Sam Mendes Trades Collette for Gyllenhaal, Pockets the Difference

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 2, 2008

Having already exploited one topless Gyllenhaal in his movie Jarhead, director Sam Mendes will soon be doing the same with Gyllenhaal twin #2. Variety reports that Maggie G (not to be confused with the stunning ass-kicker Maggie Q) has joined Mendes’ upcoming and untitled “relationship comedy” also starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as a couple crossing America in search of a suitable home. Krasinski’s had some bad luck so far with big screen comedies (License to Wed? Leatherheads?), but unlike this new film they both featured him in the second banana role. Rudolph stars on Saturday Night Live, and while she’s a capable sketch comedienne, I’m curious how she’ll handle a lead film role.

Maggie G. steps into the production as Toni Collette steps out due to scheduling conflicts. This is a trade up in my view, (unlike when she took over for Katie Holmes in The Dark Knight) and while I inferred earlier there would be a topless scene in this movie I based that solely on Maggie’s past films. There’s currently about a 50/50 chance she’ll show some skin based on her filmography. The odds increase slightly here as she’ll reportedly be playing a “bohemian college professor” and we all know how hippies like to get naked.

On a separate but related note, FSR recently featured a list of the Ten Superheroes Who Deserve Their Own Movie and the Wonder Twins came in at #7. Now Maggie and Jake aren’t really twins, and they’re far from being teenagers, but I think they’d be great in the roles. Normally I’d make a joke here combining Maggie’s penchant for showing her boobs and the term “wonder twins”, but since our age demographic has dropped to the pre-teen level I feel that’d be in poor taste. (That same logic also prevents me from suggesting any future Wonder Twins screenwriter include the line “Form of… an ice dildo!”)

Read more articles by Rob Hunter