Maggie Gyllenhaal Talks Life In The Movies And 'The Kindergarten Teacher' At Hamptons Film Festival - 27 East

Arts & Living

Arts & Living / 1329768

Maggie Gyllenhaal Talks Life In The Movies And 'The Kindergarten Teacher' At Hamptons Film Festival

icon 5 Photos
Maggie Gyllenhaal TOM KOCHIE

Maggie Gyllenhaal TOM KOCHIE

Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking at Bay Street Theater during "A Conversation With Maggie Gyllenhaal." JON WINKLER

Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking at Bay Street Theater during "A Conversation With Maggie Gyllenhaal." JON WINKLER

Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking at Bay Street Theater during "A Conversation With Maggie Gyllenhaal." JON WINKLER

Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking at Bay Street Theater during "A Conversation With Maggie Gyllenhaal." JON WINKLER

Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking with Alec Baldwin during "A Conversaton With Maggie Gyllenhaal" at Bay Street Theater. JON WINKLER

Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking with Alec Baldwin during "A Conversaton With Maggie Gyllenhaal" at Bay Street Theater. JON WINKLER

Alec Baldwin and Maggie Gyllenhaal at 'A Conversation With Maggie Gyllenhaal." TOM KOCHIE

Alec Baldwin and Maggie Gyllenhaal at 'A Conversation With Maggie Gyllenhaal." TOM KOCHIE

authorJon Winkler on Oct 9, 2018

During a compilation of clips from her filmography, there are many interesting hard cuts between the movies of Maggie Gyllenhaal. It’s intriguing to map the career of an actor who goes from getting spanked by James Spader in “Secretary” to seeking redemption for the sake of her daughter in “Sherrybaby” to getting saved by Batman in “The Dark Knight.” Yet 26 years into her film career, Ms. Gyllenhaal’s deep love for making movies hasn’t diminished.The Oscar-nominee spent Columbus Day weekend promoting her latest film, “The Kindergarten Teacher,” which she serves as both star and producer of. The movie, set to be released on Netflix this Friday, October 12, was the opening night film for the 2018 Hamptons International Film Festival, hence why she sat down with HIFF co-Chairman Alec Baldwin for “A Conversation With ...” at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor this past Friday. Mr. Baldwin opened the chat with a friendly reminder that filmmaking is in the Gyllenhaal family blood: Ms. Gyllenhaal’s brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, is a fellow Oscar-nominee, and her parents are filmmakers Naomi Foner and Stephen Gyllenhaal. Though her father was from Pennsylvania and her mother was from New York, Ms. Gyllenhaal said she and her family moved to Los Angeles for her parents to keep making movies. While she and her family went to the movies every weekend, her television diet was restricted to “Sesame Street” and “The Cosby Show,” she shared, though she would watch a small amount of “CHiPs” that brought out some—ahem—interesting first moments.

“It was one of the first, ‘What is this feeling that I’m feeling?’ feelings,” Ms. Gyllenhaal said to the audience’s surprise laughter.

While she started her film career with a background role in her dad’s 1992 film “Waterland” and had sporadic film roles throughout the decade, she took time off to attend Columbia University from 1995 to 1998. She said that while she was at school, she learned to write more and be able to speak her own mind in future film roles.

“Basically, it was a progressive experience,” Ms. Gyllenhaal said. “I was younger and newer and it was harder to say what I wanted on a set. First I was a jobbing actress trying to get work, which is hard to do when you’re only coming in for one second.”

While she’s happy to have her voice heard now, that doesn’t mean she wants total control on a set. Ms. Gyllenhaal described an experience when she was involved in a reading of an Alan Alda-penned play overseen by director Mike Nichols (“The Graduate”), who had a quick note on the character she was reading.

“He came up to me after a day of rehearsal and said, ‘She’s feral,’” Ms. Gyllenhaal recalled. “And for the longest time I thought that was the best direction I had ever gotten. He was saying, ‘Go further.’ I want the deepest artistic collaboration possible.”

She’s seemingly found that collaboration with “The Kindergarten Teacher” and its co-writer/director, Sara Colangelo. Ms. Gyllenhaal first heard about the movie’s script at a holiday party a few years back.

“I had that feeling where I closed the last page of the script and was like, ‘I want this movie,’” she said. “I was energetically raising my hand asking for this.”

