Gyllenhaal on her ‘feminine’ thriller
PARK CITY, Utah — What does it mean to make feminine art?
That’s a question Maggie Gyllenhaal has been wrestling with in her work: playing a feminist prostitute-turned-porn filmmaker in HBO drama The Deuce, which has been renewed for a second season; and starring as a poetryloving educator who becomes obsessed with her student in psychological thriller The Kindergarten Teacher, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival.
Gyllenhaal, 40, produced both projects, which employed women directors, writers and production chiefs.
“One of the things I love about this movie is that it feels like it was made by women,” she says, sitting in a lounge on Main Street. “Being on a set with mostly women, it does feel different. I don’t even know if I can tell you how. It’s not like it was gentler, necessarily, or some stereotype of what that might mean. Just different.”
The actress, who declined to comment on recent allegations against her Deuce co-star, James Franco, spoke to USA TODAY about The Kindergarten Teacher and why she supports Time’s Up.
Question: At the beginning of the film, you think it’s going to go one way before it veers off in so many surprising directions. What was your reaction reading the script the first time?
Gyllenhaal: I remember closing the last page and just thinking, “I definitely want to do this movie.” Women have gotten so used to, if we’re lucky, seeing a movie or television show that represents maybe 30% of the feminine experience or something we can relate to. And 30% is great, we’re like, “Cool, I’ll take that. I’ll twist myself into imagining the other 70%.” So when you get a piece of material that presents the opportunity to represent 100% of the feminine experience, it’s so compelling and magnetic.
Q: Despite the extremes that your character goes to, are there qualities you think audiences can relate to?
Gyllenhaal: My character crosses a lot of lines and does a lot of things, but I don’t think she’s fundamentally mentally ill. She’s somebody who is starving. She’s an artist who is driven mad by the culture and the time that she finds herself in. ... (The movie is) honest about the pain and despair that a lot of women have lived with at certain times, in terms of not being fed what they need.
Q: Writer/director Sara Colangelo brought you this script long before it was financed. Was it imperative for
you that there were women in chief roles behind the scenes?
Gyllenhaal: No, I have worked with fantastic men. ... The fact that ( The Kin
dergarten Teacher) is written and directed by a woman, about a woman, financed by women, produced by women, shot by a man — but a lover of women — was just because the story compelled us. It wasn’t an exercise in, “How many women can we put together?” I don’t really believe in that.
Q: The Me Too movement has empowered women and men to speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment, but there has also been some backlash. How do you feel about the conversation and where would you like to see it go from here?
Gyllenhaal: I think we’re at the very beginning. ... I’ve been having really interesting conversations with friends and colleagues, and I feel that’s the place for me to think and talk about it right now.
Q: You signed the Time’s Up open letter and donated to the legal defense fund. Have you attended meetings?
Gyllenhaal: I have. ... I’m particularly compelled by the legal defense fund. ... We have to find a way to codify all this pain and misrepresentation, so to give money to pay for legal representation for women and men in many different industries who need (it) — that was exactly where I want to put my money.