The Bride! is one of those 2026 movie releases that a lot of audiences missed in theaters but may check out now that it’s streaming at home. Maggie Gyllenhaal's dark romance flick divided critics and sadly lost millions at the box office. Still, I say it's definitely worth a watch. Now, in honor of the film's arrival on HBO Max, I'm reviving CinemaBlend's chat with the cast about Christian Bale’s notable role as Frankenstein’s monster, including one of his most eclectic attributes.

Christian Bale's Frankenstein Transformation Shocked His Co-Stars

Just ahead of The Bride’s release back in February, CB had the chance to speak with all the big stars in the movie along with writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal. More specifically, when we chatted with Penelope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard about their first time seeing Bale as the iconic monster, Cruz said this:

The Oscar-winning actress had a good idea of what Jessie Buckley was going to look like as the modern take on the titular character from the 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein movie. However, Cruz was amazed by the person in front of her when Bale came out in full costume, and I can understand her feelings. As for Sarsgaard, he had this to say:

Needless to say, both Sarsgaard and Cruz had their observations when Bale appeared before them in costume. You can check out their comments in the interview clip below:

In the movie, Sarsgaard takes on role of Jake Wiles, a police detective, while Cruz plays his assistant, Myrna Malloy. Throughout the film, both characters pursue The Bride and “Frank”. All in all, Frank proves to be quite an interesting character -- right alongside the film's titular protagonist -- and there's one quirk that really needs to be discussed.

Why Is Christian Bale's Version OF Frankenstein’s Monster Such A Big Movie Buff?

Aside from Christian Bale’s electrifying transformation as the famed movie monster, I was really moved by his take on the brute in smaller respects. Something that really caught my eye was the imposing character's obsession with going to the theaters and watching films. Here’s what Bale told us about this unique piece of the beloved creature's characterization:

It’s a great point, and this is an element I never thought viewers would get in a new adaptation of Frankenstein. As the actor added:

This cerebral kind of thinking is what makes Bale one of the most thoughtful actors of his generation. And, of course, credit goes to Maggie Gyllenhaal for molding this iteration of the monster. When we sat down with Bale, he also shared his thoughts on The Bride! being a love story and what’s going on with the movie’s ending. Check out our conversation with the Academy Award winner below:

There've been a lot of versions of Frankenstein’s monster over the years, but it’s pretty special to see the Batman actor put his spin on it in a story that focuses on him getting a companion in The Bride! Christian Bale clearly went all out on the role between the physical transformation and thinking deeply about what it would be like to be a lonely monster in 1936 Chicago. This certainly won’t be the last Frankenstein adaptation, but it's my hope that Bale's version will be held in high regard as the years go on.

Do yourself a favor by checking out Bale's stellar work in The Bride! now. It's a fun film, and it has cult status written all over it.

Big, ambitious movies sometimes connect with audiences in a major way. Other times, they swing for the fences and miss. Unfortunately for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s 2026 movie schedule release, The Bride!, the latter may be what’s happening. And based on the film's opening weekend box office, it now looks like the film could lose millions.

Inspired by the classic Bride of Frankenstein mythology, Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! debuted in theaters this past weekend, but the early box office numbers aren’t exactly encouraging. According to Deadline, the film opened to about $13.6 million worldwide, with only $7.3 million coming from domestic theaters. That’s a particularly rough start for a movie that reportedly cost around $80 million to produce, before marketing costs are factored in.

Industry insiders suggest the film could ultimately lose close to $90 million during its initial release cycle, though the full financial picture won’t be clear until after home entertainment and streaming revenue are included. That’s a tough outcome for a movie that clearly aimed to do something different and has connected with a lot of folks who did see it. CinemaBlend’s own Nick Venable gave the movie an outstanding five-star review, going so far as to call it a masterpiece.

The Bride! is a follow-up to Gyllenhaal’s critically acclaimed debut, The Lost Daughter, and was never meant to be a traditional horror film. Instead, the movie leans into a stylized, genre-blending approach that mixes period horror, punk-rock energy, and a tragic love story. The film also assembled an impressive cast, including Jessie Buckley in the title role alongside Christian Bale, with supporting performances from Penélope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard.

Critics have noted that the movie looks stunning, with elaborate production design and striking visuals. But visually impressive movies don’t always translate into box office success. Part of the challenge may come down to the film’s identity.

Some industry observers believe The Bride! struggled to clearly define its audience. Even from the first Bride trailer, it was clear that the movie blended multiple tones and themes, from feminist storytelling to gothic romance to campy monster spectacle, which may have made it difficult for marketing to communicate exactly what the experience would be like. And in today’s social media-driven movie environment, word of mouth spreads incredibly fast.

Audience response to the film hasn’t been particularly strong so far, with a C+ CinemaScore indicating that general moviegoers were fairly mixed on the experience. That’s not necessarily disastrous for a more experimental film, but it does make it harder to achieve strong box office legs.

Timing may have also played a role. The movie arrived not long after Guillermo del Toro released his new book-to-screen adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, streaming for folks with a Netflix subscription. That film reportedly drew huge viewership in its first week, which may have satisfied some audiences’ appetite for monster stories — at least for the moment.

There’s also the broader reality of the current box office landscape. Original movies, especially expensive ones that aren’t tied to existing franchises, can be a difficult sell. That doesn’t mean studios will stop trying. In fact, Warner Bros. appears to be taking a calculated approach with a diverse slate of upcoming films, hoping that major hits will offset the occasional miss.

Still, The Bride! represents a reminder of how risky ambitious filmmaking can be. By all accounts, Gyllenhaal set out to make a bold, unusual monster movie, and the studio backed that vision with a substantial budget and high-end creative team. Sometimes those risks pay off. Other times, the audience simply doesn’t show up.

And for The Bride!, the early numbers suggest that this particular gamble may end up costing the studio tens of millions before everything is said and done. But all is not lost. You can head to your local theater and see the new horror film for yourself and make up your mind about the flick.

Minor SPOILERS are ahead for The Bride!, now playing in theaters.

Did you know The Bride! wasn’t always going to be part of the 2026 movie schedule? Maggie Gyllenhaal’s take on The Bride of Frankenstein was originally going to come out this past fall, until the release date was pushed back six months. When CinemaBlend spoke to the movie’s filmmaker, we ended up talking about one aspect of it that changed after her original cut was screened for audiences, and how it added to the final cut.

The Bride! opens up by declaring that its author, Mary Shelley, came up with the sci-fi classic Frankenstein “on a dare”. Then, the audience meets Shelley through Jessie Buckley’s narration and feral performance of the real person (alongside the actress playing The Bride). When I asked Gyllenhaal about opening up the movie in this fashion, she said this:

It’s true. While Frankenstein is one of the most beloved science fiction books, these days it’s definitely more known as a pop culture touchstone in newer media across the past 200 years, like the line “It’s alive!” As Gyllenhaal continued:

Mary Shelley was just 18 when she crafted the idea of Frankenstein and 20 years old when the book was published. As a woman living in the 1800s, too, the act of her work getting out in the world at all was pretty radical. So, I know that I really appreciated the way her history was woven into the movie, even if it wasn’t initially part of The Bride!

Jessie Buckley also added what it was like to embody Mary Shelley in the movie with these words:

Buckley became pregnant this past year and welcomed her first baby, a girl, this past fall. The Bride’s principal photography took place in 2024. It’s made clear that the addition of all the Mary Shelley stuff in black and white was part of the rumored reshoots we had heard about after the movie was pushed back by Warner Bros. The Best Actress nominee clearly loved the additions, and I know it enriched the movie for me.

You can check out Christian Bale’s thoughts on whether The Bride! is a love story and a breakdown of the movie’s ambiguous ending from our exclusive interviews. And, take a look at our The Bride! review, along with what else critics are saying about it here on CinemaBlend.

After years of talk about Hollywood reimagining The Bride of Frankenstein for the modern age, Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is among new 2026 movies out this week, and it’s time to talk about the ending. This is your SPOILER WARNING for the rest of this article. Go see it in theaters before reading on.

Christian Bale On The Final Shot Of The Bride!

At the end of the movie, Christian Bale’s Frank gets gunned down by the police, leading Jessie Buckley’s The Bride to return to Dr. Euphronious’ labs and ask for him to be reanimated. However, the police are hot on her trail and shoot her too, leaving them both dead on the operating table. But in the final moment of the movie, we see lightning flash and their pair of hands clutch onto each other as the credits role. Here’s what Bale said of the scene during our interview:

So perhaps The Bride and Frank have been reanimated once again! Bale brought up a great point in our interview that the final moment of the film thematically is telling the audience that “reinvention is essential.” Through the science fiction storyline of The Bride!, maybe this unlikely pair will get yet another chance together.

And, Why Does The Bride! Reclaim Her Name?

I also had to ask writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal about The Bride deciding to reclaim her name as The Bride rather than going with the name from her former life, Ida, or a different one. Here’s what she shared with us:

1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein had Elsa Lanchester portraying the role of The Bride. However, the character at the time was barely explored and barely appears in a film named after her. In Gyllenhaal’s version, she was able to explore who she is in depth. As the filmmaker continued:

While The Bride! may have an ambiguous ending, it also gets across its message about these misfits ending up in the same place by the end, and the movie leaving the audience off on a rebellious place like the movie’s main character. They may even have a chance at a happier next life together, whether that’s in the human world or one beyond.

The movie has earned a glowing five-star review from our critic, along with opinions all over the map from other viewers thus far. Where do you land on this new retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic and the ending?

There have been about a bajillion adaptations of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, and in fact, Guillermo del Toro’s version has racked up several Academy Award nominations for next week’s ceremony. Already, however, we’re turning our attention to the next iteration, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!, which promises to be something completely unique, as the monster, "Frank," seeks a companion creation. Critics screened the film ahead of its release on the 2026 movie calendar, and they have strong — but divisive — opinions.

Jessie Buckley — an Oscar nominee this year herself — portrays the titular creation, with Christian Bale playing Frankenstein’s monster and Annette Bening as Dr. Euphronious, the scientist tasked with creating life from the body of a murdered woman. That’s not where the talent or the surprises end, either as CinemaBlend’s review of The Bride! calls it “a masterpiece on every level.” Nick Venable rates it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, writing:

Tomris Laffly of RogerEbert gives it 3 stars out of 4, calling it “a fantastical creative explosion you can’t look away from.” It’s fun to see Jessie Buckley go fully unhinged, but it may be even more satisfying to see Maggie Gyllenhaal follow up The Lost Daughter with such a big swing that shows her operating with no limits. Laffly says:

Luke Hicks of AV Club gives the upcoming horror movie a B+, noting that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jessie Buckley are intentionally making the audience uncomfortable, as the latter portrays her character with a brilliant, vile, vigorous, take-no-prisoners attitude that Frankenstein never had. Hicks continues:

To that end, there are indeed some less-than-complimentary reactions, with IGN critic Hanna Ines Flint giving it a "Mediocre" 5 out of 10 and calling Maggie Gyllenhaal’s movie a “gaudy feminist reimagining.” The critic writes:

Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post straight-up calls it “one of the worst movies I’ve seen in this job,” and awards it zero stars. The script, Oleksinski says, feels like something scribbled down at 4 a.m. in a dream journal. The critic continues:

With critics’ ratings ranging from 0 to 5 stars, you’ll have to use your judgment — with the help of these opinions — to decide if Maggie Gyllenhaal’s second directorial effort is one you want to partake in. The best part is, you don’t have to wait. The Bride! hits theaters on Friday, March 6.

From everything we’ve seen so in The Bride's trailer and promotional material, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new horror film doesn’t exactly look subtle. The 2026 movie calendar release leans hard into gothic romance, blood, and big swings, which makes it all the more amusing that the film apparently came with some equally dramatic studio notes. Chief among them? Frankenstein was absolutely not allowed to “lick black vomit off the Bride’s neck.” Yes, really.

Gyllenhaal pulled back the curtain on what it took to get her ambitious second feature across the finish line during an interview with Variety. While she’s been clear that she had a strong creative partnership with Warner Bros., she also admitted there were moments when her vision tested the limits of what the studio was comfortable with. As she put it:

Honestly, if that’s the note that made it into the press, I can only imagine what didn’t. But that wasn’t the only point of contention. Because The Bride! is a big studio movie starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, it went through extensive test screenings. And according to Gyllenhaal, one of the biggest recurring critiques centered on the film's violence.

Warner Bros. ultimately asked her to pull back some of it, which means the version of The Bride! that will be released in theaters this weekend is already a slightly tempered cut. Still, Gyllenhaal was adamant about not stripping the remaining violence of its emotional impact. For her, the goal wasn’t shock for shock’s sake. She added:

As for the sexual violence, the director acknowledged that some test viewers simply didn’t want to see it depicted at all. Gyllenhaal understands that reaction, but she also argued that ignoring it doesn’t make it disappear. If it’s portrayed, she believes it should be uncomfortable, because it is uncomfortable in real life. It’s a theme she’s explored since Secretary and one she doesn’t seem interested in backing away from now.

The Bride! marks her first foray into large-scale studio filmmaking after the critical success of The Lost Daughter. And while navigating notes about vomit-licking Frankensteins and audience sensitivities might sound chaotic, Gyllenhaal insists the process was challenging in a productive way.

Difficult? Yes. But not adversarial. Just the messy, fascinating reality of trying to make a bold book-to-screen adaptation inside a system designed to sand off the edges. Whether audiences embrace those edges or recoil from them, we’ll find out when The Bride! hits theaters March 6.

Alongside such literary icons as Sherlock Holmes, Hamlet, and James Bond, one of the most oft-adapted characters for live-action (and otherwise) is the anatomical monstrosity simply known as Frankenstein’s monster. Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel has proven to be a seemingly unstoppable inspiration over the last 116 years, starting in the silent era with J. Searle Dawley’s Frankenstein, with James Whale’s 1931 adaptation and its 1935 sequel Bride of Frankenstein viewed as the true classic iterations. But only because 1930s audiences didn’t get to meet Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride.

If they had, they likely wouldn’t have known how to handle themselves around the whirlwind of Jessie Buckley’s constantly in-motion character, who adopts several different personas throughout the movie. She’s a gangster moll, a supernatural totem to feminism, and an extension of our current understanding of Mary Shelley’s radical (for the time) philosophies and motivations. She’s never only any one of these things, but rather an all-encompassing force to be reckoned with by those who adore her, fear her and wish her dead.

No one feels more strongly about the Bride than Christian Bale’s creature, who has lived a covered-up existence on the fringes of society, with the pangs of loneliness becoming increasingly louder with time. To seek his ultimate mate, he visits Annette Bening’s Dr. Euphronious, a more empathetic and level-headed “mad” scientist in place of Ernest Thesiger’s more clearly antagonistic Dr. Pretorius from The Bride of Frankenstein. Everyone gets far more than they bargained for (audiences included) when this resurrected coupling tears loose.

Maggie Gyllenhaal had more to bring to the screen than just a monster movie remake, and it’s impossible to nail down exactly what the finished product is. “A darkly hilarious true crime monster movie” comes close, but isn’t quite enough. Maybe it’s best to just say The Bride! is a motherf--king masterpiece.

