MOVIES

Clever, rebellious Maggie Gyllenhaal hated charm school. But can she win over audiences in "Mona Lisa Smile?"

Maggie may

By Michele Hatty

There is something strangely seductive about listening to Maggie Gyllenhaal talk. First, there's her voice: gravelly, girly and womanly all at once, projecting both sincerity and sex appeal.

But then the actress, who shone last year in the sexually charged drama "Secretary" and now stars with Julia Roberts in the new 1950s college campus drama "Mona Lisa Smile," begins to speak of things about which she is passionate. And it's the substance of her words -- a 26-year-old's ruminations on everything from political oppression to old-fashioned lingerie -- that pulls a listener in.

Take her commentary on how wearing sexy garter belts and stockings beneath modest clothes in the '50s was symbolic of the decade's political and social woes: "There was this attempt to make believe like everything was healed from the dark decades that came before it," she says. "But also, there was a dark undercurrent that was naughty and smart and reactionary. That's appealing to me."

Finding and using her voice is something Gyllenhaal was encouraged to do at an early age. Raised in a tight-knit, "pretty radical" Hollywood-centric family -- Mom is a screenwriter, Dad a director, and younger brother Jake a fellow actor -- the actress spent her childhood both hanging out on movie sets and participating in political protests from abortion rights (pro) to the Gulf War (against).

After she entered New York's Columbia University in the mid-'90s, her desire to effect change grew. "My freshman year, we tried to get ethnic studies to be a part of the core curriculum. We all were just desperate for something to fight for. We took it seriously, spent the night in one of the classroom buildings," she says. "I was thrilled to be a part of it."

Being politically active is just one facet of the woman "Smile" director Mike Newell describes as sophisticated, clever and rebellious. On set, that rebellion was somewhat subversive. Says Newell: "We put the girls [Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Ginnifer Goodwin] through a sort of charm school. Maggie didn't seem to like that very much."

Gyllenhaal laughs at the memory: "I really hated charm school. And so I ended up getting in trouble. A friend of mine from college was in the movie with me, and he and I would get separated and not be allowed to sit next to each other." She sighs and says, her voice dropping conspiratorially, "I guess I'm just a little bit bad."