IN "Sherrybaby," actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is stripped to the bone -- emotionally and literally. It is a raw and vulnerable performance, the kind of role that works only when the actress in question is able to lose herself inside the character.
She plays a recovering heroin addict who is, in a sense, looking for salvation. The film opens as Sherry, after a three-year prison term, sets out on a journey to stay off drugs and reclaim the love and trust of her young daughter, whom she missed desperately. Gyllenhaal makes Sherry's pain so palpable that at times it's hard to watch her on screen.
Some critics believe her performance in "Sherrybaby," which opens in theaters on Friday, is the strongest example to date of why Gyllenhaal, 28, has become one of the most important actresses of her generation.
This would seem to be her moment: She has four films out this summer and fall -- two comedies and two dramas -- showing her multicolored versatility. She plays a pastry chef in "Stranger Than Fiction," a worried wife in "World Trade Center" and a children's book author in "Trust the Man."
"She has a sparkling mind, a wealth of emotion, and miles and miles of charisma," said Laurie Collyer, who wrote and directed "Sherrybaby." "She has the ability to turn the darkest, most difficult characters into someone you would want to know."
The actress -- pregnant (due any minute now) and engaged to actor Peter Sarsgaard -- is taking it in with a Zen-like calm. In person, she exudes a radiant sensuality, looking a bit disheveled in a gray T-shirt, a baby-blue top and a skirt. Her face is bare (just a bit of maroon lip gloss).
"Most of the projects that I've ended up being very proud of involved a certain amount of intuition, like there was something in the character that I had to work through," Gyllenhaal said, resting on a couch at the Chateau Marmont on a recent humid afternoon. "At the time, it's not particularly an intellectual or rational choice. It comes from somewhere else, maybe something more unconscious. That's true of all of these movies that are coming out."
She grew up understanding the power of acting. Her father is director Stephen Gyllenhaal ("Losing Isaiah"). Her mother is screenwriter Naomi Foner ("Running on Empty" and last year's "Bee Season"). Her brother, Jake, commanded the spotlight last year after "Brokeback Mountain."
Acting always felt like stepping into a "deep daydream," she said. "It was always a pleasure. It was fun for me."