The Bride! pays loving tribute to a wide array of Frankenstein-centric fiction.

While not a direct take on the Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester-starring The Bride of Frankenstein, The Bride! does draw from certain story beats and themes, including the initial conceit of Mary Shelley herself being the character who kicks the narrative off (also played by Buckley). Instead of narrating objectively from the background, Shelley instead injects her raging spirit into the body of the somewhat able, and mostly non-willing host Ida. She goes so far as to use the term "possession," and it's an apt one.

The Bride! is not beholden to its two most obvious pieces of source material , however, and it almost surreally incorporates an inspired assortment of nods to the Monster's pop culture impact as a whole. Without being so exhaustive as a spoof movie in that respect, Gyllenhaal still weaves a surprising number of on-the-busted-nose references into some of this film’s most vital scenes, and such moments left me downright giddy. It’s like when modern Batman stories make sure the infamous Shark Repellant used by Adam West’s Caped Crusade is featured in the background somewhere.

From more obvious projects like Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein to more cult-level films like Frankenhooker, this movie celebrates them all. Was I disappointed to not see anyone eating Frankenberry cereal at a breakfast table? Certainly – though I’m willing to concede that it happened when I wasn’t looking. The love for this universe’s lore carries on right into the credits’ familiar ditty.

Christian Bale is a surprisingly charming and sympathetic monster, but this is Jessie Buckley’s movie from the first minute to the last.

As both Patrick Bateman and Batman — him again? — Christian Bale exuded the same amount of ego through two very different prisms, and his performance in The Bride! comes from the opposite end of that self-confidence spectrum, albeit with similar inclinations to use violence as a means to an end. He is the Monster, after all, so all he's ever been seen as is a freakish outsider when he's not fleeing torch-wielding mobs.

All he's really looking for is a friend to share his interests, the biggest of which is a long-gestating obsession with the singing-and-dancing Hollywood megastar Ronnie Reed, as portrayed by a most debonaire Jake Gyllenhaal. Reed's movies are the buoy that stops Frank from hitting rock bottom, both emotionally and physically, and there's a natural desire to see him get what he wants, even knowing that it will result in a wave of murderous mayhem. Despite so many past iterations out there, Bale's Frank is a beast all his own, inspiring laughter, longing and horror in equal doses.

But let's not beat around the bush(y hair) here. Jessie Buckley could have been acting opposite babies and tennis balls on strings, or opposite the greatest actors of the past 116 years, and The Bride! would still be her movie through and through. As Mary Shelley, the actress is cynical, patronizing and proud, strengthened in those scenes by Maggie Gyllenhaal's black-and-white camerawork, which utilizes shadowy filmmaking tricks from horror cinema's earliest days.

As Ida, both before and after her death and resurrection, Buckley bounces from charismatic to vulnerable with an almost childlike temperament. It's in part due to her loss of memory, which Frank is happy to replace with his manufactured version of their relationship details. I'll let you guess how well that goes in the long run.

The best of all worlds comes when Mary's vindictive spirit takes over Ida's broken brain, causing her to sporadically rattle off at the mouth with rhyming streams of consciousness as one accent morphs into another from across the pond. All the awards buzz that Buckley has earned for Hamnet will not fade away once The Bride! has been awakened.

Ida’s kinetic journey veers down a trail of brutal and influential justice across the country, Bonnie Parker-style.

Not that this movie solely hinges on just those two characters' multi-leveled performances. Once The Bride! brings Frank and Ida together (with Mary), the story shifts in part from creature feature to crime spree thriller. Ida's unlawful connections to Chicago mobster Lupino, which lead to her corporeal conclusion, return to haunt her after Dr. Euphronious brings her back, resulting in a shocking act of violence that cements their fate as fugitives and sets up a dangerous precedent for the rest of the movie.

Enter Detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard), whose partner Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz) is more adept in every way, despite not being given the proper consideration for earning the badge. The amount of times she has to defensively stand up for herself amidst seas of male cops would be comical if it wasn't 100% drawn from reality. In that way, Myrna's journey works in conjunction with Ida's, as she and Wiles both have reasons to not pursue the pair of monstrous murderers making national headlines.

Frank and Ida easily share space with Natural Born Killers' Mickey and Mallory as sensational cults of personality whose anti-establishment views are embraced by others regardless of their more malicious actions. Perhaps the more pointed comparison would involve the aforementioned film's own inspiration, real-life criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, though The Bride! very pointedly makes sure to ground the public influence in Ida's "I am woman, hear me roar" vibes as opposed to glorifying murders.

Really, everything about this movie works for me. Buckley's hair and black-stained makeup are instantly iconic. The choreography and dance numbers are energetic and never out of place. The way Frank's love of the movies becomes a visual storytelling element is bizarre and magical. Cruz and Sarsgaard are magnetic enough to lead their own two-hander spinoff. (Possibly chasing an invisible man...?)

From the first second to the last, however, the biggest share of the accolades have to go to Maggie Gyllenhaal. From bringing the Riot Grrrl energy to showcasing the unflinching violence to spinning a remotely plausible love story with these two misbegotten souls, the filmmaker pulls off a tour de force with her second feature that won't easily be replicated.

Through all my praise, I know The Bride! isn't for everyone. And to those who speak the loudest against it: watch out for splinters while holding those torches and pitchforks all day long.

Based on everything we’ve seen from the new horror film, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! appears to be quite the wild vision. Its starting point is the classic tale of Frankenstein’s monster finding his better half (semi-adapted from the work of Mary Shelley), but that setup spins out as a gothic romance set in 1930s Chicago. It’s the kind of original take that we don’t see a lot of in big budget filmmaking these days, and perfectly illustrating that point is the fact that its originality led star Christian Bale to think that he had gotten his hands on a “wrong” script.

Almost exactly two years after initially starting production, The Bride! is set to arrive in theaters this week on the 2026 movie release calendar, and while speaking with Deadline on a red carpet before the film’s recent premiere, Bale explained how his first read of the screenplay led to some confusion. While he had been told that the plan for the project was to make a big studio feature, he thought the material was so audacious that it would have a hard time finding a real budget. Said the actor,

At a time when studios are tending to play things safe due to waning audiences going to see movies in theaters, Bale wasn’t expecting a vision like the one he experienced on the page reading Maggie Gyllenhaal’s script to be properly funded. When he discovered the reality of the situation, however, he was impressed by the executives at Warner Bros. and their investment in the gamble. He continued,

Per The Numbers, The Bride! was made with a reported $80 million budget – not including marketing and publicity costs. Based on the trailer, all of that money is going to be featured on screen, as the movie sports a brilliant ensemble of stars to go along with some out-there production design, costuming, makeup, and more.

Jessie Buckley (who earned her first Oscar nomination for her turn in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter) stars opposite Christian Bale’s Frankenstein’s Monster as the titular Bride, and the impressive cast also includes Jake Gyllenhaall, Annette Bening, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, and Penélope Cruz. See it in theaters everywhere this Friday, March 6.

For much of her career, Maggie Gyllenhaal has gravitated toward complicated women. In her best films, from Secretary to The Deuce to her Oscar-nominated turn in the wonderful country music film Crazy Heart, and now as the writer-director of the ambitious 2026 calendar release The Bride!, she has built a body of work centered on women with interior lives that don’t fit neatly into boxes. But in a revealing new conversation, she turned that same introspection inward, revealing that early in their careers, she deliberately tried to stay ‘separate’ from her brother.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Gyllenhaal reflected on everything from envy and artistic rage to what it meant to direct Jake for the first time in the upcoming The Bride!. And in doing so, she candidly addressed why she once felt the need to define herself separately from him, even though the two were never estranged. In her words:

Both siblings began acting as teenagers, but Jake’s rise to leading-man status happened quickly. While Maggie steadily built a respected and eclectic career of her own, she now acknowledges that the early years carried feelings she didn’t entirely recognize at the time.

One of those feelings was envy, an emotion she finds deeply compelling, both personally and artistically. It’s something she’s returned to repeatedly in her work and in her own self-examination. She explained:

In an industry fueled by comparison and quiet competition, those feelings can easily intensify. But with time and perspective, Gyllenhaal says she came to understand something she couldn’t fully grasp when she was younger: success isn’t finite. Reflecting on those early years, she added:

She described asking her brother as an emotional moment, a genuine invitation “with love.” And while she emphasized they were never estranged, she acknowledged that true closeness has grown more recently:

As the The Dark Knight actress developed her artistic voice, first as a performer drawn to provocative, boundary-pushing material, and now as a filmmaker unafraid to explore violence, rage and female power, she needed space to define herself outside the shadow of a famous last name.

Now, years later, that early distance appears to have made space for something deeper: a relationship built not on comparison, but on conscious connection. In fact, Jake has recently spoken openly about how much he admires his sister, even describing her as an “artistic north star” in his life, a sentiment that’s genuinely heartening to see.

Audiences will get to witness their collaboration firsthand when Maggie Gyllenhaal directs Jake Gyllenhaal for the first time in her upcoming horror film The Bride!, arriving in theaters on March 6, 2026.

Both musicals and horror are tried and true genres in the film world. The best horror movies are known for their massive box office appeal, while a number of movie musicals have won Best Picture over the years. There was some chatter online that Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! might be a combination of both, and now the director/writer/actress has addressed that discourse straight on. And she's ready to put the matter to bed once and for all.

What we know about The Bride! has been limited, which is why there's so many theories and rumors online. Maggie Gyllenhaal has been open about the creative process behind the project, and in an interview with EW she addressed the claim that the forthcoming project is a musical. In her words:

Well, that was pretty cut and dry. The Bride! is in fact, not a musical. Although if it was I would have been even more invested in the mysterious project. After all, a song and dance project about the The Bride of Frankenstein seems like an offbeat musical I'd totally be into. Alas, that's not the case.

Anticipation for The Bride! has been steadily building, musical or not. Jake Gyllenhaal praised his sister's vision for the gothic romance film, which definitely looks like it has a unique ton and visual language. As a reminder, you can watch the movie's official trailer below:

How cool is that? While there are likely going to be plenty of surprises once The Bride! hits theaters in early March. The timing for this project's release is noteworthy, as it comes just a few months after Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein arrived for those with a Netflix subscription. That title ended up getting some Oscar nominations, and it should be interesting to see just how well Maggie Gyllenhaal's movie ends up performing.

The synopsis for The Bride! is intriguing, and seemingly teases the very new spin that Gyllenhaal will bring to the book to screen adaptation. It reads:

This certainly doesn't sound like the classic tale of The Bride of Frankenstein, and I can't wait to see how things shake out. Luckily we don't have to wait much longer before seeing this new take on the Mary Shelley story.

The Bride! will arrive in theaters March 6th as part of the 2026 movie release list. But one thing is clear about the mysterious project: it's not going to be a musical.

It was almost 20 years ago that Christian Bale and Maggie Gyllenhaal first shared a spotlight in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Respectively playing Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman and Rachel Dawes, their characters had a deep history, with a childhood friendship developing into a tragic romance. The work required closeness between the two talents, but in a recent interview, they both explained why they had a much closer bond while recently collaborating on the upcoming horror movie The Bride!

The release date for the new 2026 film is coming up soon, and Gyllenhaal and Bale spoke about their reunion making the wild new release with Entertainment Weekly. The latter stars in the movie as Frankenstein’s monster a.k.a. Frank (opposite Jessie Buckley as the titular protagonist), but unlike the Dark Knight experience, the former is behind the camera and credited as the writer and director. Gyllenhaal spoke about getting to have a much closer relationship with her former co-star during production compared to the Batman blockbuster, saying,

I suppose this makes sense when you think about it from a purely logical perspective. As co-stars, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Christian Bale could connect through the relationship of their characters, but as director and actor, there is a greater license for her to get into the weeds and for them to talk about his approach to his performance.

Of course, one special advantage that Gyllenhaal has as a director is that she understands the unique language of actors, and Christian Bale explained that was a tool that she put to good use as they were making The Bride! together. Praising her as a true collaborator, he explained,

As alluded to, The Bride! is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s second time helming a feature after 2021’s The Lost Daughter – and while her sophomore effort looks like a total different beast, it also looks like the exciting result of a specific artistic vision. Featuring an awesome ensemble that also includes Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz in addition to the aforementioned Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, the film will be arriving in theaters in just over a month on March 6.

Easily my most anticipated 2026 movie release whose title boasts an exclamation point, among many other metrics, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! is closer than ever to bringing Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale’s monstrous coupling to audiences. As the upcoming horror film’s latest trailer was released, co-star Jake Gyllenhaal took to social media not only to share the bonkers preview, but also to heap a bunch of loving praise onto his filmmaking sister.

The Road House star recently filmed with two internationally beloved directors in Guy Ritchie (for the action-drama In the Grey opposite Henry Cavill) and M. Night Shyamalan (for the psychological thriller Remain), but one can assume that getting to work on his older sibling’s second movie meant just a little bit more on an emotional level. Speaking to that, Gyllenhaal hit up Instagram with only kind words, as seen below:

Well now the question has to be, "Who does Jake Gyllenhaal look up to more than Maggie?" Hopefully the answer to that isn't "Victor Frankenstein," because yikes.

More seriously, though, that message is as sweet and supportive as could be, and he no doubt would have been just as braggy about it even if he wasn't in the movie at all. The Presumed Innocent vet does show up in the latest action-filled trailer, though it doesn't exactly bode well for his character Ronnie Reed's survival, as Buckley's Bride is holding him at gunpoint in front of a bunch of other fancily dressed people.

If his character does get killed off, I bet it's in a spectacular fashion. One cannot just simply kill a sibling off quietly with zero pizzazz.

This of course won't be the first time that the Gyllenhaal siblings have worked on the same project. They first shared the screen in 1993's A Dangerour Woman, starring Debra Winger and Barbara Hershey, as that was actually directed by their father Stephen, who also helmed 1998's Homegrown, which also featured the duo. They later played on-screen brother and sister in 2000's cult classic Donnie Darko, and Jake co-starred in Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, 2021's psychological drama The Lost Daughter (which also co-starred The Bride!'s Jessie Buckley).

Check out the latest trailer for The Bride! below.

Beyond The Bride! and the two aforementioned movies from Ritchie and Shyamalan, Jake Gyllenhaal has Road House 2 on the docket, and is reportedly in the midst of filming that currently. In the last year, he was attached to a TV adaptation of comic scribe Mark Millar’s series Nemesis (with the Russo brothers producing), as well as the quirky thriller Collision.

Before any of that, though, catch him opposite two of horror cinema’s most celebrated monsters when The Bride! finally hits theaters on March 6, 2026. Hopefully the previous premiere date delays were totally worth waiting through!

The 2026 movie schedule will mark the releases of some truly off-the-wall titles, and The Bride! is certainly one of them. Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed the monster film, and it seeks to put a punk rock-inspired spin on the story of Frankenstein’s famous partner (who’s played by Jessie Buckley). The newest trailer for the delightfully over-the-top-looking flick just dropped, and it sheds more light on the journey of Buckley’s protagonist. We also get better looks at that wild smudge on her face, which Gyllenhaal is shedding some light on.

