Tobey Maguire Talks About the Strain of Brothers
Posted 11.03.09 by Ryan
Tobey Maguire told The LA Times that the intensity of working on his latest movie, the family drama Brothers, had such an effect that he "lost a lot of joy" while working on it.
I wasn't even aware of it. I don't mean it to sound goofy or artsy or something, but two days before we wrapped, I started telling some jokes and laughing, whatever, and it was like a release for me. I hadn't done that in, like, two months.
Brothers follows a military wife (Natalie Portman) who is told that her husband (Maguire) has died in Afghanistan. Grieving, she finds solace with her husband's brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) until her husband suddenly arrives home. The role is a real change of pace for the Spider-Man actor, who was pleased to shed some light on the real problems that soldiers face.
In the area of our veterans coming home with traumas or PTSD or whatever, it's one of those issues that isn't pretty to look at. We ask these people to fight for us and risk their lives, and certainly potentially alter their outlook of the world or how they react to things. I think it would be nice for us as a society to have some more awareness of what they go through, and to take on
some more responsibility for the results of our asking them to go over there.
Maguire lost 20 pounds to play the Marine captain who survives captivity in Afghanistan and says that playing the role had a profound effect on him.
The general sort of tone of the piece and the character stuck with me — it was more like a mood. I was in a mood for two months.
Brothers was based on the Danish movie Brødre and was directed by Jim Sheridan. Brothers opens December 4.