Maggie Gyllenhaal Quotes

"I do seem to have a bit of a predilection for movies that say something transgressive."

"It's my responsibility to see what we can move and change about these old-school feminist mantras."

"I find myself more and more interested only in roles which move the world forward."

"You're invited to tons of parties, and you'll wear these shoes and that dress, and it can be enticing, but I think it also sucks you dry. If you do it a little, sure, it's fun, but too much and you start to lose your footing."

"Someone asked me why I didn't do teen movies or action movies, but I'm not interested in them."

"With everything I work on, I want to be put in a position that I have to be brave to do the project."

"These past couple of years have been about learning to not sabotage myself in a subtler way - for instance, even just by putting moisturiser on when I get out of the shower. Learning to honour myself and believing that I'm worth taking care of."

"I really hated charm school. I guess I'm just a little bit bad."

"There is a need, especially right now in America, to be a bit provocative."

"I want roles that challenge people to question where they are in life."

(While promoting Mona Lisa Smile (2003)) "I've realised that the only way to make movies that you're proud of, that don't fall into the sentimental bullshit that so many movies fall into, is to fight. You have to fight. So many people are willing to sleepwalk through things and fall into the not human, not interesting choice".

(On doing Homebody/Kabul) "To get people emotionally involved in something intellectual and political is important."

"I didn't act the way little kids do, I threw my whole self into it."

(About being the youngest actress on her film Casa de los babys (2003)) "I felt out of place and not listened to".

(On her new film Strip Search (2004) (TV)) "I think it's important to see. It's a real violation, and it forces people to get emotionally involved in something that's intellectual and political".

(referring to when she started acting) "Even in elementary school, I took it really seriously. I was always doing plays."

"There are two ways to be cool: One is to be disinterested and make it seem like you must be doing something much more interesting than everybody else if you are this disinterested. The other is to be extremely interested. You are not trying to please anyone, but you are really invested are really focused."

"I just want to support these films and be a part of them in any way because they are so provocative and interesting."

I don't think it is the narrative necessarily that is the most important thing I think it is the human interaction that is the most important thing.

I do see things sometimes that are good, but they don't feel like a challenge to me personally. Like, in my own life and so often I think the things that excite me are things that feel a little bit beyond my grasp.

I am looking for movies that are actually about something and that are questioning something. Movies that are provocative in some way and I am also looking for roles that I think will force me to grow or learn something about myself or the world in order to play them well.