Gyllenhaal and Buckley’s version of the Bride of Frankenstein looks considerably different from the version most are probably familiar with. This version of the beloved character sports hair that’s completely white, singed eyebrows, an orange dress and most notably, a black smudge that runs across part of her face. Maggie Gyllenhaal was asked about that beauty mark when talking to CinemaBlend and other outlets during a Q&A to mark the new trailer’s release. The smudge actually has something to do with an element seen in the footage:

The black substance appears in the lab of Dr. Euphronious (Annette Benning) and is one of the key ingredients used for the formula that resurrects the dead. Anyone who’s a Marvel fan, such as myself, may liken the goo to the Venom symbiote from a physical standpoint. Yet there doesn't seem to be any extraterrestrial intervention at play in The Bride!, and it seems to be quite important to the story. At least, that’s the impression Gyllenhaal while she talked about the black material and its place within the Karen Murphy-designed lab:

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “radical” vision seems to be full of both style and substance, based on The Bride!’s trailers. The latest look at the film provides more insight into how the eponymous character is killed and revived, and it also shows off the dangerous-looking adventures she and Frankenstein's monster (played by Christian Bale) embark upon in a version of 1930s Chicago check out the trailer:

Of course, there are a few other familiar faces within the cast in addition to the two lead actors. In addition to Benning, the cast also includes Julianne Hough, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal, with the latter two being Maggie’s husband and brother. Maggie has certainly assembled a capable cast, and I’m intrigued as to how their characters all contribute to the story.

The Bride!, as a whole, feels like a massive swing, and one that Maggie Gyllenhaal seems incredibly excited about. Making a monster movie of any kind is no small feat, and that’s especially true about a film of this magnitude, which was also shot with IMAX in mind. Fans will get a chance to witness the exploits of Buckley’s reborn character – and learn more about the circumstances behind that smudge, when Gyllenhaal’s latest film opens in theaters on March 6. In the meantime, check out some excellent monster and horror movies.

There are a lot of 2026 movie releases I’ve been looking forward to, and as of today, the Maggie Gyllenhaal-helmed The Bride! is added to the list. This Frankenstein-inspired flick already piqued my curiosity with Gyllenhaal writing and directing, as well as Christian Bale playing Frankenstein’s monster. But now I definitely plan on seeing this Jessie Buckley-starring upcoming horror movie because of the Bonnie and Clyde vibes the first trailer for The Bride! is giving off.

Pulling chiefly from 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, The Bride! sees Frankenstein’s monster asking Annette Bening’s Dr. Euphonius to create a companion for him in 1930s Chicago. This leads to the “birth” of Buckley’s titular character, and it’s outright said in the preview that her original self was murdered in order to fulfill The Monster’s desire. From there, the two go on the run and raise hell in a way that’s reminiscent of what outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow did from 1932 to 1934. Those two, of course, were the subjects of the 1967 movie Bonne and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.

The longer a story has been around, the harder it becomes to adapt said story and make it stand out from what’s come before. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is already drawing early mixed critical reception for its more faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking novel, so we’ll have to see what the rest of the world thinks when the movie becomes available to stream with a Netflix subscription starting October 17. In The Bride! ’s case though, its looser handling of the source material definitely works to its benefit.

I’m a sucker for period pieces set in the first half of the 20th century, and I’m more specifically a fan of movies like Bonnie & Clyde, The Untouchables and Public Enemies that explore bank robbers and organized crime in the 1930s. So if you give me a movie where Frankenstein’s monster and his new “bride” are being pursued by the police and igniting fear in the general populace in the aftermath of the Prohibition era, I’m hooked! I didn’t know I needed to see those characters robbing a bank until now, and I’m crossing my fingers tightly we’ll get to see them wield Tommy guns.

On a more complex note, I’m also intrigued by how The Bride! may put a different twist on the Bonnie and Clyde dynamic. While those two criminals were heads over heels for each other until they were gunned down by lawmen, who’s to say that Frankenstein’s monster and his bride will always feel the same way? While I suspect Christian Bale’s character will always be obsessed with the woman who was “made” for him, we could easily see Jessie Buckley’s character realizing she wants to embark on her own path and get away from him, if not simply grow to hate him.

Whatever happens, I’m excited to see what The Bride! delivers when it’s released on March 6, 2026. Bale and Buckley are joined in the cast by Peter Saarsgard, Penélope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal and Dancing with the Stars’ Julianne Hough, among others, and it’ll go up against Pixar’s Hoppers that opening weekend.

It’s been a weird pre-release for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! The eccentric and buzzy musical reimagining of Bride Of Frankenstein was considered a strong awards contender when it was first announced, but a studio swap, rumors about the budget, a release date change and even speculation about possible reshoots have made it fodder for a lot of industry gossip, especially over the past few weeks. Amidst all the talk, however, Maggie Gyllenhaal took to the CinemaCon stage to present some footage and talk about her “radical vision,” and for the record, I’m still ready to escort this movie down the aisle.

Gyllenhaal made the appearance as part of Warner Bros’ larger presentation at CinemaCon (which we live blogged). She was joined by star Jessie Buckley, and it was quite obvious they’re both very excited about the project. Buckley referred to it as the “punkest love that’s ever existed” and talked about how all the film’s complicated camera angles and extensive pre-production got her really excited about IMAX. Gyllenhaal gushed about how the original Bride has this “wild disobedience” to her and said after watching the original Frankenstein, she couldn’t stop obsessing over this idea of the Bride coming back and not fitting into any of the boxes imagined for her.

They also showed off footage, and while I wasn’t there, several of my colleagues were and said it was among the most memorable they’ve seen the entire week. One told me it’s “campy, violent and bizarre.” Another told me they’re “intrigued” because it could be “fantastic or terrible.” They both said they want to see the entire movie as soon as possible because it looks so creatively different from the bigger budget stuff we normally get from the major studios.

Unfortunately, as I said in the intro, we’re in for a much longer wait than was originally planned. In fact, a lot of plans seem to have gone sideways with this movie. The original one was to make it with Netflix providing the financing, but at some point, that deal fell through. Warner Bros stepped in and allegedly gave Gyllenhaal somewhere between $80 and $100M to execute her unusual vision. That’s what she did, and those involved with the actual movie seem very excited by the end result, but then the rumors started to spread. Maybe it cost more money than expected? Maybe it’s not commercially viable because it’s too weird?

Ultimately, we don’t really know what’s going on, except that the movie moved its release date from September of this year to March of next year. That could mean there’s going to be some reshoots or an additional cut produced and test screened. That could mean Warner Bros no longer sees The Bride! as an awards contender (probably because it’s too out there) and instead thinks there’s more money to be made in March. It could mean a lot of things.

I’m sure Warner Bros probably has feelings about all the rumors and all this talk about The Bride!, but to be honest, it just makes me more excited to see the whole movie. I like things that are artsy. I like big swings, and I like people trying to do something new and original. That’s more interesting to me than watching a slightly different version of the same movie I’ve already seen a thousand times. So, bring on The Bride!

Warner Bros announced some changes to its upcoming release schedule earlier this week. Typically, that’s not the sort of thing that should cause alarm, given movies shuffle around all the time based on a variety of factors, but in the specific case of Christian Bale’s new movie, there might be a genuine cause for some concern. The Bride has now changed distributors, moved release dates and been the subject of much speculation around its budget and alleged test screenings that may not have gone well.

Let’s back up real quick and talk about the movie itself first before we get into all the whispers because there’s a lot here to be excited about and also a lot to be confused about. The film is called The Bride, and it’s a sequel to the 1931 version of Frankenstein or maybe a reimagining of 1935’s Bride Of Frankenstein. It’s definitely a musical and maybe also a horror movie and maybe also a future Oscar contender and maybe also some kind of arthouse project. It stars Christian Bale, Jessie Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz and a bunch of other big names, and it’s being helmed by actress turned director Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose debut The Lost Daughter was very well received.

The movie was originally supposed to be made through Netflix, but at some point, the popular streamer backed out of the project. Some claim it was because the Hollywood strikes altered the timeline. Some claim it was because the movie was going to cost way more to make than originally thought. Some claim it was because Netflix instead wanted to make a Frankenstein movie with Guillermo del Toro. Regardless, Warner Bros eventually stepped in and supposedly green lit the movie with an $80M budget and promises to let Gyllenhaal execute her vision.

Earlier this year, however, some concerning behind the scenes stories started to leak out. World Of Reel claimed the film had some test screenings that didn’t go well. Puck talked about worries in the context of Warner Bros’ expensive slate of upcoming titles maybe not being commercially viable. At some point, people started referring to it as a $100M movie. Now we have the official release date change, from Septemer 26th, a prime Oscar debut date, to March 6th of next year. In its write-up about the schedule change, The Hollywood Reporter referenced a “challenging post production period.” Some are speculating the studio may be forcing reshoots. More generously, some are thinking March could just be a spot with less competition.

I’m not some Hollywood insider. I read and write a lot about the movie business, but I don’t have my own sources. I’m not here to tell you what’s going on or what’s not going on. Instead, I’m here to tell you I’m confused and frustrated as a fan of horror and weirdo arthouse movies that really wanted to see this. I’m also a little bit confused.

A Maggie Gyllenhaal directed horror musical about the Bride of Frankenstein starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale was always going to be weird. I don’t think there was any way she could have put together these ingredients that would have appealed to casual movie fans. So, if the rumors about bad test screenings and the studio considering reshoots are true, that probably means one of two things. Either the movie is bad and needs reshoots or the movie is exactly as bizarre as you’d guess, isn’t playing well with the type of focus groups filled with the wrong people and now the studio is freaking out because they spent $100M on it.

Or maybe it’s just moving release dates, and the reason for that has nothing to do with any of these sketchy rumors. I just don’t know. We need to wait and see what happens over the next few months.

I’m going to see The Bride regardless because I’m the type of person who watched I’m Thinking Of Ending Things the day it came out. I need to see what Maggie Gyllenhaal is doing here, but whenever I do watch it, I really hope I get to watch whatever movie she wants me to watch and not some Frankenstein cut the studio feels could play a little better with people who were never going to pay to see it anyway.

Jake Gyllenhaal was born into a talented family where his father, Stephen, is a director, and his mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter. You also may know his talented sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose best movies include The Dark Knight, Adaptation, The Kindergarten Teacher and more. Knowing how gifted his older sister is, the Road House actor gushed about how she inspired him in his acting career.

You can actually thank Maggie Gyllenhaal for inspiring Jake to have a career in acting like herself. The Brokeback Mountain actor was first interested in being an actor once he saw his older sister in a middle school production of South Pacific. Gyllenhaal told THR after witnessing Maggie's onstage performance, there was no stopping him from following in his sister’s acting path:

It’s so cute how the 43-year-old actor talks about his older sister by three years still like an adoring little brother. Being born into a gifted family gave Jake Gyllenhaal a leg-up into how the entertainment industry worked, as well as its A-list stars. The famous actor’s first IMDB credit was in 1991 playing Billy Crystal’s young son in City Slickers.

Jake Gyllenhaal is absolutely right that his sister is “brilliant” and talented in her roles. Maggie Gyllenhaal played a kick-ass mom saving the school system in Won’t Back Down, she had a strong presence playing Rachel in The Dark Knight, and brought out character complexity in The Kindergarten Teacher (found with your Netflix subscription) to name a few roles. She’s also an Academy Award nominee and the recipient of three Independent Spirit Awards, three Gotham Awards and a Golden Globe.

Not only has Maggie Gyllenhaal been a leading lady in her own movies, but she’s starred with her brother in three projects. The celebrity siblings have acted alongside each other in two movies directed by their father called A Dangerous Woman and Homegrown. Their third collaboration together ranks as one of the best 2000s movies, with Donnie Darko showing their real-life sibling chemistry.

Even though it's been over two decades since the Gyllenhaal siblings took part in a project together, they’re about to make your wish come true for next year. Maggie Gyllenhaal may not have an onscreen role in her sci-fi horror film The Bride!, but she’ll be writing and co-producing the project, as well as directing her younger brother! We have no idea what role Jake Gyllenhaal will play, but I have no doubts his acting skills will help turn his sister’s second directorial film into a success.

It’s easy for Jake Gyllenhaal to gush about Maggie considering she’s what inspired him to act in the first place. From childhood to adulthood, He clearly has nothing but strong sibling love for his older sister, as he told THR that he gets emotional just talking about their dynamic. There's nothing like sibling love to give you all the feels.

Relive the sibling bond of the Gyllenhaal siblings in Donnie Darko with your Peacock subscription. Make sure to also catch The Bride! in theaters on October 3rd, 2025.

As Universal’s Dark Universe monsters remain in limbo, and as Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein moves forward with Jacob Elordi, another film about the classic horror monstrosity is coming together with actress and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal. She’s set to direct The Bride! For Warner Bros., with her Dark Knight co-star Christian Bale as one of the leads. The already stacked cast just gained a new face, though it’s one that’ll be very familiar to fans of Dancing with the Stars and Disney-tethered TV specials: the Emmy-winning entertainer Julianne Hough.

News of this latest casting for The Bride! comes from Deadline, though the details are locked up pretty tight beyond that. For now, no further info is known about who (or what) Hough will be playing. But we might as well make some assumptions while we’re here, with one specific hope related to Mel Brooks’ classic 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein.

Given how entrenched Julianne Hough is within the world of dancing and highly choreographed performances — she currently co-hosts ABC’s Dancing with the Stars alongside Alfonso Ribeiro — on top of being an accomplished singer, I have high hopes for the Footloose remake star bringing those talents The Bride! in one way or another. And while it technically wouldn’t make any sense from a plot, tone or time-setting perspective, it would be amazing if Hough could deliver a nod to Young Frankenstein’s iconic “Puttin’ on the Ritz” sequence, with its brilliant portrayals from Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle.

Not that the musical connections stop there. Mel Brooks helped turn Young Frankenstein into a Broadway (and then touring) musical in 2007. (And ABC had a live TV musical in the works before COVID hit.) So even if The Bride! didn’t go with the most obvious tune for easter egg purposes, plenty of other references exist that could be added without drawing too much attention to the anachronism.

Do I think Maggie Gyllenhaal will actually go forth with such an idea? Not in the slightest, but I do genuinely think Julianne Hough’s dancing and/or singing will be put to use. The story takes place in 1930s Chicago, which allows for a ton of musical styles and nightclub themes to be utilized. Whoever she plays, I bet the costume will be a banger.

Now check out the full cast for The Bride!, which is one of many upcoming horror movies that genre fans should keep in mind:

• Christian Bale
• Jessie Buckley
• Peter Sarsgard
• Annette Bening
• Penelope Cruz
• Julianne Hough

According to the synopsis for the film, which Maggie Gyllenhaal also scripted, the Frankenstein character travels to Chicago to meet up with Dr. Euphronius for the purposes of creating a female romantic companion. Their actions not only create new life, but also incite “radical social change” while drawing the attention of local authorities. By all means, I could be totally wrong, and Julianne Hough might be playing one of the Chicago cops who go chasing after the resurrected couple. But I bet the character’s nickname would be “Great Dancer Cop.”

The Bride! doesn’t have a release date locked down just yet, with a general 2025 window, but head to our 2024 movie schedule to see what else is coming in the following months.

