Empire won’t be in the least bit surprised if, when we get to the office this morning, we find Maggie Gyllenhaal sitting in our seat. For, at the moment, the actress is making a bit of a career of stepping into other people’s shoes.
Famously, she replaced Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, and now she’s at it again, filling in for Toni Collette in Sam Mendes’ upcoming untitled comedy, about a couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) who travel around the US looking for somewhere to settle down.
Gyllenhaal will now play a bohemian college professor – a friend of Krasinski’s character - in the movie, which started filming last week in Connecticut. The actress will start filming her scenes next week.
Collette dropped out because of scheduling conflicts, it says here. But, if you ask our opinion, Mendes has swapped one superb actress for another, and since both Collette and Gyllenhaal are very proficient at playing quirky types, we don’t think that the movie will be damaged in the slightest. And, if you didn’t ask our opinion, then tough.