Gyllenhaal draws on mothering experience for new role

Maggie Gyllenhaal couldn't have made her new movie if she wasn't a mother.

The actress - who has a three-year-old daughter Ramona with husband Peter Sarsgaard - stars as a hippy parent who goes back to basics when raising her young daughter in 'Away We Go' and says she couldn't have played the role if she didn't have her own experiences to draw on.

She said: "I don't know if I could have done the movie if I wasn't a mother. I had to comfort a crying 11-month-old baby. If I hadn't been able to pull it off, we would have wasted a lot of film time. So I thought: 'Thank God, I know what to do.' Then I'd go home to my own baby daughter. So I felt like I

was just doing non-stop mothering."

Gyllenhaal says she loves taking Ramona on set with her, and motherhood helped her bond with fellow actress Emma Thompson.

She added: "I'm in London now shooting 'Nanny McPhee' and 'The Big Bang' with Emma Thompson, which has been amazing. We both brought our daughters to the set. I'm in love with her. She's kind of a goddess, I think."