Peter Sarsgaard goes to war

After the likes of Garden State and Shattered Glass, Peter Sarsgaard is well up there on the list of Actors We LoveTM. He has two new films just itching to be released, so we jumped at the chance to chew the fat with him.

First up will be Flightplan, a tricky thriller starring Jodie Foster as a mother searching desperately for her missing daughter on a gigantic airliner. Sarsgaard is the air marshal who helps her out. “I’ve been a fan of Jodie’s for a long time. She was great. We were comparing notes on where we were in the story and what was going on and trying to figure out the riddle of the plot.” Just don’t ask him to appear in a recruitment video for air marshals anytime soon: “I’m a schlub in this movie. There was no physical training involved. These guys sit down for a living!”

The indie star had to get a little more physical for Jarhead, Sam Mendes’ new movie set during the first Gulf War based on Anthony Swofford’s gritty marine memoir. Did starring in a film about grunts on the battlefield change his attitude towards the American military’s recent exploits? “Yes it did,” admits Sarsgard, whose Jarhead co-stars are Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx. “I had a lot of respect for the Marines before I started Jarhead and for what it takes to do that, but I now have a lot more sympathy for people in harm’s way out there doing what they do, because it just can’t go right. Once you get involved in a war, it ain’t gonna go right.”