Forget the body doubles, merkins and modesty socks. There are plenty of high-profile movie stars so committed to a project, punchline, or character that they’ll happily stand before the cameras wearing only their birthday suit. Over the decades, full-frontal nudity has become increasingly normalized in mainstream movies. It's no longer the exclusive domain of NC-17-rated indies or art house movies by provocative European directors.

As our selection of 10 actors who were fully nude in a movie illustrates, major celebrities are now far less reluctant to put their privates on display, baring all in everything from R-rated comedies to award-winning dramas. Hell, given the awards pedigree of the films on this list, it might even up their odds of gaining industry accolades. Their willingness to drop their pants is often a sign of a fearless commitment, and can be employed to signify a character’s state of mind, challenge social taboos, and foster greater acceptance of the human body in its various guises.

Michael Fassbender (Shame) 

Michael Fassbender bared body and soul for his role as Brandon Sullivan, a New York executive in the grip of sexual addiction. Released in 2011, Shame’s opening moments frankly convey Brandon’s compulsive routine of sexual activity. We’re presented with a succession of post-coital moments in which Fassbender awakes after another one-night stand, wandering naked around his empty apartment in a series of unflinching long-takes. Shame takes a cold, hard look at one man’s isolating and self-destructive urges. And as Fassbender commented of the film’s frequent nudity to The Guardian,

Barry Keoghan (Saltburn)

This 2023 psychological thriller stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, an Oxford scholarship student eager to assimilate into the university’s wealthy milieu. After befriending the handsome Felix Catton, he’s invited to spend the summer at his family’s manor of Saltburn. But could there be a darker motive for Oliver’s infatuation with Felix?

Well - *spoiler alert* - yes. The film’s audacious coda finds Keoghan dancing starkers through his newly inherited home of Saltburn as “Murder on the Dancefloor” plays – a wickedly bravura moment filmed in one eyebrow-raising long-take. Explaining the significance of his character’s nude revelry, Keoghan explained to EW: 

Emma Thompson (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande) 

Joining the growing ranks of actors who were fully nude for a movie, Emma Thompson bared all as former teacher Nancy Stokes in the 2022 comedy-drama, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. Having never experienced pleasurable sex and ashamed of her body, Nancy hires the handsome Leo Grande to action a kinky itinerary on which the missionary position is just a stopover on the way to Climaxistan.

After enjoying her first orgasm, the film’s final moments see Nancy disrobe in front of the hotel mirror. Candidly appraising her reflection – her lumps, bumps, and lolling breasts – a permissive smile graces her face. It’s a powerful moment, indicating that Nancy’s finally gained a degree of compassionate self-acceptance.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is one of the best sexually explicit movies on Hulu, and it's available to stream now with a Hulu subscription.

Jennifer Lawrence (No Hard Feelings)

Although Jennifer Lawrence first bared all in Red Sparrow, it’s her iconic performance in 2023’s No Hard Feelings that had people choking on their popcorn. Lawrence plays 32-year-old Uber driver Maddie Barker. Threatened with bankruptcy after her car is repossessed, she finds work wooing the socially awkward son of two rich parents in exchange for a Buick Regal.

J-Law’s nude beach scene is the highlight of this R-rated comedy. As Maddie tries to seduce Percy by taking him skinny-dipping, their clothes are stolen by a group of obnoxious teens. Without thinking, Maddie storms out of the water, whooping their asses as the Hall & Oates’ song “Maneater” plays. Lawrence – who turned down a body double – approaches the scene with gutsy aplomb, hilariously conveying Maddie’s brash, devil-may-care character.

Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin)

Known briefly as “Scarlett Johansson’s nude movie,” the actress was breaking into Marvel territory when she accepted a distinctively different role in Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 masterpiece. She’s barely recognizable as a female-presenting extraterrestrial, who stalks the Scottish highlands to kidnap and harvest unsuspecting male prey.

Johansson’s big reveal comes three-quarters of the way through the film. Lit only by the red glow of an electric heater, and observing her limbs in a vertical mirror, flickers of cognition animate her otherwise impassive face to suggest a burgeoning consciousness. Gradually identifying with this human form, the otherworldly being interrogates the curve of her neck, the mechanics of a knee, and the undulations of bone beneath skin.

Under the Skin is an unforgettable viewing experience. You can stream it now when you sign-up for an HBO Max subscription.

Gary Cole (Blockers) 

When three young women plan to lose their virginity on prom night, their overprotective parents do everything to stop them. But it’s the adults that get into the most trouble in Blockers, the 2018 comedy from Kay Cannon.

With Ron (Gary Cole) withholding the adolescents' whereabouts, Mitchell breaks into his house to find the texts confirming their location. But to do so he has to evade Ron and his wife as they play a sex game blindfolded. Cannon amusingly parodies the velociraptor scene from Jurassic Park as Ron stalks through the kitchen towards a cowering Mitchell, before he lurches into shot and flashes audiences worldwide an eyeful of his… meat and two veg.

It's a hilariously orchestrated scene, that, thanks to Gary Cole’s game performance, helps level the playing field between male and female nudity onscreen: promoting what Fandom catchily dubbed #Ballsforboobs.

Daniel Craig (Love Is The Devil) 

Daniel Craig made waves exiting the Atlantic like a chiselled Adonis in Casino Royale. But he’d already bared it all in the 1998 biopic Love is the Devil, in which Craig portrays George Dyer, the lover and muse of painter Francis Bacon whose volatile relationship ends in tragedy.

During a scene of strained intimacy, there’s a prolonged shot of Craig’s 007. Taking a soak in the tub, Dyer anxiously asks if he’s still invited to Bacon’s Paris exhibition. “Of course you’re coming. You are the exhibition” the artist retorts. Then the film cuts to an aerial shot of Craig – and there’s no mound of bubbles to obscure his manhood. It’s a moment that foregrounds the film’s queer gaze, echoing the artist’s infatuation towards his troubled muse.

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power Of The Dog) 

Director Jane Campion is known for her poetic treatment of the male nude. And for this acclaimed, 2021 drama, she turned her camera towards Benedict Cumberbatch as the gruff Montana cowboy Phil Burbank. The Power of the Dog is still one of the best movies on Netflix, garnering 11 Oscar nominations.

Brimming with toxic masculinity, Burbank relentlessly torments his brother’s wife and her teenage son. But, away from the ranch, Phil embraces moments of sensual pleasure. Ensconced in nature, we watch him find peace with himself and his desires as he cakes his entire body in mud before plunging headlong into the water. Subsequently, he retires to a glade, where he can indulge in the remembered touch of Bronco Henry – his former mentor and, it’s implied, lover – without any shame.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary)

Making her reputation for being one of those actors who went fully nude in a movie, Maggie Gyllenhaal broke into the Hollywood limelight with her acclaimed performance in 2003’s kinky rom-com Secretary.

As Lee Holloway, her character finds personal transformation through a BDSM relationship with boss Edward Grey. And the ultimate expression of her fidelity is when she sits stock still for three whole days until he eventually returns.

Taken with her obedience, her dom partner tends to Lee with complete devotion. Gyllenhaal’s subsequent nudity in these final scenes reflects her character’s awakened physical and emotional openness. As the camera pans out from her face, she narrates how he traced every inch of her body while she divulged the history of each of her self-harm scars. It’s a moment of awestruck intimacy, as Lee experiences being seen and accepted in both body and soul.

Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat)

It’s one of the most daring scenes in cinema history: Kazakh reporter Borat and his producer Azamat engaging in a balls-out brawl that erupts out of their San Diego hotel room and into a packed mortgage conference. This 2006 black comedy has no shortage of provocations, but what makes this scene work so well is Sacha Baron Cohen’s willingness to push things to their extremes. It’s a wildly chaotic two minutes as Borat ruts against his producer’s ample behind while throttling him, before the 250lb Azamat tries to asphyxiate Borat between his butt cheeks. It’s shockingly funny as personal boundaries and rules of public decorum are blithely transgressed, and the chaotic scene ends when the naked duo are apprehended by hotel security.

Interested in discovering other A-list actors who were fully nude in a movie? Check out our round-ups of the best sexually explicit movies on Netflix and sexually explicit HBO Max movies.

A producer of films starring the likes of Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Sophie Turner, and appearing in films with Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke, among others, has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a single charge of conspiracy for running a prostitution ring that reportedly left at least one woman with permanent brain damage. 

Dillon Jordan operated PaperChase Films starting in 2013 which produced several films including the well-regarded Netflix movie The Kindergarten Teacher starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. By then, however, the Daily Mail reports that Jordan was already three years into operating a prostitution ring that offered women to wealthy clients and operated sex parties both in the U.S. and overseas. He also appeared on screen in a small part in Vincent D'Onofrio's directorial effort The Kid with Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke. 

Most of the movies Jordan was involved in were small projects that were not widely marketed. The Kindergarten Teacher is probably the best-known of the films from PaperChase. It won a Best Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival for Sara Colangelo where it was also nominated for the Grand Jury prize. Maggie Gyllenhaal was also recognized by several critics groups for her lead performance. 

The production company apparently was born out of the prostitution ring, as several producers and other investors were clients of the ring. One client reportedly invested as much as $250,000 in Jordan's legitimate film projects.

In addition to the movie studio, Jordan also ran a party and event planning company. Prosecutors claim that he used both companies as fronts for prostitution, charging between $3,000 and $15, 000 per encounter and taking as much as 40 percent of that for himself. He allegedly profited to the tune of $1.4 million in total.

Jordan pled guilty to a single count of conspiracy last year. Five years was the maximum sentence allowed under the law. The judge in the case reportedly said that due to the damage done to the women involved, he would have made the sentence longer had he been allowed to do so. One unidentified woman who testified said that she nearly died a decade ago when Jordan forced her to take a mix of drugs during a party. At sentencing, Dillon Jordan apologized to his victims.

At one point Dillon Jordan's prostitution ring reportedly consisted of as many as 75 women, some of which worked in the U.S. and others in the U.K. Dillon was accused of working with other conspirators to recruit and direct women into prostitution, including by arranging flights for multiple women to travel from California to New York specifically to commit acts of prostitution.

Every once in a while, celebrity siblings - such as Ben and Casey Affleck or Dakota and Elle Fanning - end up sharing the screen together. Well, apparently it happens a little more often than just every once in a while, given the amount of examples we compiled below.

Jake And Maggie Gyllenhaal (A Dangerous Woman, Homegrown, Donnie Darko)

Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and his twice-nominated older sister, Maggie, are in three movies together: 1993’s A Dangerous Woman, 1998’s Homegrown (both were directed by their father, Stephen), and the eventual sci-fi cult classic, Donnie Darko, in 2001.

Jeff And Beau Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys)

Oscar winner Jeff Bridges and his older brother, Beau, also played siblings in The Fabulous Baker Boys - a 1989 comedy in which the titular musicians become rivals after teaming up with a beautiful aspiring singer (Michelle Pfieffer).

Kate And Rooney Mara (Urban Legends: Bloody Mary)

Kate Mara of the House of Cards cast led the 2005 straight-to-video slasher, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, in which her younger sister, Nightmare Alley’s Rooney Mara, made her acting debut.

Sean And Chris Penn (At Close Range)

Future two-time Oscar-winner Sean Penn and his late younger brother, Chris (best known from the Reservoir Dogs cast) played siblings in the 1986 crime thriller, At Close Range, starring Christopher Walken as their criminal father.

Andrew, Owen, And Luke Wilson (Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums) 

Owen Wilson and his younger sibling, Luke have also acted alongside their eldest brother, Andrew, in 1996’s Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums from 2001 - both of which Owen also co-wrote with director Wes Anderson.

Chris And Luke Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok)

Chris Hemsworth has yet to star in anything with his little bro, Liam, but the Australian Marvel movie star’s older bother, Westworld star Luke, did show up in Thor: Ragnarok as a dramatized version of the God of Thunder, whom he is set to reprise (along with Matt Damon as “Actor Loki”) in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Dylan And Cole Sprouse (Various)

Twin brothers Dylan and Cole Sprouse (the latter of which went on to join the Riverdale cast) have shared the same role in several TV shows (most notably Grace Under Fire) and movies (such as Big Daddy with Adam Sandler) and have played siblings just as often, most famously as the title characters of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, its spin-off The Suite Life on Deck, and 2011’s The Suite Life Movie.

Tia, Tamera, And Tahj Mowry  (Sister, Sister, Smart Guy, Seventeen Again)

Twin sisters Tia and Tamera Mowry have shared the screen with their little brother, Tahj, several times - most notably as guest stars on each other’s respective sitcoms, Sister, Sister and Smart Guy, and in the 2000 Showtime original movie, Seventeen Again.

James And Dave Franco (The Disaster Artist)

After years finding success in the business in separate projects, James Franco and his younger brother, Dave, played Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero of the infamous cult favorite, The Room, in the 2017 biopic, The Disaster Artist.

Hilary And Haylie Duff (Various)

Haylie Duff would appear on three episodes of her younger sister, Hilary’s, Disney Channel show, Lizzie McGuire, and provided the singing voice of Isabella Parigi in the theatrical spin-off before they both played a singing group on an episode of American Dreams, sisters in the 2006 rags-to-riches story Material Girls, and both leant their voices to the infamous animated movie Foodfight!, which was released in 2012.

Aly And AJ Michalka (Various)

Singer-songwriter duo Aly and AJ Michalka first shared the screen in the 2006 Disney Channel original movie Cow Belles as sisters, again in the MTV original Super Sweet 16: The Movie the next year as rivals, followed by three episodes of Aly’s CW series Hellcats in 2011 as half-sisters. Most recently, they appeared in the 2015 drama, Weepah Way For Now, as what appear to be fictionalized versions of themselves.

Dakota And Elle Fanning (I Am Sam, Taken)

Elle Fanning has portrayed a younger version of her older sister, Dakota, on two separate occasions: first in the 2001 drama I Am Sam and secondly in the Steven Spielberg-produced, Syfy original miniseries, Taken, in 2002.

Spencer And Abigail Breslin (Various)

Academy Award nominee Abigail and her older brother, Spencer, played siblings in both Raising Helen and The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement in 2004, played elves in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause in 2006, and later played cousins in the 2014 crime drama, Perfect Sisters.

Jason And Justine Bateman (Arrested Development)

Justine Bateman played her real-life brother, Jason's, sibling in the 1986 TV movie Can You Feel Me Dancing? and a sex worker whom Jason’s Michael Bluth mistakes for his long-lost sibling on Arrested Development.

John, Joan, Ann, And Bill Cusack (Grosse Pointe Blank)

While beloved star John Cusack and his Academy-nominated sister, Joan, have appeared in more films together than most celebrity siblings can claim (including Say Anything… and High Fidelity), the only screen credit that they also share with both their sister, Ann, and brother, Bill, is 1997’s Grosse Pointe Blank, which John also co-wrote and produced.

Bill And Brian Doyle Murray (Various) 

Bill Murray and his older brother, Brian, are both Saturday Night Live veterans (although at different times) and have several classic movies in common - including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, Groundhog Day, and The Razor's Edge.

Ben And Casey Affleck (Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy)

Years before casting him in his amazing directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck shared the screen with his younger brother and fellow Oscar winner, Casey, in Good Will Hunting (which Ben co-wrote with Matt Damon) and Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy in 1997.

