With “The Bride!” now in theaters, Maggie Gyllenhaal has her second directorial credit under her belt, and she’s learned pretty quickly. One of the biggest lessons she’s picked up? How to direct different kinds of actors — like Dakota Johnson and Annette Bening.
Stopping by “Late Night” on Monday, Gyllenhaal noted that one thing she learned from her directorial debut “The Lost Daughter” was that “each actor needs to be spoken to and interacted with in a different way.” The director noted that the lesson is now one of her favorite elements of the job, and something she took with her onto “The Bride!”
“Some actors, you can give them seven notes that just occurred to you, and they’ll love them. Like Dakota Johnson, I think is like that,” Gyllenhaal explained.
Johnson starred in Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, and according to the director, “whatever sticks, sticks.” But Gyllenhaal figured out pretty quickly on “The Bride!” that she could not direct Annette Bening the same way (the actress plays Dr. Euphronious in the film).
“If I tried that with Annette Bening, she would be like ‘Walk away.’ You know?” Gyllenhaal said with a laugh. “But I learned that really quickly, and I took the note.”
Thus far, “The Bride!” has seen a dismal showing in theaters, scoring an opening of just $7.3 million domestic and $13.6 million worldwide. With a reported production budget of $80 million and around $65 million in marketing, “The Bride!” is set to leave behind a pretty massive loss. The film has earned a mix of both positive and negative reviews.
You can watch Maggie Gyllennhaal’s full appearance on “Late Night” in the video above.
