'The Interview': Maggie Gyllenhaal Thinks Hollywood Likes Women to Direct ‘Little Movies’
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Wesley Morris. I'm a critic for The New York Times, and I'm the host of a podcast called Cannonball. We're going to talk about that song you can't get out of your head, that TV show you watched and can't stop thinking about, and the movie that you saw when you were a kid that made you who you are, whether you like it or not. I was so embarrassed the whole time because it's a bad film, and I still love it. You can find Cannonball on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
From The New York Times, this is The Interview. I'm Lulu Garcia Navarro. Maggie Gyllenhaal has always had this kind of fascination with the darker side of sex and love. Her breakout role as a young actor came with her award-winning performance in the 2002 film Secretary, where she's a troubled woman who embarks on a sadomasochistic relationship with her boss. In Crazy Heart, she played a young mother who falls in love with an older alcoholic country singer. That role earned her an Oscar nomination. And in the series The Deuce, she starred as a sex worker who becomes a director of pornographic films. That last role made her want to be a director in real life, too. And so in 2021, she won acclaim with her feature directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, about the taboo feelings some women feel over motherhood.
For me, the through line in all her work is a desire to tell the stories of women who live outside conventional boundaries. Enter her newest film, The Bride, an imaginative retelling of the story of the Bride of Frankenstein, starring Jesse Buckley, which Gyllenhaal both wrote and directed. The film is part love story, part crime caper, with some surreal musical numbers thrown in. But Gyllenhaal's signature themes of sexual violence, female power, and transgression undergird it all. Here's my conversation with Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate you coming to the interview. It really is my pleasure. You know, it's interesting to me because I interviewed you in 2019 for The Deuce. And in that interview, you said to me, playing that role where she, your character, becomes a director of pornography, but a director nonetheless. It's like a real journey. You said that that had made you realize that you would also be a director. Mm-hmm. And I was wondering, now sitting here with this big budget movie, you know, where you're at in that kind of evolution.
I mean, I feel like I'm deeply like in process. That's how I feel. You know, I feel like, like I knew I was going on a major journey starting The Bride and I was scared. I was actually terrified. And to be honest, I remember, I mean, I don't know. It's interesting that I'm sharing this, but like, I remember being at Venice with Peter. Peter Sarsgaard, your husband. My husband who had a movie there. Yeah. And feeling so scared about the prospect of directing The Bride. And we went to a lovely restaurant that we'd booked. We were so excited for it. We knew it.
What themes does Maggie Gyllenhaal explore in her films?
And I remember feeling so anxious and getting up and going to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror and thinking, oh, I don't have to direct this.
Yeah.
But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't. Hmm. But I feel having come out the other side and only really having finished it in October, it's February now, like I went on a trip. I learned so much. And now I'm on the trip of putting it out into the world.
Well, let's talk about The Bride because I think it's an incredible film. And it tells the story of the Bride of Frankenstein's monster. And you have said that you were inspired by the 1930s movie original. This is almost a century later. Why are we still so interested in monsters and Frankenstein? And what was it for you that seemed so enduring about that story?
Yeah, I mean... I think we have monstrous aspects inside of us, each of us, all of us. I do believe that. And I think we can spend our lives running from those really, truly monstrous aspects of ourselves, or we can turn around and shake hands with them. And that's terrifying. And that's the kind of monstrousness I was curious about and interested in.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:26
2
What themes does Maggie Gyllenhaal explore in her films?
3:26–6:28
3
How did Maggie Gyllenhaal transition from acting to directing?
6:28–7:53
4
What is the story behind Gyllenhaal's film 'The Bride'?
7:53–20:45
5
Why is the Bride of Frankenstein a significant character in film history?
20:45–34:41
6
What are the challenges of depicting violence in film?
34:41–45:48
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Daily
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