While the film, about a kindergarten teacher who becomes fascinated with a 5-year-old poetry prodigy, is a remake of a 2014 Israeli film with the same name, Ms. Gyllenhaal said the new movie tells a different story about what happens when, as she described, a “vibrant woman’s mind,” is starved by modern society. She also talked about the difficulty with fundraising, as she said she shook hands with 50 executive producers at the Sundance Film Festival to financially back the movie that was shot in a mere 23 days.

Ms. Gyllenhaal also talked about working with her co-star, Parker Sevak, who plays the young prodigy. She admitted to almost not doing the movie because it didn’t seem worth asking a young child to act in such an odd story.

“No movie is worth disturbing a child for,” she said. “I don’t think 5- or 6-year-olds are actors; I don’t think they should be asked to be actors.”

She described the on-set environment as “very feminine,” which must have been new to her since she admitted to not knowing exactly what that means. She could only compare it to seeing “The Piano” when she was 16 and having never seen something like that before.

“We’re so used to seeing things from the masculine perspective in movies and twisting it to relate to us,” Ms. Gyllenhaal said. “Reading this, I went straight into the environment. The movie might be new because it doesn’t tick the boxes movies usually do.”

You May Also Like:

The Music of Neil Young at The Suffolk

“Broken Arrow: The Music of Neil Young” comes to The Suffolk on Saturday, May 24, ... 15 May 2025 by Staff Writer

Jake Ruehl Discusses the Art of David Geiser, His Father

The late artist David Geiser will be the subject of a talk at LongHouse Reserve presented by his son, Jake Ruehl, on Saturday, May 17, at 3 p.m. In his two-hour talk, “The Artistic Journey and Journals of David Geiser,” Ruehl will be sharing stories and insights from Geiser’s remarkable life and career, as captured in his 25 personal journals spanning over four decades. From his early days in San Francisco’s underground comix scene, to his artistic evolution in Paris, Spain, Morocco and Greece, and finally, to his years in New York and the Hamptons, David Geiser’s journey was as ... 14 May 2025 by Staff Writer

Be a Parrot Head

The Clubhouse and Metro Parrot Head Club will host Jimmy Buffett Day on Saturday, May 17, from 1 to 5 p.m. Guests are encouraged to dress in their best tropical attire to enjoy live music by The Bobby Bahama Band, raffle baskets, a 50/50 raffle and more. The event is a charity drive for ARF Hamptons and there is no cover. Bobby Bahama is a singer, guitarist and a DJ. He started singing when he was five years old and began playing guitar at 15. Although he is a one-man-band, he has the capacity to expand into a duo, trio ... by Staff Writer

Mapping Sag Harbor: 1796 to 1921

“Sag Harbor is a pretty village, situated on a mere mass of sand,” wrote Yale ... 13 May 2025 by Annette Hinkle

‘Thar She Blows!’ Canio’s ‘Moby-Dick’ Marathon Is Back in Sag Harbor

Canio’s much-loved “Moby-Dick” Marathon will return to Sag Harbor from May 29 to June 1, when the novel will be read aloud at locations throughout the village. Residents are invited to come share Herman Melville’s magnificent book with the community as it speaks of themes of obsession and revenge, social and economic injustice, moral turpitude, religious hypocrisy, environmental conservation and more. Both first-time readers and old salts are invited to step into the pages of this great American work of literature. Canio’s will have short readings in German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian and more. Let them know your language choice. ... by Staff Writer

Artist Eric Haze Is Making the Past, Present

In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, Brooklyn-based artist Eric Haze relocated to Northwest ... by Annette Hinkle

Get Warped in Riverhead

“The Warped Tour Band – A Tribute to Emo/Pop-Punk” returns to The Suffolk on Saturday, ... 12 May 2025 by Staff Writer

Bridging the Worlds of Spirit, Art and Activism

“If our time on Earth is to endure, we must love the Earth in the ... by Staff Writer

The Lords of 52nd Street Bring Billy Joel's Music to the Stage

The Lords of 52nd Street are returning to The Suffolk on Sunday, May 25, at ... by Staff Writer

WindSync Settles In for a Residency on Shelter Island

Shelter Island Friends of Music will present acclaimed quintet WindSync in concert on Sunday, May ... by Staff Writer