Jake Gyllenhaal is singing the praises of two people not far from home.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, the Spider Man: Far From Home star opened up about his duties as an uncle to older sister Maggie Gyllenhaal's two children. The Crazy Heart actress shares daughters, Ramona, 14, and Gloria, 9, with husband of 12 years, actor Peter Sarsgaard.
When it comes to his nieces, Jake shared, "Truly, and I'm not just saying this because it's an interview, two of the most incredible people. They come from a long line of incredible women and they're even more incredible than the ones before them." In addition to Maggie herself, of course, those long line of incredible women would also include Maggie's mom, screenwriter and director, Naomi Foner.
Admitting that for most of their lives, Jake would see his nieces primarily in passing "at a dinner or a thing," the actor explained he recently decided to step up his family bonding time, such as by having them "come to stay with me, you know, when my sister and my brother-in-law need a break and actually having the time to say let's spend five days together."
"Getting to know them and watching them grow up," he added. "And actually sitting and listening to their experiences and the things that they're going through."
And as far as who's really in charge whenever he's on duty? The actor also explained that Maggie's two daughters have a good amount of freedom. As he put it, "Because they are the farthest from being a handful that you could imagine. And they're really not on their phones. Their father [Peter] taught them a lot about the outdoors and the country, it's very important to him. So, they find trees more interesting than phones, which is a rarity."
Although there's plenty of freedom to found—if you're wondering if Jake's nieces have watched any of his flicks (which would include heavy hitters like Zodiac, Prisoners and Nightcrawler), you'll have to guess again since the answer to that is a pretty firm no.