CNN
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Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard might be part of the same sprawling showbiz family, but their on-set etiquette is quite different from the dynamic they share as family around the dinner table.
When time came for Gyllenhaal to help cast the upcoming Apple TV+ series “Presumed Innocent,” in which he stars and serves as an executive producer, he knew that Sarsgaard – who is married to his sister, actor and director Maggie Gyllenhaal – would be a perfect fit for one of the roles.
“Peter is such an incredible actor because he demands, in the space of acting or in the scene, a type of honesty and I think that’s the same thing he asks for as a person,” Gyllenhaal said in a recent interview with CNN. “The fictional world that you’re working in on a project is a whole other thing, and it’s a craft and it’s something that we gratefully know very well.”
“I think I’m a little bit of a different version of myself when I’m working in general,” Sarsgaard said. “It’s interesting to meet in a different place like that with someone that you know so well in your life, and we’ve done a number of things together but it’s not a lot of overall time.”
“Presumed Innocent” is an eight-part miniseries based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Scott Turow, which was previously adapted into a 1990 feature film starring Harrison Ford. It’s a courtroom thriller that follows Rusty Sabich (Gyllenhaal), a Chicago-based prosecutor who becomes entangled in the horrific murder of one of his colleagues.
While the pair of brothers-in-law – who previously costarred in various films including 2005’s “Jarhead,” 2007’s “Rendition” and 2021’s “The Guilty” – enjoy banter offscreen, in “Presumed Innocent,” Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard’s characters find themselves at odds, as Sarsgaard plays another prosecutor in Sabich’s office who suspects his colleague of wrongdoing.
But when the cameras are off, according to Gyllenhaal, they both agree that family always comes first.
“I think most important to both of us, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say this, is our family and loving them and protecting them and being there for them and it takes priority over everything,” he said.
The Gyllenhaal siblings previously costarred in the beloved 2001 psychological thriller “Donnie Darko,” among other projects, and Sarsgaard starred in “The Lost Daughter” in 2021, which his wife directed. The group will continue to keep things all in the family when Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard will reunite on Maggie Gyllenhaal’s next directorial endeavor “The Bride!” in 2025, according to Collider.
And, no – Sarsgaard did not need to go through the formality of auditioning for his part in “Presumed Innocent.”
“When he’s the producer, he calls me and asks me if I want to play the part,” Sarsgaard said, with a laugh. “It’s really nice.”
The first two episodes of “Presumed Innocent” will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on June 12, with a new episode streaming each week until July 24.
