your destiny! I speak three languages,I'm pretty much at home wherever I go, because I learned to take my home with me,it's inside of me.
It's an odd upbringing, being dragged around the world and never really having a choice about it - as I said I've finally come to terms with it and relish it but at the same time it is very hard to be so rootless.
The Jolie-Pitts seem to travel as a family and the children see their siblings and are with one or both parents, if they have that kind of support I can only think that an upbringing like this is a good thing
09/16/09
Maybe I'm touchy but that really sounds like people consider her a "lended child". Should we really keep a clock on when she's back on birth soil? Her place is with her mom & dad, wherever they are.
09/16/09
09/15/09
That being said, I imagine they have a lovely family dynamic, and I pass no judgment or condemnation on them as people, since that sort of thing isn't really even my business. I'm just curious for what that is like for a child, and how that must feel, as someone who wants a few mini-people of my own in a few years. Perhaps some Jezzies who are children of military personnel can share some correlating insight, unless there are children of international celebrities posting here as well.
09/15/09
if you have boobs you "don't like".
Stay well!
09/15/09
09/15/09
There is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with simply acknowledging that a colleague is older and more experienced. Gyllenhaal didn't express the idea with much elegance, but I can't be contemptuous of her for stating the fact. Being fifty isn't something to be ashamed of, or something to hide. It's frankly amazing. Describing someone as fifty years old is not an insult. It would be amusingly hypocritical of me to castigate Gyllenhaal for that.
But what is genuinely odd is her admission that she would not allow another actor to give her advice. That is bloody strange. Surely anyone working in a creative field would be eager for any useful feedback. I know there are times when it is a distraction, but a film is a collaborative effort, not a solo exercise. I mean, I know how it can sometimes be irritating when people offer unsolicited advice. When I'm making soup, my sister constantly hovers over my shoulder and tells me it needs more salt, and I want to gut her. But if I were working in a kitchen with other professional chefs, even legendary ones, their input and well-trained palate would be a fantastic resource to mine. Gyllenhaal's prickly insistence that she does not allow advice is, well, rather silly, isn't it?
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?
09/15/09
Not to take anything away from the whole Kanye-was-a-jackass-and - Taylor-is-a-wronged -sweet-young- thing, but this quote really drove home to me the vast difference between the outcry, from celebrities, fans, and strangers alike, about Kanye's interrupting an MTV acceptance speech and Chris Brown beating the hell out of Rihanna.
I mean, WTF, America? Kanye was a douche, yes, but the difference in the outpouring of public support and public outrage on behalf of Taylor v. Rihanna has been pretty stark.
09/15/09
09/15/09
But even after the leaked photos, we still didn't hear a lot of flat-out condemnation of Brown from celebs: there was just a lot of "oh, well, we have to let them work through what happened, they're young, love is hard, etc etc." Even with the photos of her face! And there was no uniform outpouring of support for Rihanna -- a lot of the online conversations were actually about what she must have done to set him off and how hot-tempered "those Island women" are. Brown's supporters were everywhere online defending him -- from what I've seen, the vitriol directed at Kanye the past couple days has been more uniformly outraged than anything Chris Brown faced in the aftermath of his assault.
It's not just about the video. It's also about race, and how seriously this culture takes relationship violence.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/16/09
09/15/09
09/16/09
I am very young to know the show the Monkees so well but I grew up watching re-runs and always had a small crush on him. It was a little wierd when I realized how big that age gap is. One can't really judge based off of what one see's on TV but he always came across as a sweetheart. And at an age when bones start getting brittle, he really should re-think being with someone who has cracked one of his ribs.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
If I was dating Jon Gosselin, the first question my mother would ask is "Are you CRAZY? That man has 8 friggin' kids!!"
09/16/09
And yes, these days I reference everything back to RHA. What of it?
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
[www.vanityfair.com]