To me, I think something as big as that must include in a normal experience, both an incredible amount of joy, heart wrenching joy, and despair, terror, deep anxiety. I mean challenging in absolutely every way- physically, emotionally, spiritually, nothing bigger than my experience of mothering.Īnd so I guess I think, why would we expect that something so big, so challenging on all sides of it, that our feelings about it would- that normal feelings about it would only fit into this very sort of small sort of spectrum. There is nothing that’s been bigger, that’s been- I want to use the word challenging, but challenging implies only that it’s difficult. I guess I think in my experience, I’ve got two kids. So I’d love to sort of get sort of a higher level view of how you’re thinking about it now, as you’re going through this process. I spent a lot of time thinking about motherhood, but not in this way, and it brought up a lot of issues where you don’t see motherhood depicted. So I want to talk a lot about the film and about how you think about your art, but I have to say, I saw your movie several times, and it continues to stick with me in a way that makes me uncomfortable.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, welcome to “Sway.” maggie gyllenhaal As a mom myself, many times over, by the way, I wanted to talk to Gyllenhaal about how she captured the messy reality of motherhood and whether Hollywood is evolving to be a better place for female actors and directors alike, an age old question that never seems to get resolved.

It’s a tense and moody story about the underbelly of motherhood, unraveling the story of, quote, “an unnatural mother struggling to balance self, career and kids,” a struggle that feels all the more relevant in the midst of the pandemic. In the present, Leda, played by Olivia Colman, is on a solo vacation on a Greek Isle, but her holiday is tormented by flashbacks of a young Leda, played by Jessie Buckley, who is exhausted and overstretched as a wife, young professional, and mother of two. The movie follows a British woman, a mother named Leda. Over the last three decades, she starred in movies like “Donnie Darko,” “Mona Lisa Smile” and “The Dark Knight.” Now she’s made her directorial debut with “The Lost Daughter.” She also wrote the film, earning an Oscar nod for Best Adapted Screenplay. I’m Kara Swisher, and you’re listening to “Sway.” My guest today is Maggie Gyllenhaal. When you walk in the room, do you have sway? kara swisher Transcript Maggie Gyllenhaal Wants to Tell the Transgressive Stories of Motherhood The director of ‘The Lost Daughter’ thinks Hollywood has only scratched the surface of women’s storytelling.

Maggie gyllenhaal