Peter Sarsgaard Says He Can't 'Imagine' Married Life with a Non-Actor: 'Would Be a Lot More Difficult' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal on Oct. 25, 2022.Photo:Jason Mendez/Getty

Jason Mendez/Getty

ForPeter Sarsgaard, the acting lifestyle is just part of what makes hismarriagetoMaggie Gyllenhaalwork.

While Sarsgaard, 53, spoke with PEOPLE recently about his new movieSeptember 5, the actor noted that he thinks married life with someone who is not also an actor and filmmaker could prove challenging.

“I don’t know if I have couple advice. I think every couple is as unique as every person,” he says, while describing how he andThe Lost Daughterfilmmaker Gyllenhaal, 47, “take turns” with their work. “I can’t imagine — I think it would be a lot more difficult to be married to someone who had a more consistent type of employment in one place.”

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard on Sept. 9, 2023.Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty

Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty

“There’s great value in that,” he says. “I think at one point I used to think that I would work more if I could. But I think that’s wrong. I think I would’ve done a lot more things that I was not proud of. So when I say yes to do something, it’s some type of sacrifice for me. Not a big one. Everyone else has got bigger sacrifices in the world, but just talking like artistically — I can’t work constantly. I have a whole other life. I have a family.”

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Sarsgaard portrays the late ABC News executive and broadcaster Roone Arledge inSeptember 5, which depicts the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympics in Germany from the perspective of the ABC Sports broadcast team that covered the attack and subsequent hostage crisis live. The movie also costars John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem and Georgina Rich among an ensemble cast.

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard on Sept. 7, 2024.Jamie Squire/Getty

Jamie Squire/Getty

“I pick and choose and I think it makes it so that I take meetings seriously,” Sarsgaard says of balancing family time with finding new movies to act in. “I am not shy about kicking the tires and making sure [September 5director Tim Fehlbaum] is as serious as I am about making this thing the best thing it can be.”

September 5is in limited theaters now; it expands to theaters everywhere Jan. 17.

source: people.com