Front Row: The one question Maggie Gyllenhaal wouldn’t answer and an ‘unthinkable’ red carpet shock

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This week, Front Row went head-to-head with Hollywood royalty – and survived to tell the tale. Between getting politely shut down by Maggie Gyllenhaal, experiencing a 6pm Zoom execution, and witnessing an actual red carpet miracle in Sydney, we’ve had our fair share of showbiz whiplash.

The one question Maggie Gyllenhaal wouldn’t answer

Front Row scored a coveted interview with Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal last week as she promoted her latest project, a reimagined audio production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Jonathan Bailey, Aimee Lou Wood and Ella Purnell.

Gyllenhaal plays a female version of vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing. Naturally, we asked how she felt about the inevitable internet backlash that happens whenever classic male roles get gender-swapped for modern audiences (looking at you, Ghostbusters).

When we asked, Gyllenhaal shut it down faster than a coffin lid in daylight.

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“I’m not really that interested in that,” she said. “There’s not really much to say about that.

“I made a film this year called The Bride!, where we do the same gender swap – maybe that’s why they asked me to do this, I don’t know.”

Gyllenhaal wrote and directed The Bride!, a new take on the 1930s Bride of Frankenstein film, and cast Annette Bening as scientist Dr. Cornelia Euphronious.

In the original, the scientist role was male and Ernest Thesiger played Doctor Pretorius.

Despite having now directed and written one gender-swapped role, and acted in another, Gyllenhaal would say no more about the blowback they often inspire.

“There's not really much to say about that,” she said.

Honestly? We kind of respect the cold, hard shutdown.

There will always be critics and choosing not to engage with any negativity was a masterclass in dodging internet discourse.

Gyllenhaal was nothing but friendly and polite during the rest of the interview, but she wasn’t done setting boundaries.

Although we’d been promised a 15-minute Zoom interview, her publicist abruptly cut in at the nine-minute mark to announce time was up. Cue the instant internal panic!

Interviews are usually only cut short like that when the interviewer has crossed the line. Did we ask something offensive? Was it the Van Helsing question? Were we about to be blacklisted?

Thankfully, no. It turns out Gyllenhaal simply had a hard stop at 6pm her time to finish work for the day, and by god, she was clocking off.

Honestly, a Hollywood star holding a firm boundary on her work-life balance? We have no choice but to respect the hustle.

The ‘unthinkable’ miracle at the Sense and Sensibility premiere

It is a truth universally acknowledged that red carpets never run on time. Usually, journalists are left standing around for hours in tight shoes, only for an A-lister to sprint past at the last minute and offer a five-second wave.

So when Front Row rocked up to the Sydney premiere of Sense and Sensibility, we prepared ourselves for the usual endurance test.

Then, the unthinkable happened: stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme Creed-Miles turned up exactly on schedule. No delays, no diva antics, and no running behind. We nearly dropped our microphones in shock!

Not only were they on time, but they actually stopped for proper one-on-one chats instead of the usual hectic group interviews. We seized the moment to ask for their best modern dating advice.

Edgar-Jones – who plays the sensible Elinor Dashwood – encouraged people to just shoot their shot.

“Have the courage to tell that person how you feel, even if they don’t reciprocate,” she told us, adding that she loves the idea of a classic meet-cute.

“I love the idea of walking into a café and being like, ‘Oh, there’s my person.’”

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Creed-Miles, on the other hand, plays the dramatic Marianne and wants none of your dating tips.

“I’m really anti-dating advice... I think we have to learn from our mistakes,” she laughed.

Two minutes with each star, zero red carpet delays, and a prompt finish? Mark your calendars, because Australian showbiz history was officially made.