Peter Sarsgaard Says Wife Maggie Gyllenhaal ‘Challenged’ Him During ‘The Bride!’ Production

Peter Sarsgaard is sharing how special it is to collaborate with writer/director/his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Sarsgaard, who appeared in Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut “The Lost Daughter” and will star in her upcoming Frankenstein film “The Bride!,” told IndieWire that working with his real-life spouse pushes him to be his best onscreen.

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“It’s such a pleasure acting for her because I know she won’t put anything in the movie that I would be embarrassed by, and because she challenges me to expect more from myself, to put more of myself into it,” Sarsgaard said while promoting his upcoming indie “Coup!.”

The “Batman” alum added, “It’s not everyone that you work with who even knows if you’re going at 50 percent or 80 percent or 100 percent of your commitment. And just like any other job, that thing doesn’t always stay at 100 percent. It’s astonishing how few people even notice when, for one reason or another — real life, or you’re artistically not inspired, or whatever — that you’re not fully putting yourself into it. I forgive myself for times where I’ve seen myself do that in movies. Maybe that’s part of getting back on the horse, is just forgiving yourself for being off the horse.”

Sarsgaard also revealed that Gyllenhaal specifically wrote his “The Bride!” role for him.

“I’m the detective. I don’t know how much of a tease that is,” he said. “I grew up on detective fiction, detective movies, detective TV shows. I even listened to ‘The Shadow’ on cassette when I was a kid. I always had a little fantasy about being a detective. Not a police office, nothing about guns. But being someone who is very intuitive and always trying to figure things out. My wife, I think, must have known because she wrote this character for me.”

Sarsgaard previously told The Independent that “The Bride!” is a “big, romantic, deeply romantic, wild, punk monster movie.”

For the feature, writer/director Gyllenhaal reunites with her “The Dark Knight” co-star Christian Bale, who plays Frankenstein. Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” actress Jessie Buckley stars as his titular bride in the Warner Bros. release. Annette Bening and Penélope Cruz co-star.

The synopsis for “The Bride!” reads: “A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.”

“Coup!” premieres in theaters August 2.

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