Maggie Gyllenhaal has broken silence on the challenges she faced while casting husband Peter Sarsgaard in her projects.
In a new chat with The New York Times, Maggie Gyllenhaal shared how directing her husband of 15 years can become “complicated” at times. It is noteworthy that Sarsgaard and Gyllenhaal tied the knot in 2009.
As she shared her two cents on collaborating with her husband, who is also an actor, she spoke candidly about the challenges that come with working so closely together.
She recalle directing Peter in her 2021 directorial debut The Lost Daughter, in which he plays Professor Hardy, who embarks on a passionate affair with Jessie Buckley’s Leda Jovem.
“It is complicated working with my husband, we’ve done it in all sorts of ways,” she said. “We did The Lost Daughter, where he has a really hot love affair with Jessie Buckley.”
She even admitted seeking advice before she decided to cast Peter in the role.
“I remember speaking to both my best girlfriend and to this teacher, and both of them were like: ‘You can’t manage this? Can you really not?’ And I was like, ‘I think I can, and I really want Peter to play this part.'”
Getting candid about her approach to overseeing the film’s more intimate scenes between her husband and his co-star, the filmmaker expressed that it was challenging to let her personal emotions intervene. Reportedly, she managed to adopt a ‘diconnected, stoic’ stance.
“He was so good, and so was Jessie,” she reflected.
“And watching them together and egging them each on from a very unconnected, emotionally, place and pushing them and watching them create the love, as real actors have to – I watched them do that.”
“When I get a second to stop, it’s a little hard, but we have to keep going,” the actress continued. “Then we get to the sexy stuff. We shoot the scene on the steps where they’re kissing, and I was just looking at it like: Is the light on her leg in the right way? And maybe if we just pan this way, very removed, and we got it,” she concluded.