Macaulay And Kieran Culkin (Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)

Kieran Culkin (now more famous than ever since starring on HBO’s Succession) made his acting debut alongside his older brother (child megastar Macaulay Culkin) in 1990’s Home Alone cast as his cousin, Fuller - a role he would also reprise in the 1992 sequel.

Rory And Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down)

In addition to playing Macaulay’s younger self in Richie Rich, the youngest Culkin brother, Rory, also played a younger version of Kieran as the title role in 2002's Igby Goes Down.

The Wayans Siblings (Various) 

Where do we start with the Wayans Siblings? Well, for instance, several of them (such as Damon and Kim Wayans) were a part of the In Living Color cast with star and creator Keenen Ivory Wayans, who later directed his younger brothers, Marlon and Shawn, in movies like White Chicks, the first two Scary Movie installments, and Little Man.

Zooey And Emily Deschanel (Bones)

In Season 5 of Bones, star Emily Deschanel’s sister (Zooey of the Elf cast fame and later the lead of the New Girl cast) guest starred as Temperance Brennan’s second cousin, Margaret Whitesell.

Fred And Ben Savage (Little Monsters, The Wonder Years, Boy Meets World)

After playing siblings in the family-friendly horror film, Little Monsters, in 1989, Ben Savage made a guest appearance on his older brother, Fred’s, hit dramedy, The Wonder Years, in 1990 and later returned the favor by inviting him to the Boy Meets World cast for an episode in 1998.

Charlie Sheen And Emilio Estevez (Various)

After making several movies together - including Young Guns, Men At Work, and Rated X (the latter two of which Emilio Estevez directed), Charlie Sheen (née Carlos Estevez) reunited with his brother on an episode of his hit sitcom, Two and a Half Men, in 2008.

Vanessa and Laura Marano (Saving Zoë)

Both of these talented ladies had guest appearances on Dexter at different times in the series’ run, but Vanessa Marano and her younger sister, Laura, did appear together in the 2019 mystery, Saving Zoë, as siblings torn apart by one’s unsolved murder.

Nat And Alex Wolff (The Naked Brothers Band, Mr. Troop Mom, Stella’s Last Weekend)

Hereditary’s Alex Wolff and his older brother, Peacock’s Joe vs. Carole cast member Nat Wolff, both debuted as fictionalized versions of themselves in Nickelodeon’s faux rockumentary, The Naked Brothers Band, its series continuation, and the 2009 TV movie Mr. Troop Mom before reuniting in 2018’s Stella’s Last Weekend, which was written and directed by their mother, Polly Draper.

Vera And Taissa Farmiga (Higher Ground, At Middleton, The Nun)

Scream Queens Vera and Taissa Farmiga, who are often mistaken for mother and daughter, played mother and daughter in 2013’s At Middleton after Taissa previously played her older sister’s younger self in Vera’s 2011 directorial debut, Higher Ground. However, interestingly, their characters in the 2018 Conjuring spin-off, The Nun, have no apparent familial ties.

Maude And Iris Apatow (Knocked Up, This Is 40, Funny People)

Euphoria’s Maude Apatow and her younger sister, Iris, have played siblings in 2007’s Knocked Up, its “sort-of sequel” This is 40 from 2012, and 2009’s Funny People - all three of which also starred their real mother, Leslie Mann, as their mother, and were written and directed by their father, Judd Apatow.

Dan And Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek)

While Annie Murphy plays co-creator Dan Levy’s on-screen sister in the Schitt’s Creek cast, Café Tropical owner, Twyla Sands, is played by his real-life sister, Sarah.

Mary-Kate, Ashley, And Elizabeth Olsen (How The West Was Fun)

After Full House made the Olsen Twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, household names and  before the Marvel movies made their younger sister, Elizabeth, an A-lister, all three of them appeared together in the ABC original TV movie How the West Was Fun in 1994.

Bill And Alexander Skarsgård (White Water Fury)

Years before his terrifying performance as Pennywise in It, Bill Skarsgård made his acting debut alongside his older brother, True Blood cast member Alexander, in the 2000 Swedish thriller, White Water Fury.

Blake And Robyn Lively (Simon Says)

Robyn Lively, star of 1989’s Teen Witch, shared the screen with her then up-and-coming half-sister, former Gossip Girl cast member Blake Lively, in a 2006 slasher flick called Simon Says, which also stars fellow ‘80s icon Crispin Glover.

Brian And Domhnall Gleeson (Mother!, Frank Of Ireland)

Despite plenty of years of experience between the them, it was not until 2017 when Star Wars star Domnhall Gleeson and his younger brother, Brian, shared the screen in Mother! before reuniting as co-creators and co-stars of the Amazon Prime original comedy Frank of Ireland - also starring their father, Brendan Gleeson.

Eddie And Charlie Murphy (Harlem Nights, Norbit)

Comedy icon Eddie Murphy worked behind the scenes a lot with his older brother, Charlie, who passed away in 2017, but the two would also share a few acting credits, - namely Eddie’s 1989 directorial debut Harlem Nights (also Charlie’s first movie), and in 2006’s Norbit, in which Charlie voiced a dog named Floyd.

Phylicia Rashad And Debbie Allen (The Cosby Show, Grey’s Anatomy, The Old Settler)

Phylicia Rashad and her younger sister, Emmy-winning dance legend Debbie Allen, have made guest appearances on each other’s shows - The Cosby Show, on which Rashad played Claire Huxtable, and Grey’s Anatomy, on which Allen plays Dr. Catherine Fox (née Avery) - and both starred in a 2001 TV movie called The Old Settler, which Allen also directed.

Ron And Clint Howard (Various) 

You can find Clint Howard in just about every movie directed by his brother, Ron Howard - including his feature-length directorial debut from 1977, Grand Theft Auto, which was also the brothers’ third time acting alongside each other after the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and a handful of episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.

Angelina Jolie And James Haven (Gia, Hell’s Kitchen, Original Sin)

Audiences probably remember Angelina Jolie’s brother, James Haven, better for other reasons than all the times he shared the screen with his younger sister - namely Gia and Hell’s Kitchen from 1998, and 2001’s Original Sin.

Jared And Shannon Leto (Various)

In addition to being bandmates with his young brother, Oscar winner Jared Leto, in 30 Seconds to Mars, Shannon Leto also shared the screen with him on a couple of episodes of My So-Called Life (on which Jared played the iconic Jordan Catalano) and through brief appearances in the movies Prefontaine from 1997, 1998’s Highway, and Sol Goode in 2003.

Chris And Scott Evans (Before We Go, Playing It Cool)

Former Captain America actor Chris Evans has a brother named Scott who has also appeared in two romantic-comedies from 2014 with his older sibling, called Before We Go (which Chris also directed) and Playing It Cool.

Sarah And Laura Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program, Bob’s Burgers, Masters Of Sex)

Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman and her sister, Laura, played heavily fictionalized versions of themselves as series regulars on The Sarah Silverman Program, made guest appearances on Showtime’s Masters of Sex together, and have recurred on Bob’s Burgers as Jimmy Pesto’s twin sons, Andy and Ollie.

Kevin, Nick, And Joe Jonas (Camp Rock Movies, Jonas)

Back when they were the biggest thing to come out of Disney Channel, Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas played three brothers in a band not named the Jonas Brothers in the Camp Rock movies, and later played themselves to more comedic effect in their own sitcom, aptly titled Jonas.

Looks like talent really does run in the family.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is one of the actresses who immediately makes a movie more interesting as soon as she appears on the screen. There’s a look in her eyes and a way that she carries herself that makes it so clear that she is confident in her abilities and dedicated to her craft. Over the years, she has added emotional weight to movies like The Dark Knight, brought her signature charm to the likes of Stranger Than Fiction, and even found ways to the make characters like the one in The Kindergarten Teacher seem sympathetic. Each and every one of these roles is a testament to Gyllenhaal’s innate ability to bring characters to life.

But, when discussing the best Maggie Gyllenhaal movies, you run into a problem. No, not one where you have too few titles to talk about, but the one where you have so many great performances that it’s hard to narrow it down to just 10. But we’re up to the task and have put together a rather comprehensive list of movies and how you can watch them streaming and elsewhere.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is often considered the best live-action Batman movie, and there’s a seemingly endless list of reasons to back up this claim (you could also make an argument for it being the best comic book movie of all time). The second installment in Nolan’s grounded and ultra-popular DC Comics trilogy sees Batman (Christian Bale) facing off with his most notorious adversary, the Joker (Heath Ledger), as the Crown Prince of Crime uses the city of Gotham and its inhabitants as some sick social experiment while also testing the might and will of the Caped Crusader, exposing the hero’s dark nature in the process.

One of these tests involves Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend and the woman who he was willing to leave the cowl and cape behind for. Gyllenhaal’s commanding performance helps add to the dilemma Bruce faces throughout the movie as he tries to win her heart while also protecting the citizens of Gotham. You almost forget that Gyllenhaal stepped in for Katie Holmes, who departed the franchise following Batman Begins.

Stream The Dark Knight on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy The Dark Knight on Amazon.
Buy The Dark Knight on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

• Check out these Dark Knight Behind-The-Scenes Facts.

Crazy Heart (2009)

In Scott Cooper’s 2009 gut-wrenching romantic drama, Crazy Heart, Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jean Craddock, a reporter and single mother to a four-year-old son who first meets country singer Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) when she agrees to write a story on him while he’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on tour. What starts out as a friendly interviewer-interviewee relationship quickly turns into a sprawling love affair with the highest of highs and lowest of lows, the latter of which are mostly due to the washed-up singer’s alcohol and commitment issues. 

One of the questions that Crazy Heart sets out to answer is how much is someone (Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character) willing to endure in order to give a person a second chance at a career, with love, and in life. Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of a headstrong woman willing to fight for what she loves earned the actress an Academy Award nomination.

Stream Crazy Heart on Hulu.
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Buy Crazy Heart on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Despite not making any waves at the box office upon its release in late 2001, Richard Kelly’s psychological drama, Donnie Darko, has become a cult classic in the 20 years since its debut. This mind-bending thriller follows a teenage boy named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) after he meets a strange figure in a rabbit costume known as Frank, who leads the trouble youth through a series of tasks before the end of the world (28 days later). One of the enduring qualities of the movie is the way in which it leaves the viewer to decide if what Donnie is experiencing is reality or a delusion brought on by mental illness.

And, it’s not just Donnie Darko who goes through a series of strange and troubling events over the course of the movie, as nearly all of the characters, including his sister Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal), must overcome one obstacle or another. By the time the Donnie Darko ending comes around, each and everyone in Donnie’s life is impacted by his decisions one way or another.

Stream Donnie Darko on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Donnie Darko on Amazon.
Buy Donnie Darko on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Marc Foster’s 2006 dramedy Stranger Than Fiction centers on Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), a lonely IRS agent who despite being great at his job has trouble finding happiness and meaningful relationships in his personal life. However, Harold’s life is forever changed when he discovers that his day-to-day activities are being written and narrated by Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a novelist suffering from severe writer’s block who is trying to find a way in which to kill the man she thinks is a fictional character. 

This eye-opening (and maddening) discovery by Harold Crick brings about a change in his outlook on life. During this time, Harold also strikes up a relationship with baker Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a woman he was auditing for the IRS before getting to know her on a more personal level. But with his impending doom around the corner somewhere, Harold comes to terms with his own mortality just as Karen Eiffel begins to have second thoughts about the ending of her book.

Buy Stranger Than Fiction on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Mike Newell’s 2003 drama Mona Lisa Smile follows a group of colleges students whose lives are forever changed when Katherine Ann Watson (Julia Roberts), a young professor, begins offering an unorthodox art history course at an all-women’s private university in the early 1950s. Through the course of the semester, students like Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) and Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenahaal), who are on the opposite side of just about every argument and philosophy in life, go through enormous changes that help them better see the other side’s views and accept each other on a deeper level.

Now, this isn’t to say everything is peachy with the characters explored throughout Mona Lisa Smile, because there are tough moments that everyone — teacher and students alike — face on their own personal journeys. But, through these struggles and life lessons, they are given a new perspective on life, love, and just about everything else.

Stream Mona Lisa Smile on Starz.
Rent/Buy Mona Lisa Smile on Amazon.
Buy Mona Lisa Smile on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Adaptation (2002)

The 2002 dark comedy, Adaptation, which was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze (the two previously worked together on Being John Malkovich), centers on a fictionalized version of the screenwriter (Nicolas Cage) and his twin brother Donald (also played by Nicolas Cage) as the former attempts to adapt The Orchard Thief into a screenplay while the latter finds success coming up with a formulaic action thriller. Loosely based on Kaufman’s real experience attempting to adapt the cumbersome novel years earlier, the Academy Award-winning film is a fantastical and bizarre exploration of writer’s block, anxiety, and getting fulfillment out of life.

On top of the extraordinary dual-performance by Nicolas Cage, Adaptation features a remarkable cast that includes Maggie Gyllenhaal as Donald Kaufman’s love interest Caroline Cunningham, Chris Cooper in an Oscar-winning performance as John Laroche, Brian Cox as acting coach Robert McKee, and Meryl Streep as a fictionalized version of The Orchard Thief’s author, Susan Orlean.

Stream Adaptation on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Adaptation on Amazon.
Buy Adaptation on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Secretary (2002)

Steven Shainberg’s 2002 erotic drama Secretary sees Maggie Gyllenhaal take on the role of Lee Holloway, a submissive young woman who works under the demanding and domineering attorney, E. Edward Grey (James Spader). What starts out as the standard employer-employee relationship slowly takes a turn toward the more sexual side as the two engage in a BSDM relationship, which turns into a twisted love affair. Not even Lee’s engagement to her fiancé Peter (Jeremy Davies) can keep her mind off the experiences she shared with Grey, causing a deep internal battle.

Maggie Gyllenhaal received a great deal of praise for her tortured performance upon the release of Secretary and was even nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Lee Holloway. She also took home several year-end awards from the likes of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review.

Stream Secretary on Showtime.
Rent/Buy Secretary on Amazon.
Buy Secretary on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Kindergarten Teacher (2018)

One of the best movies on Netflix, Sara Colangelo’s 2018 drama The Kindergarten Teacher (a remake of a 2014 Israeli film of the same name) centers on Lisa Spinelli (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a teacher in a bit of rut both personally and professionally whose life is given new meaning when she discovers one of her young students, Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak), is a brilliant poet despite not being able to write them down. What starts out as a teacher helping her student reach his full potential quickly turns into an obsession, one that forces Lisa to make one unethical decision after another.

One of the more complicated of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s performances, her portrayal of a teacher who gets carried away by her obsessive nature is truly something to behold here.

Stream The Kindergarten Teacher on Netflix.

Frank (2014)

Lenny Abrahamson’s 2014 comedy Frank follows the rock-and-roll outfit known as The Soronprfbs as they start planning out their debut album. Led by the mysterious Frank (Michael Fassbender), an odd frontman who insists on wearing a giant fake head, the band deals with the normal issues up-and-comers face in their pursuit of fame and fortune, including loads and loads of personal drama.

