When Maggie Gyllenhaal caused a stir with comments about the United States' role in the Sept. 11 attacks, she was particularly concerned about the opinions of two people.
The star says she was ready to drop out of Oliver Stone's upcoming film World Trade Center if Port Authority officer Will Jimeno or his wife, whom Gyllenhaal plays in the film, did not accept her explanation.
"I wanted to tell them the absolute truth of what I meant," the actress said of her visit to the Jimenos' home following her comments last year. "If they still didn't want me to play Allison after that, then I wouldn't have."
The 28-year-old actress said in an interview in April 2005 that the United States "is responsible in some way" for the attacks. Gyllenhaal later said that she regretted the comment and issued a statement saying that Sept. 11 was "an occasion to be brave enough to ask some serious questions about America's role in the world."
The Jimenos said a long talk with Gyllenhaal in their Chester, New Jersey, home smoothed over any concerns they might have had. Will Jimeno was among the last responding personnel rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center at ground zero.
"Right away, both Will and I felt comfortable with her and realized how sincere and passionate she is. We had no problem with her in this movie," said Allison Jimeno, 34.
Speaking in an interview published Monday in the New York Post, Gyllenhaal recalled her nervousness as she travelled to the couple's home.
"I was shaking," she said.
The native New Yorker's film credits include Mona Lisa Smile, Secretary and Donnie Darko, which co-stars her brother, Jake Gyllenhaal. She is engaged to actor Peter Sarsgaard and is pregnant with his child.
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