-Thank you so much for coming back to the show,
and thanks for playing "Random Instrument Challenge."
-That was wild! -Yeah. You know what's crazier?
So, during the break, you told one of our segment producers
that you actually know how to play
one of the weird instruments we had there.
-Yeah, about as well as I played the sousaphone
and the upright bass. -No, but I was in shock.
I go, "Wait. This is -- We have to --"
I want to see you play this,
because I know kind of the idea behind it.
This is a theremin. -Yeah.
So, this is pitch.
[ Theremin plays ]
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, my God! [ Cheers and applause ]
Wow! Maggie Gyllenhaal! I mean, that is --
that is a talent right there.
-Yeah, this is, like, the extent of my musical talent.
-I love that. Well, last time you were here,
speaking of talents, we were talking about
"The Lost Daughter," but how you adapted it from this book
that you read by the same name. -Mm-hmm.
-You've already won and been nominated
for all these awards, and I think totally deserved.
It was a beautiful movie. It was gorgeous.
In fact, at Venice Film Festival,
that's where, I think, we first heard about it.
It got like a 20-minute standing ovation or something.
Crazy. Were you nervous even just going into the festival?
-Yeah, I mean, look, we made the film in a pandemic.
But more than that, we cut it in a pandemic,
before there were any vaccines or anything.
I was cutting this time last year.
And so we never showed it to an audience, ever.
Which, if you don't make films, I don't know,
it may be hard to know how strange that is.
But, usually, you invite your friends and family,
you invite, you know -- -Screen it and --
-Then you screen it, and you find out how it plays,
and you hear people laugh, and then people give you notes,
and you adjust the film sometimes based on those notes.
Here it was just me and my editor.
I mean, we showed to it a few people,
but they were people who already loved us.
You know? They were -- -Yeah, it's like my mom
going like, "Jimmy, you were the greatest person
ever to be on 'Saturday Night Live.'"
I go, "Oh, my God. What a great review, Mom."
-Exactly. -"Thanks."
-Exactly. And so the first time
I ever saw my film with any audience --
like, I'm talking anything -- was at Venice.
And the Grande Sala with hundreds of people
and Olivia Colman and Dakota were there --
Dakota Johnson -- and they had never seen the movie at all.
Sitting next to me at the Venice Film Festival
was the first time. -How do you set it up,
and how do you talk about what the movie's about?
-Well, it's about a woman who goes on vacation alone,
and while she's on vacation, she gets really compelled
by this young mother that she sees on the beach,
and it starts bringing up for her all of these
wild, dark, strange memories in her own life
that start to really trip her out.
-Because she was a young mother, and...
I don't want to spoil anything, but, uh...
-She was a young mother who struggled
with being a mother, like, if we're honest,
I think every mother who ever existed.
-Yeah. -But, you know, I think
we're used to either seeing a sort of fantasy version
of the mother that we all wished we had
or the mother that we wished we were,
or, like, a bad mommy. You know?
And the thing that that does is, it makes you go like,
"Oh, look at that crazy, bad mommy.
I'm nothing like that. Thank God.
You know, I'm such a good mama." But to join them together,
which is what this movie does,
you know, where it's complicated, you know?
-But it's so well done and shot and directed and written.
And you wrote and directed this, buddy.
And I will say this -- last time you were here,
we were talking about this.
You were thinking about optioning.
And I go, "Why is it --
Why are you waiting this long to direct?"
Do you remember what you said to me?
-I think I said, um...
that it took me a long time to even allow myself
to feel how much I wanted to do it,
that I didn't feel entitled to even think about it.
-Now that you did it, do you feel great
that you're on the other side and you now have a movie
under your belt that's fantastic?
-I feel like...
I love acting, and I miss acting,
but I was always, like, bumping up against something --
you know? -- about what I wanted to say
or express or do or offer.
And it was like --
I don't even know how to explain it.
It was like -- Do you ever have a dream that --
It's like a common dream I think people have where they're,
like, in their little apartment and they dream that
they open a door, and all of a sudden,
there's an entire other wing? You know?
And you're like -- You've had that dream.
-Yeah. [ Light laughter ]
I had a dream that I was getting chased by a shark last night.
[ Laughter ]
-But you've never had that dream?
This is what it was like. It was like, all of a sudden,
I just knocked a wall down, and I was like,
"It's so much better over here." -Yeah.
-Because I do think, when women make movies,
and women do a lot of things and really express themselves,
it looks different.
And something new and different is really compelling, you know?
And honest. -I appreciate you being honest
even when we talked about before you did this
and you were like, "I don't know if I even know."
Couldn't even talk about it, even directing it, I think,
to now, you did it, and it's a homer.
Honestly, it's moving, it's beautiful, it's fantastic.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's a peek at "The Lost Daughter."
Take a look.
-[ Breathing heavily ]
She's driving me crazy.
'Cause Daddy's away, right?
Daddy's away, and you're taking it out on me.
-All right. Come to auntie, baby.
Come on, come to auntie.
There we go, my big girl.
Oh, boy! My big girl.
-Go, so I can have a minute.
Sometimes I just can't handle it.
-I know.
-Okay? Yes, anything you want.
Show Mama -- Show Mama and the lady what a good girl you are.
-Ooh! [ Cheers and applause ]
Maggie Gyllenhaal, everybody. "The Lost Daughter"
is in select theaters and streaming now on Netflix.