Michael Fassbender’s take on the enigmatic Frank is made all the better thanks to the supporting cast of characters that includes The Soronprfbs’ new keyboardist Jon Burroughs (Domhnall Gleeson), and Clara Wagner (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the singer’s most trusted confidant.

Stream Frank on Magnolia Selects (Amazon Add On).
Rent/Buy Frank on Amazon.
Buy Frank on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

• Check out this list of the best movies on Amazon Prime.

Paris, Je T’aime (2006)

The 2006 anthology film, Paris, Je T’aime, features a collection of 18 short films, each featuring a different cast and and director, each bringing their own spin on the iconic French city. Maggie Gyllenhaal stars in “Quartier des Enfants Rouges,” a short segment in which she portrays an American actress who develops a crush on a local drug dealer who provides her with strong hash and so much more in the “City of Lights.”

Although Maggie Gyllenhaal's appearance in Paris, Je T'aime is brief, it's more than worthy of a spot on the list of her best movies.

Stream Paris, Je T’aime on Tubi.
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Hopefully this list helps you decide on which movie to watch when you’re looking to explore Maggie Gyllenhaal’s vast library of great film performances. But, in the event you are looking for something new to check out, take a look at CinemaBlend’s schedule of 2021 new movie releases.

Since the next Batman was revealed to be Robert Pattinson, fans have been discussing their thoughts on the Matt Reeves’ noir take. It’s a divisive pick, especially when his most recognizable role is sparkly, possessive vampire. There’s a counterpoint – since the Twilight franchise, RPatz has been challenging himself with some magnificently meaty roles. Just check out Good Time. He’s the real deal.

Now Dark Knight star Maggie Gyllenhaal is weighing in to the conversation surrounding Robert Pattinson as well. Here’s what she said about The Batman casting:

Anyone keeping score? That’s a point for Hufflepuff! (You know, because he was Cedric in Harry Potter?) Anyway, it’s nice to hear Maggie Gyllenhaal’s positive reaction to Battinson! The actress played Rachel Dawes in the 2008 Christopher Nolan flick, replacing Katie Holmes.

Maggie Gyllenhaal worked alongside Christian Bale, Heath Ledger’s notorious Joker, and Aaron Eckhart’s Two-Face before her character was killed in an explosion, leaving room for Anne Hathaway to be the leading lady in The Dark Knight Rises as Selena Kyle. Like Pattinson, Maggie Gyllenhaal frequents smaller projects such as The Kindergarten Teacher and Frank, along with the upcoming return of HBO’s The Deuce on Monday, September 30.

Maggie Gyllenhaal talked Robert Pattison when she made an appearance at the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, which premiered Friday at the New York Film Festival. Check out her interview with Variety:

Is this the kind of good energy her brother Jake Gyllenhaal received when he decided to play Mysterio for Spider-Man: Far From Home? Now, that turned out epic! She genuinely sounds excited to see RPatz don the legendary cape and cowl come 2021.

Oddly enough, Robert Pattinson is filming Christopher Nolan’s next movie Tenet ahead of his work on The Batman, which will likely begin its production in early 2020. The actor did share that he’s approached the Dark Knight trilogy director for tips on how to manuever the Batsuit and he found out he’d officially had the role on his first day on Tenet.

Matt Reeves seems to be rounding out the rest of The Batman cast right now. Earlier this week, it was reported Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright is in negotiations to play Commissioner Gordon and Jonah Hill is in talks to play a major villian. The two names in the ring for Hill are allegedly Riddler or Penguin.

The Batman is a while away, so more news of its development is sure to come! Robert Pattinson will debut his Dark Knight on June 25, 2021.

There are certain types of indie films that give the genre a bad name. Such films pretend to have loftier goals than typical narratives, and as such, they use this pretension to skip over some basic aspects that you'd find in a more traditional film. The Kindergarten Teacher is one such film, as it ultimately wants to tell the story of a teacher and the pupil she's fixated upon. But what could have been an effective thriller about obsession and ambition tediously dances around having an actual story that backs its intentions.

Lisa (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a Kindergarten teacher in New York that means well when it comes to both her students and her family. Taking poetry lessons as an outlet for her own personal enrichment, she finds herself frustrated that she's not doing as well as she hopes she would. A potential solution presents itself in one of her students, little Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak), who happens to be a natural poet. As she starts to present his work as her own in class, a partnership develops with slowly increasing stakes.

The Kindergarten Teacher is a painful film to watch, which is an amazing feat considering it's only around an hour and a half long. But even with what should have been a breezy running time, director / co-writer Sara Colangelo's film takes almost a full hour to get into a gear that feels like it's going somewhere. By the time the film arrives to its eventual conclusion, it still feels rushed into its ending, without showing the proper work to get there.

Frustration is a word best used to describe watching The Kindergarten Teacher, because it feels like it's using various parts from other mid-life crisis films, and does so with an air of increased drama. Lisa becomes involved in various happenings that we've seen used to better effect in other films, such as infidelity and family strife, but none of it connects like it's meant to. These events just kind of happen, without any drive or cohesive narrative to prop them up into a working story.

It's heartbreaking to pan a film that has a talent such as Maggie Gyllenhaal on board, and to The Kindergarten Teacher's credit, having her play Lisa is the best thing it's got going for it. Her portrayal of a woman going through a bit of a midlife crisis is as nuanced and able as it can be, despite not having all of the thematic building blocks to put together a full picture of her character's world. Her chemistry with young Parker Sevak, who also puts in a compelling performance as Jimmy, suggests that should these two actors be cast in another movie, with a better script, they'd still work as well together as they did here.

Sevak himself is a bit of a revelation, as his role in The Kindergarten Teacher is critical to the film's story, so we're seeing him in almost every frame of the film. Were a lesser child performer given this role, they could easily grow to be cloying or annoying very quickly, but Parker Sevak is a young talent that shows true potential, even if it's buried under a story that doesn't truly serve his or his co-star's talents.

Netflix originals have a habit of being a bit hit or miss, and The Kindergarten Teacher is most definitely a missed opportunity to tell an intriguing story. It's a film that feels longer than it should, despite the fact that there's threads scattered here and there that could have been developed into a better narrative. When you waste actors like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Parker Sevak, it makes your film feel like an act of criminal negligence. Instead of being an arresting narrative, The Kindergarten Teacher should be arrested for wasting your time.

If you've ever been to IMDB, then you already have a pretty clear understanding of the website's layout. Actors and filmmakers have thoroughly detailed profiles that meticulously list their filmographies, along with very specific personal information. An actor's age has always been a prominent aspect of such a profile, but new a new California law will force a website like IMDB to remove such information at an actor's request.

According to a brand new report from THR, it seems that California Governor Jerry Brown has officially signed a law into effect that requires entertainment websites like IMDB to remove an actor's age from a profile upon request. If the site has not yet published the age, then the request could also serve to keep them from doing so in the first place. The intention of this legislation is to protect actors against widespread age discrimination, which -- while already illegal in all industries -- has become a widespread issue in Hollywood.

The creation of this law has sparked heated statewide debate regarding whether or not it's an appropriate action. Those who support the law believe that its a necessary piece of legislation to combat Hollywood age discrimination. On the other hand, the opponents of the law have argued that it's a violation of First Amendment rights to censor factual information like age on the Internet. It's ultimately a complex issue that doesn't really have a clear-cut answer.

Although this may seem like a fairly trivial matter on the surface, there's actually some fairly poignant rationale for putting this legislation into effect. The persistence of ageism in the Hollywood casting process has become a fairly high profile phenomenon in recent years, and this law hopes to take specific steps towards combating the practice. The issue reached a fever pitch last year when Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that, at 37-years-old, she was considered "too old" to portray the love interest of a 55-year-old male actor. Ageism takes the meritocracy out of Hollywood, and creates an unfair advantage for someone simply because they're younger.

With that in mind, the issue of ageism has received quite a bit of attention recently -- particularly from the female side of Hollywood. Prominent actress like Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren have vocally spoken out against the practice, and this piece of legislation seems like an earnest attempt to move in a more egalitarian direction.

It's hard to deny that there definitely seems to be a double standard in Hollywood when it comes to the ages of men and women. While men like Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Daniel Craig, get to play action heroes and sex symbols well into their 40s, actresses are generally given much shorter shelf lives, and find themselves in far more difficult situations when it comes to casting.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think it's right for IMDB to take down the age of an actor in an effort to avoid age discrimination, or is there another way to combat this widespread phenomenon? Let us know what you think in the comments section below to keep this conversation going.

Recent years have seen an unprecedented change in the entertainment industry as more and more big screen performers have been moving to the small screen. Traditionally, actors have used television careers to launch into film careers. Nowadays, however, with projects with shorter runs on cable networks known for producing high-quality series that tend to sweep the awards circuit, a migration from film to TV seems only natural. Maggie Gyllenhaal already headed to TV for The Honourable Woman, and has now been cast to play a hooker in the pilot for the new HBO drama The Deuce.

Set in the 1970s and 1980s, EW reports The Deuce will focus on the sex industry during an era when the legalization of pornography brought it from the seedy underbelly of society to greater public prominence. Maggie Gyllenhaal will playa Times Square hooker named Eileen Merrell, also known as Candy. A veteran in her trade, an entrepreneurial bent will draw Candy toward pornography.

Despite HBO being a network known for nudity, The Deuce promises to be much more than a platform for topless actresses. The show will be covering the rise of the porn industry, as well as its problems, with the emergence of HIV, the pervasive cocaine epidemic, and the Manhattan real estate market bringing in more reputable tenants. If the pilot is successful and The Deuce is ordered to series, Maggie Gyllenhaal will undoubtedly have plenty to do as Candy.

If ordered to series, The Deuce will also be Maggie Gyllenhaal’s very first stint as a regular on television. Perhaps best known for replacing Katie Holmes as the ill-fated Rachel Dawes for the second installment of the Dark Knight trilogy, Gyllenhaal has done more for the silver screen than being abused by the Joker during a blockbuster film. With roles ranging from Secretary to Adaptation to Stranger Than Fiction, Gyllenhaal has proven she is capable of handling multiple genres with nuance.

She is not the only big screen star to be featured in the pilot of The Deuce. James Franco will be joining her as the man behind a pair of twin mobsters. As the requisite dreamboat of the late lamented Freaks and Geeks series that sadly only ran for one season from 1999 - 2000, The Deuce will be Franco’s return as a major television series regular. He’s spent most of his time in the years since Freaks and Geeks starring in films ranging from Spider-Man to Pineapple Express to 127 Hours, proving that Maggie Gyllenhaal will not be the only performer capable bring adaptability and nuance to The Deuce.

While The Deuce has only been commissioned for a pilot at this point, the cast will include movie stars such as Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco may just be enough to promote the premise to series. We'll let you know if that happens.

Be it in film or on television, fans really don’t like seeing their favorite characters recast. Once they’ve gotten to know an actor in a certain role, it becomes that they don’t want to see any other actor in that same part. Certainly not helping things is the fact that recasting is often unfortunate and forced, as well as the fact that most recasting situations have had terrible results. There are, however, some key instances where replacing an actor for a follow-up story has actually worked – and those are the performances we want to celebrate today.

This week will see Ed Skrien try and replace Jason Statham’s place in pop culture as The Transporter franchise’s new Frank Martin – so we figured now would be a great time to take a look back at some of the instances where a franchise changing actors for a character actually worked out for the best. Read on!

Mark Ruffalo As Bruce Banner

When it was revealed in 2010 that Edward Norton would not be reprising his role as Bruce Banner a.k.a. The Hulk in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, fans nearly rioted. While few were really big fans of Norton’s first entry as the hero/monster , 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, what people didn’t like was that Marvel Studios was already changing key elements within the continuity they were trying to build. Then everyone got to see Mark Ruffalo’s version of the character and completely forgot there was an Edward Norton version.

While Norton certainly wasn’t a bad Bruce Banner, he did infuse The Incredible Hulk with a serious kind of energy that really makes the film the least "fun" in the Marvel canon. Ruffalo, however, is the complete opposite. In addition to really hitting all of the big and necessary emotional beats that he needs to, Ruffalo presents a much softer, approachable version of the brilliant scientist – and as a result has the power to both make us laugh and generate awe.

Elizabeth Shue As Jennifer Parker

If we’re being 100 percent fair, the truth of the matter is that the first Back To The Future didn’t exactly give us a ton of time with Claudia Wells’ Jennifer Parker, as she was stuck in the present while Marty McFly toiled 30 years in the past. As a result of this short amount of screentime, however, it wasn’t seen as such a big blow when she didn’t come back for Back To The Future Part II. Instead, Robert Zemeckis hired Elizabeth Shue for the role, and while she’s not exactly the most memorable part of the film, she does put in a fun turn and beautifully falls into the tone of the franchise.

It’s true that the Elizabeth Shue version of Jennifer Parker finds herself unconscious surprisingly often, be it knocked out by Doc, or fainting after meeting her future self, but she remains a fun companion for Marty and Doc as they travel through time.

Don Cheadle As James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes

As you’ll notice from this list, there are very few situations in Hollywood where recasting a character for a sequel wound up working out well – but Marvel Studios managed to do it very successfully twice in the span of just a few years. Truth be told, nobody really hates Terrence Howard’s version of James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes from the first Iron Man in 2008, but in the years since Don Cheadle replaced him, we’ve really come to know him as the MCU version of the current-Avenger.

Admittedly there were some missteps with Don Cheadle’s Rhodey at the start (the first thing he does in Iron Man 2 is testify against Tony Stark, making him look more enemy than friend), but between Iron Man 3 and The Avengers: Age of Ultron we’ve come to know him as the funny, charismatic, badass partner to Iron Man – very importantly having great chemistry with Robert Downey Jr.

Daniel Craig As James Bond

Pierce Brosnan’s early outings as James Bond are unquestionably fantastic, and Martin Campbell’s Goldeneye continues to stand as one of the best movies in the franchise – but things definitely tailed off towards the end. By the time that Die Another Day arrived to disappoint in theaters, there was at atmosphere rising asking for a new face. What we ended up getting was Daniel Craig, and we’ve been thankful since.

Like Brosnan, Craig teamed up with Martin Campbell for his first 007 outing - Casino Royale in 2006 – and since then fans have gotten to experience one of the best generations of Bond ever (even though Quantum of Solace wasn’t all that great). The actor has brought a very different flavor and depth to the spy series, and even when the film around him isn’t entirely getting the job done, he always is.

Maggie Gyllenhaal As Rachel Dawes

After delivering arguably the weakest performance in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, Katie Holmes decided not to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, instead opting to star with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah in the crime comedy Mad Money. As it turns out, this wound up being for the franchise’s benefit, as Nolan was able to hire Maggie Gyllenhaal for the sequel, and she definitely killed it.

We’ll never really know what Holmes would have done with Rachel in The Dark Knight, but Gyllenhaal really did a tremendous job in the comic book movie – establishing a strong bond with Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne, and really bringing emotion to her station trapped between her love for both him and Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent. She represents the key to all the deeper dramatic elements of the grand blockbuster, and makes the most of it right up until her final moment.

