Maggie Gyllenhaal is a lot of things: A-list actress, Hollywood royalty, social activist … the list goes on and on. However, above anything else, Gyllenhaal is a mother. Ironically, it's her experience as a real-life mom that made her want to play the lead in "Won't Back Down" — which would also require her to spend more time away from her daughter.

See? Even the stars have to make tough choices when comes to their kids.

Perhaps the ultimate deciding factor for the thesp was seeing her daughter in school. "My daughter's now in first grade and I see how incredibly important who her teacher is. A great teacher, I just honor them, I mean, I would get down on my knees and thank a great teacher."

Thankfully, Gyllenhaal signed on (with the director's promise that it would be a kid-friendly set) to portray Jamie, a frustrated single mom with two jobs trying to free her daughter from the grasp of a public school system that was undeniably failing. Armed with little more than a push-up bra and fierce determination, she snaps up some help from Viola Davis ... and maybe even steals a few kisses from Oscar Isaac.

"I loved him! I was really close with him when we were shooting it and we really got to be friends. I loved him … and he's such a good musician!"

Well, we can't all get close to Isaac, but we can all think back to our own school days — though maybe those are best left behind us.