An ongoing discussion about ageism and sexism in Hollywood has brought out some of the industry's biggest stars inserting their two cents into the fold. From Helen Mirren to Maggie Gyllenhaal, the women of Hollywood are utterly annoyed, and now Sandra Bullock has a few words to say about how the media isn’t helping. Bullock terms it as ‘open hunting season’ stating that the media has a horrible trend of going after women.

The number of female celebs speaking out against their treatment in Hollywood is one thing, but Bullock wants to stand up against a much bigger problem— the media’s portrayal of women. In an interview with E! Online for her upcoming movie, Minions the actress opened up about the pressures of being a woman in the spotlight:

But for Bullock, the problem goes far beyond just herself and female celebrities. She explained to the publication that it is an issue hitting much closer to home for many people, with young girls having some of the hardest times on the internet with bullying. The problem is it starts at the top, and the top for many young women and young men is celebrity culture. They look to the media and to television, film, sports, and the news that surrounds them for role models and inspiration. If these mediums are attacking women because of looks and their age, it is what these younger generations will see, and potentially find to be acceptable ways of judging someone. Bullock admits it herself when she says it has nothing to do with who they are as people, but all to do with looks.

It is the similar discussion happening in Hollywood. When a 37-year-old woman named Maggie Gyllenhaal who has an extensive acting resume and is incredibly talented, gets nicked from a job opportunity, because she is ‘too old’ to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. The woman of Hollywood are pissed, and Bullock explains that they are bonding together, trying to take care of each other, sticking up for one another, as we heard when Helen Mirren stuck up for Gyllenhaal after the incident.

But for Bullock, she wants to live in a world where her son can grow up to be a good man. And that starts with the way media treats all women, not just Hollywood stars.

The discussion of Hollywood ageism has been a hot topic among female actresses as of late, especially as older women are losing out on seemingly appropriate roles to much younger actresses. Just last month, Maggie Gyllenhaal was told she was too old at age 37 to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. Well Dame Helen Mirren is not having that. The critically-acclaimed, established actress put her own two cents in about the subject of Hollywood ageism, calling it "fucking outrageous".

The Wrap held their first Power Women Breakfast in NYC where the Academy Award-winning actress spoke openly about her problems with what the industry has been building towards. In response to the Maggie Gyllenhaal debacle, Mirren had the absolute perfect response, telling The Wrap:

And from a female’s perspective, that probably is the best way to describe it, just utterly annoying. Mirren has had her fair share of opportunity, and rightfully so considering her powerful acting chops. But it’s not as if we’re seeing female versions of James Bond dominating the screen with young men as side characters. We’ve watched James Bond get older and older, but for some reason the women just get younger. But as is the case with Maggie Gyllenhaal, apparently an 18-year difference is just not enough.

Mirren also goes into the issue of being ‘sexual’, a term often used in casting females (a main descriptor of those Bond girls, too). While Mirren says she’s been lucky, she also reiterated that it still is difficult in this industry, and especially in being a powerful actress. But the award-winning actress sums it up best when she claims that "being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful." Something that the consistent ageism seems to forget.

And Mirren certainly isn’t the only actress speaking out on the issue. Just a couple months ago Amy Schumer had a segment on her Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer where she runs into Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette and Julia Louis-Dreyfus toasting a special occasion, a day they’ve all become all too aware of in their industry, the day they term the "Last Fuckable Day". Check it out on the next page, it'll give you a good laugh...

Sexism and ageism are certainly hot topics of discussion in the current state of Hollywood. Mirren and company are the first to speak out, and they certainly won’t be the last. There’s even been studies that prove that female "speaking characters" in films takes a dramatic dip from actresses in their 30’s (30%) to actresses in their 40’s (17%) whereas male actors actually saw an increase as they crossed that age threshold. Whether or not you agree with Mirren’s response to the dilemma, the stats don’t lie.

While the idea that movies generally tend to pair older leading men with younger actresses is hardly headline news, every once in a while something comes along to highlight the ludicrousness of the logic behind the habit. It seems that Maggie Gyllenhaal recently experienced such a moment, as the 37 year-old Oscar-nominated actress was told she was too old to play the love interest of a 55 year-old man.

In an interview with The Wrap, Maggie Gyllenhaal candidly discusses an experience that could be considered a shining example of the often-insane logic of Hollywood. It seems that one role in particular in a film project she declined to identify would slip through her fingers, due to a rather bizarre reason relating to her age. According to Gyllenhaal:

This is clearly a story that’s packed with powder keg implications. By any conventional standard, the notion that a 37 year-old woman was somehow "too old" for a 55 year-old man seems to further the narrative that seems to be currently gaining much momentum regarding rampant sexism in Hollywood. It suggests that a woman can only bring a particular kind of appeal related to her fleeting youth and innocence and that her shelf-life as an actor is significantly shorter than that of a man. While Hollywood bigwigs rarely provide insight into their methodology, the results do speak for themselves on a large scale.

This was recently highlighted in a study conducted by San Diego State University that examined the demographic disparity between men to women as the age of featured actors advanced in films released in 2014. One notable statistic revealed that the number of identifiable female "speaking characters" in films takes a dramatic dip from actresses in their 30’s (30%) to ones in their 40’s (17%); a phenomenon that Gyllenhaal’s discussed dilemma seems to appropriately highlight. In fact, that same study concluded that the same 30’s to 40’s statistic for male actors actually saw a bump from 27% to 28% as they crossed that age threshold. While the reason why so many Hollywood projects take shape in quite this way is worthy of separate studies, it does seem clear that female actors are seeing their options narrow significantly more, despite being still relatively young.

The incident that Gyllenhaal describes is unquestionably absurd and understandably insulting. However, not knowing the nature of the film in question or the identity of the mysterious 55 year-old leading man, it probably wouldn’t be responsible to come to a definitive conclusion on what occurred with this particular casting process. For all we know, the idea of the older leading man's character being the kind of person who seeks the company of a significantly younger women might have been an integral concept to the film's plot.

Regardless of the reasons why Gyllenhaal’s would-be film project found itself falling into patterns that validate ageism and sexism in Hollywood, it seems to find itself there nonetheless. It also does nothing to disprove the notion recently brought up by an array of actresses like Carey Mulligan, Kristen Stewart and Meryl Streep regarding the disappointing number of poignant roles for women in Hollywood. Thus, it will be interesting to see if more details emerge on Gyllenhaal’s unrealized film project to possibly shed some light on the incident.

The Golden Globes might hit the TV schedule like clockwork once a year, and even though most movie and TV fans know the drill by now, there are still a few fun, emotional and clever moments worth talking about. Especially when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are running the show. While I think most of us have heard enough The Interview jokes to last a lifetime, we’ve put together a list of the moments we did latch on to during the night (hint: there were a lot of great, great speeches). Without further ado, you can check them out, below.

Tina Fey And Amy Poehler’s Hilarious George Clooney Burn

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have headlined the Golden Globes for several years in a row now, but that doesn’t mean the jokes are getting stale. Following last year’s George Clooney/Gravity zinger, the ladies brought out their A-game, talking about Clooney’s new wife Amal Alamuddin, how she is a human rights lawyer and an advisor to Kofi Annan, not to mention acted as part of a three-person commission investigating “rules of war violations” (I promise I’m getting to the joke). Here it is: “So tonight, her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.”

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Cool Speech About Ladies

Maggie Gyllenhaal won a Golden Globe tonight for The Honourable Woman, a show that hasn’t received a ton of popular notice. While her win was a quiet one, her speech was anything but. She got up and spoke about how TV is changing and is revolutionary thanks to the wealth of roles that are being given to women, roles that are complex and show that women are complex. It was some powerful, heartfelt stuff.

Benedict Cumberbatch Photobomb

After Ellen’s big group selfie at the Oscars last year, it’s no surprise that a photobomb made the rounds at the Golden Globes this year. At one point Michael Keaton was doing a gag involving Meryl Streep and the North Korean “writer” at tonight’s awards, Benedict Cumberbatch jumped into the frame, giving us the wacky and glorious image above.

Michael Keaton’s Tearful Win

Michael Keaton is 63 years young. The man has been in the acting business forever and has been in a slew of movies from big box office endeavors like Tim Burton’s Batman to the critically acclaimed Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown. Yet, he’s never received a Golden Globe Award. So, despite his status as a veteran actor and despite all of the contributions he has made to the world of movies over the years, it was still a big moment when Keaton won for Birdman. The actor took the opportunity to thank his best friend, his son Sean, tearing up during the speech. To make it even more endearing, he infused it with the following joke: “Two things I said I wasn’t going to do: cry and give air quotes.”

Wes Anderson Had The Funniest Speech Of The Night

You expect jokes to populate the presenters lead-in sketches and Fey and Poehler’s monologues. However, even though Wes Anderson’s films are witty and sometimes outright funny, I didn’t expect his speech after winning Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Anderson promptly hopped up onstage, talking about the people he was not going to thank before launching into an amusing and funny list. The moment was even better since The Grand Budapest Hotel’s win was a welcome surprise.

In the Irish dramedy Frank, Michael Fassbender stars as an undiscovered musical genius whose deep eccentricities include wearing a giant paper mache head at all times. His accomplices in his quest to musical perfection include Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a passionate and sometimes violent Theremin player, and Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), a pencil pusher turned keyboard player desperate to become famous.

After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Frank hit a slew of film festivals from SXSW to Istanbul, New Zealand to Jerusalem. Now at long last it's coming to theaters in the U.S. and to celebrate, the film's cast and director Lenny Abrahamson sat down with us to talk about what goes on in that big paper mache head of Frank and what makes Fassbender, Gleeson and Gyllenhaal tick. Here's what we learned:

Michael Fassbender is an unrepentant goofball. Yes. He's an insanely sexy man who has built a reputation playing steely and intimidating characters. But if his performance as the free-spirited Frank isn't enough to convince you of this actor's playful nature, you have to watch the video above in full. Paired with co-star Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender came to play, breaking into song, giggling and gently teasing his interview partner.

To prepare for Frank, Fassbender played chess, the game, not the musical. There was some confusion on this point, as you can see play out above. Gleeson told me he listened to Joe Duffy, and Fassbender interjected, "I played a lot of chess. I didn't listen to anything; I was in a chess hole." He clarified that he did listen to Iggy Pop, but not his music, his interviews. When I admitted I thought he'd meant the musical Chess, Fassbender broke into a short improvised song, before realizing there is a chess musical. Then we briefly sang "One Night in Bangkok" together. Like you do.

Fassbender and Gleeson karaoke together, disagree on how good they are at it. After our impromptu duet I joked that the three of us should go to karaoke, only to discover the pair had gone just recently. "We did the worst 'Irish Rover' that ever happened," Gleeson recalled. "I thought it wasn't bad!" Fassbender rejoined. "It was great," Gleeson corrected himself, "I mean, we both connected to the--yeah."

Domnhall Gleeson is officially excited about Star Wars. That is all he'll say about it as his contract is insanely specific on this point. Regardless, he welcomed some advice from Prometheus star Fassbender on how to place himself in a sprawling outer space saga.

Click on to hear Frank co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal's thoughts on Fifty Shades of Grey!

Frank's cast recorded the movie's music live. Paired with Maggie Gyllenhaal, director Lenny Abrahamson told me the screenplay from Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan described the music Frank's band plays as "beautiful and ridiculous at the same time." With composer Stephen Rennicks, Abrahamson began feeling out the sound of the Soronprfbs. But the actors were what brought the sound to life, playing live and embracing the strange but lovely style they'd had outlined. For Abrahamson it was crucial "that we really create a proper band. It was a leap of faith…proudly I feel that the band in the film is something I can believe. And a lot of that down to Maggie and the rest of the cast."

Maggie Gyllenhaal learned to play the Theremin for Frank. I would have believed her if she had told me it's just a skill she'd picked up along her path of unconventional artistry. She also learned how to play the Moogs and synths that Clara favors in the film. "Miles Davis's MIDI guy taught me the synths," she offered. But when it came the Theremin, she demurred about her accomplishments. "Luckily, I didn't have to play any of it with great precision because I'm playing someone who is trying to make noise," she said. "I think the idea was that Clara could do whatever she wanted on those instruments, but I couldn't do whatever I wanted on them. But I got into how to make the sound I wanted."

Abrahamson interjected before Gyllenhaal could play down her talents, "But there are beautiful pieces of Theremin playing in the film which are from…the live takes that you really played. So you were able to play really beautiful melodic stuff on the Theremin." With a laugh Gyllenhaal put that up to luck.

Gyllenhaal's Clara is a Godard character in her own mind. In coming up with the look for the pugnacious Theremin player, Gyllenhaal and Abrahamson had discussions about Clara being anti-fashion, "super severe" with a ponytail. But ultimately they decided on a look that was romantic but squalid. "I guess I thought Clara thinks she's in a Godard film or like a French New Wave movie all the time. But instead she's in like a muddy cabin in Woodrow…Her clothes are super dirty and probably she hasn't washed them…but she lets people open the door for her." Gyllenhaal summarized, "If you can choose have style or not have style, have style!"

The inspiration for the look of Frank's head was not Fassbender, but Buster Keaton. Lenny Abrahamson said the design process for Frank's paper mache head involved a lot of variants of small model heads. Fassbender's actual face was never a reference point. Ultimately, they settled on the one you see in the film from pulling from the silent film era's slapstick. "What's good about the head we chose," he explained, "we felt that it's got this sort of naiveté to it and a simplicity. It's on the border of a kind of gentleness but also slightly startled…I'm a big fan of early Hollywood physical comedy and there's something about the Stan Laurel or the Keaton or the Chaplin that although they were real faces they were also sort of masks."

Maggie Gyllenhaal is curious about the Fifty Shades of Grey movie. But that's about it. She's hasn't read the book. She hasn't seen the trailer. But she knows people are associating it with her breakout romance The Secretary, as fans have been tweeting at her about it. "I'm sure it'd be a great pleasure," she said of reading the erotic novel, "I should totally read it…I'm curious about it. First of all I should probably read the book. I would probably have a lot of fun…I'm interested that it's making people think of Secretary. I don't know anything about it."

Frank opens August 15th in select theaters.

The fervency with which fans have taken to HBO's original series True Detective is nothing short of impressive. The series' striking visuals, gripping storyline, and incredible acting have helped turn this show into can't-miss TV of the grandest variety. But given the series format — it's an anthologized, like American Horror Story — and the fact that Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey's story ends after the finale next month, some minds have turned to casting season two. And we've got some ideas of our own.

When it comes to HBO’s most popular and inventive drama (at least until Game of Thrones returns in April), there’s a seriously ravenous audience that loves (nay, obsesses) over its every hypothetical scenario — just look at Patton Oswalt’s Twitter feed. Nowhere was that more evident than in the immense popularity of the hashtag #TrueDetectiveSeason2 this week, wherein folks cast (mostly jokingly) dynamic duos to take over the starring vehicle.

We thought we’d do them one better, though: what if, instead of joking, we took a serious look at some pairs of killer actors who’d take on the impressive mantle of the series and do it justice? We've already done it for dream directors, so why not the cast? The result was 10 pairings we’d really love to see on the Nic Pizzolatto series. So we decided to share them with you. Feel free to leave your own serious contenders in the comments. After all, the more to deduce from, the better.

Winona Ryder and Elisabeth Moss

With Ryder’s steely, confident brand of crazy and Moss’ impressive investigative seriousness (as evidenced in Top of The Lake), these two could potentially hit it out of the park, so to speak. Just imagine: a dusty, dried up town somewhere in middle-of-nowhere California? Ryder as a down on her luck cop stranded in a hometown she wants nothing to do with and Moss as her following-in-the-family-footsteps partner. Admit it: you’re into it.

Idris Elba and Chiwetel Ejiofor

This one may be mostly selfish: these two astoundingly impressive and incredible actors need to be in something together, STAT. Elba already has the impressive-cool detective stylings down thanks to his work on Luther, and Ejiofor just commands the attention of any scene he’s in. Imagine: a season set against the backdrop of Detroit’s disintegrating-but-trying urban landscape with these two and just try and pretend you’re not wholly on board.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Joaquin Phoenix

Now, here the question is obvious: would Phoenix act opposite the sometimes perma-bubbly JGL? Methinks he could, and the unexpectedness of it all would work in both of their favor. Just imagine it: small town, maybe out in Utah somewhere. Devious dealings with a local Mormon religious figure? Phoenix harboring a secret tie to the man’s empire and Gordon-Levitt hot on that connection’s tail — only to find it brings him more compassion for his crooked compatriot than originally anticipated? You’d watch the shit out of that, don’t play.

Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Banks

Any excuse to get more Cranston on your television, right? The levity that would infiltrate the season with the addition of Banks might be just the sort of reengineering the series needs to ensure it doesn’t become stale. Both intelligent and competent actors, we’d love to see Banks in something serious after her domination in the comedy game. And who better to bring that sort of brooding brilliance out of her than Cranston? Something tells us a small town outside of Seattle would do well to have these two detectives.

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Parker Posey

Parker Posey as a seriously off-center but broodingly dark detective? Gyllenhaal besting her brother’s performance in Prisoners? These two women are phenomenal actors, and no doubt an unfolding mystery on par with this season’s True Detective would do well in their care. Something tricky, psychosexual, and absolutely bonkers would be the perfect fit — maybe out somewhere in Kansas? In the backwoods of New England? Either way, we’re into it.

Sam Rockwell and Michael Fassbender

Of all the pairings, this might be our favorite. Two genius actors that have yet to do television would make serious waves if cast in season two. Like Fassbender, Rockwell has incredible range and commitment — he inhabits characters with such convincing aplomb you’re almost terrified of him. Naturally, the sort of duality both men charismatically possess would ensure a terrific season of television. Put them somewhere bleak and expansive — the Dakotas, maybe even middle-of-nowhere Nevada — and watch the electricity fly.

Kevin Spacey and Michael B. Jordan

Michael B. Jordon as a green detective with a jaded outlook on life, paired up with old-timer Spacey (who recently lost his partner under curious circumstances), a bubbly and seemingly benevolent believer in the old guard? You want to see that. Nay: you need to see that. Put them in some deeply southern town with a lot of dark patches in their history — perhaps somewhere swamp-laden? — and you’ve got a clash of cultures as well as a seriously charismatic leading duo.

Anne Hathaway and Michael C. Hall

We know, we know: you might think this one is weird, but just hear us out. Hathaway would play a goody-two-shoes sort, assigned to work with Hall on her first-ever detective-ing endeavor. A quiet girl with a mysterious and foggy past that she won’t discuss, Hall and Hathaway are teamed up to investigate a series of child abductions and suspected murders in upstate New York. Only what comes to pass is that Hathaway has a lot more insight into the case than her 15-years-on-the-job partner. You like it, eh?

Aaron Paul and Jimmi Simpson

Imagine this one taking place in Washington, DC and stay with me. Two genius detectives in the US’ cyber crimes become embroiled in a plot to infiltrate and destroy the government from the inside. With House of Cards hacker Simpson’s brilliant technological mind and Breaking Bad star Paul’s charisma and keen intuition, the duo source out who’s at the heart of the attacks and unfold an even bigger plot that’s in development across the world.

Bradley Cooper and Dustin Hoffman

Last but far from least, we have Cooper and Hoffman. Can you imagine a more dynamic old/new guard pairing? Between Cooper’s unhinged electricity and Hoffman’s quiet brilliance, we see a seedy underbelly story rife for the solving with these two actors on board. Perhaps somewhere in Iowa? Both men not only have the gravitas it takes to carry a series, but they also play extremely well with others in a more ensemble setting. Put these two in charge of season two and we bet you’d be hard-pressed to find a story they couldn’t make engaging.

Irish writer-director Lenny Abrahamson is poised to finally breakthrough in the U.S. thanks to his upcoming comedy Frank. Sure, its title is far from evocative, but that doesn't much matter since the filmmaker behind the Cannes Film Festival fêted drama Garage has scored the ever-mesmerizing Michael Fassbender to play the film's title character.

While Fassbender is reason enough to be anticipating this feature, Frank also boasts Maggie Gyllenhall, and rising stars Domhnall Gleeson of Anna Karenina and Scoot McNairy of Argo. The film is now shooting in New Mexico, but you can get a first look at Gyellenhall, Gleeson and Fassbender below, thanks to Coming Soon (and head over there to see it in high-res):

There are new looks all around in this image. Gleeson, who sported a fantastic ginger beard in Anna Karnina is scruffy and scrawny here, while Gyllenhaal is sporting a short hairdo that's far from flattering. But the biggest transformation is undoubtedly Fassbender, whose draped in ill-fitting clothes and tops off the look with a creepy papier-mache head. It seems a strange move to release a teaser image of Fassbender that purposely hides his devastatingly handsome face, but props to Frank's producers for piquing our interest all the same. I mean, really, what is that head about?

Loosely inspired by the memoir of The Men Who Stares at Goats author and This American Life contributor Jon Ronson, Frank centers on an aspiring musician (Gleeson) who finds himself in over his head when his dream-chasing leads him to join a band with the bizarre Frank (Fassbender) and his frightening sidekick Clara (Gyllenhaal). The real-life Ronson was once a keyboard player for the musician and comedian Chris Sievey, who wore a head similar to that above as part of his Frank Sidebottom schtick. However, Coming Soon notes that the titular character in Frank is a culmination of Sievey and other outsider artists like Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart.

It's a intriguing place from which to pull a movie plot. Still, let's hope it turns out better than The Men Who Stares at Goats.

The Year of Channing Tatum, which is what I'm pretty sure we'll call 2012 in the history books when all things are said and done, looks to continue handily next year, both thanks to the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation (which was added to include more of Tatum, believe it or not) and White House Down, in which he plays a Secret Service agent valiantly defending the center of federal government during a terrorist attack. We've gotten a few glimpses behind the scenes of the film, but now the first official images have hit the web. Take a look at a few of them below.

These come, as you can probably tell, from the newest issue of entertainment Weekly, which was handily scanned by the folks at Hey U Guys. And the images manage to reveal a few things I didn't quite realize before. First of all, Maggie Gyllenhaal appears to play a pretty major part in it, as the Secret Service boss who's in the middle of interviewing Tatum when the terrorist attack goes down. And second-- and maybe I could have realized this by reading the synopsis more carefully-- Tatum's character isn't in fact a full-fledged agent yet, but a Washington, D.C. cop interviewing for the job. That makes the whole setup just more similar to Die Hard, which seems to be a clear inspiration for the film. Though with Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow's Roland Emmerich behind the camera, we can probably expect some slightly more over-the-top action than in that stripped-down Bruce Willis classic.

But the sight of Channing Tatum in that tank top pretty much confirms it-- this is the new Die Hard we should be looking forward to next year, not the actual sequel A Good Day To Die Hard, which looks more over the top than most Emmerich movies. We don't have to give up on Bruce Willis in favor of Channing Tatum, of course-- we're lucky enough to have both! But if anyone's going to be the heir to that everyman action hero throne, Tatum looks like he's already got it sewn up.

White House Down comes to theaters June 28, 2013.

In Independence Day German filmmaker Roland Emmerich blew up the White House, but saved the American president so that the character could go on to deliver one of the most stirring addresses of movie history! In his next action-packed thriller White House Down, Emmerich has 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue under siege and the president trapped within its luxurious walls. Penned by Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt, White House Down centers on a dedicated secret service agent—is there any other kind?—who must single-handedly save the Commander in chief once the White House is invaded.

While we don't know what the particular threat against our nation is in this thriller, we do know Channing Tatum is lined up to star as the heroic agent, while Jamie Foxx has recently signed on to portray the president. Now Deadline reveals Maggie Gyllenhaal has entered into negotiations to play the film's female lead (though at this point there are no details on the specifics of that character). It seems too much to hope for that Emmerich would cast her as the First Lady, and so it is more likely she'll be some sort of stern cabinet member. With the film going into production in August, we should hear more cast updates and character details soon.

Since the birth of her first child with Peter Sarsgaard, Gyllenhaal has been far less prolific in her film appearances. But being highly selective has generally served her well, as she landed a memorable role as the doomed Rachel Dawes in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and earned her first Academy Award nomination for her tender turn in 2009's Crazy Heart. Her choosy nature could suggest that White House Down could well be one of Emmerich's more compelling action features, more Independence Day than Day After Tomorrow.

Last summer, while I was visiting relatives in Pittsburgh, two high-profiles films had set up shots in the blue-collar city’s streets. One, titled Won’t Back Down, starred Oscar nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis – at the time, riding pre-Oscar buzz for The Help -- in an inspirational story of two mothers fighting insurmountable odds to better the performances of children in an inner-city school system.

The other was called The Dark Knight Rises. Can you guess which one earned more attention? Yet, now that the world is up to speed with the comings and goings of Bane, Catwoman and the Batman, maybe they’ll take a moment to check out the first trailer for Won’t Back Down, because it looks pretty good:

It’s hard not to want to support strong actresses like Gyllanhaal and Davis as they form a bond in support of underserved kids. I also love the use of Angels and Airwaves’ inspirational guitar rock, a very nice touch by director Daniel Barnz (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Brin Hill). The trailer claims Won’t Back Down is inspired by true events, and that’s easy to believe. I’m sure this type of neglect and poor teaching happens in every city in America. But not everyone stands up for what’s right and fights back.

Oh, and Holly Hunter co-stars, so I’m officially in.

Won’t Back Down is the type of underdog drama that people look for coming out of the throes of the empty spectacle of the summer season. 20th Century Fox has programmed it for Sept. 28, right as kids are getting settled in their classrooms once again. Very smart. What did you think of the trailer? Let us know below.

Some of our favorite actresses from the 1980s have found new life on cable television. Glenn Close is collecting Emmys for her work on Damages. Holly Hunter was spectacular on TNT’s Saving Grace, until the show met its demise. And if not for the films of James Cameron, I’m pretty sure Sigourney Weaver would he headlining a medical-crime drama on FX or Showtime … and it would be incredible.

But Hunter, an Oscar winner for her mesmerizing role in The Piano, appears to be heading back to the big screen after a six-year hiatus, signing on to one project and lining up another. Deadline reports that Hunter has joined Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal in director Daniel Barnz’s production of Still I Rise. She’ll play the head of the teacher’s union in a dramatic story about an instructor and a mother who join forces to improve the quality of education in an inner-city Pittsburgh school. 20th Century Fox owns distribution rights to Rise, and currently plans a 2012 release.

Hunter’s not quite finished, either. Deadline adds that she’s “in negotiations” to join True Grit standout in Romeo and Juliet. The latest adaptation of The Bard’s prose would work from a Julian Fellowes script and be directed by Carlo Carlei. Excellent. I’m not even going to complain too much that Hunter’s landing melodramatic empowerment stories and Shakespeare rifts. I’m just happy to hear she’s returning to the big screen, where her oversized talents belong.

Director Daniel Branz's last directorial effort was the doomed teen romance Beastly, which opened in March after many delays to some vicious reviews; it actually turned a profit on its $17 million budget, but was nothing resembling a hit, despite featuring High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens and up-and-comer Alex Pettyfer as its leads. So its probably a good sign that for his next project he's trying something completely different; according to Deadline he's moving on to direct Still I Rise, a drama about public education that will star Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

And given the cast and the story, it could be more interesting than you might expect from "a drama about public education." Davis and Gyllenhaal play two mothers who are frustrated by the state of their local public schools and "join forces to transform an inner-city public school." Yes, it sounds kind of Dangerous Minds-ish, but given the constantly declining school system, we could probably use another one of those. Production starts very soon, on May 23, now that Gyllenhaal is done shooting the period vibrator comedy Hysteria and presumably to wrap in time for Davis to do the publicity rounds for her upcoming role in The Help. Both Davis and Gyllenhaal are recent Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominees, and I think it'll be fantastic to see them work together in a story that, at least on paper, looks really promising.

The Oscar-winning drama Crazy Heart arrives on Blu-ray and DVD today courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Good news for all of us who didn't get a chance to catch Jeff Bridges' critically hailed performance, alongside the likes of Robert Duvall and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Crazy Heart tells the story of a hard-living country singer who finds the possibility of redemption and love when he meets a young journalist assigned to do a story on him, and the film features an amazing soundtrack from musicians T-Bone Burnett , Stephen Bruton, and Ryan Bingham.

Fox has sent along an exclusive clip from the special features, where you can see a snippet of actor/producer Robert Duvall -- apparently a UT fan -- talking about what brought him to Crazy Heart. You can check out the full featurette on the Blu-ray, alongside an array of deleted and alternate scenes. Take it away, Mr. Duvall.

I said it yesterday when the poster premiered and I'll say it again: Fox Searchlight is throwing every ounce of their weight behind Crazy Heart as their big deal Oscar contender of the season, even if it will only result in a Best Actor nod for Jeff Bridges. The shock-and-awe campaign continues apiece today with the trailer's debut at Apple.com-- you can watch it in high-res there or embedded in our player below.

It plays out exactly how you'd expect-- washed-up singer Bridges finds a new lease on life thanks to a relationship with a much younger journalist, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The western settings and Bridges' performance seem perfectly on-key, but in this brief glimpse, it's very, very hard to buy a relationship between Gyllenhaal and Bridges-- I don't care if he is The Dude. I'll be interested to see if they can pull it off over the length of the movie, but you know what's more interesting? Colin Farrell, as glimpsed in one brief shot, appears to be in this movie (look for him around the 1:26 mark). Between this and Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, we may have a Farrell comeback on our hands. That and an Oscar for Jeff Bridges seems almost too good to be true.

It was just a week and a half ago that Fox Searchlight announced they would be releasing the film Crazy Heart this fall, and already it seems a given that the movie's star Jeff Bridges will receive his fifth Oscar nomination for his performance. Amazing, and kind of ridiculous, how fast Oscar buzz moves.

But Searchlight is no stranger to the Oscar game, and has wasted no time in getting the ball rolling on this tiny indie that, despite the presence of The Dude, probably needs all the marketing help it can get. Today they've released the official poster and two high-res stills from the film, both of which you can see in the gallery below. In Crazy Heart Bridges stars as country musician "Bad" Blake, whose many years on the road have left him isolated from everyone around him, until a younger journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal) helps him connect again. The similarities to The Wrestler have been noted many times by now, but time will tell if Searchlight can do for this movie what they did for that one. Crazy Heart hits theaters on December 16th.