WEBVTT - From the Archives: Maggie Gyllenhaal 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.400 This is Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here's 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:11.000 the thing, I admit. I looked at Maggie Jillenhall's Wikipedia 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.440 page and it does get. 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:14.160 Some things right. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.919 She was nominated for an Academy Award for her work 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.239 in Crazy Heart. She did get a Golden Globe Award 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.759 for her performance in the British TV show The Honorable Woman. 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.520 Maggie gillen Hall has worked in big budget films like 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.000 The Dark Knight and Nanny McPhee, but still finds time 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:37.840 for off Broadway plays. She did graduate from Columbia University 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.600 and she is married to the actor Peter Sarsgard, but 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.400 she did not appear in a production of Uncle Vanya, 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.160 directed by Martin Scorsese. Her new movie is The Kindergarten 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:52.360 Teacher and it comes out this Friday from Netflix. I 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.200 spoke with Jillen Hall last Friday at the Hampton's International 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.920 Film Festival Live at the Bay Street Theatre in sag Harbor. 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.160 You were born in New York and raised in LA 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:09.480 and what was your childhood like in terms of film 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.440 culture theater where you're like a big maven and you 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:14.800 watched everything. Were you home watching Gilligan's Island like the 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:15.400 rest of us. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.360 Well, my parents were from New York. Well, my dad 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.640 was from Pennsylvania. My mom was from New York, from Brooklyn, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.880 and they were kind of new to LA you know. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.920 They were filmmakers and they drove across the country with 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:30.800 me when I was I think ten months old. 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:32.000 They were not there to make movies. 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:37.360 Yeah, yeah, and so they were lovers of movies. I 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.840 don't know. I wasn't really allowed to watch like Gilligan's Island, 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.760 to be honest, it's kind of that's good range. But 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.320 I was allowed to watch Sesame Street. My mom actually 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.400 was one of the people who she was like a 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.280 pa on Sesame Street. She was one of the people 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.200 who started the electric company. So I was allowed to 0:01:54.200 --> 0:02:01.040 watch those and the Cosby Show that was what it's 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:07.160 allowed to watch. And a little bit of a Little 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.200 House on the Prairie, And after Little House in the 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.799 Prairie came on Chips and I was like, I kind 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.200 of like snuck in a little Chips. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.639 What what? Okay? So what was it the Julia to Chips? 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:20.760 What'd you like about Chips? 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.240 I was really, can I be honest with you, that 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.919 was like one of the first kind of like whoa, 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.440 what is this feeling I'm feeling type of moment. 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.000 Likes motorcycle, like the. 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.639 Drivers and yeah, just the beginning, just the credits. 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.200 That was like, all, I that's why I like Gilligan's Island, 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.720 Remote Island Women There, Marion Ginger. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:44.600 That was the first time I had some of those 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:45.520 feelings you have. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.200 Yeah, But then my parents, It's funny, they were they 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:54.280 loved movies and every weekend we would go see a 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.280 movie for a long time, and they took us to 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:58.560 a lot of things that I would never have taken 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:00.840 my kids too, like really not appropriate. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.560 So your parents are like they don't want you to 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.079 watch certain kind of TV. But then when you don't, 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:07.480 look now you know what I mean, they want to 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.480 go see like really eclectic films. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:11.919 But it was really my husband who was like, oh, 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:13.959 you haven't seen this, you haven't seen Cassavetti's, you haven't 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:15.960 seen this, you haven't seen that, and like really clued 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:21.120 me into and also to you know, cool seventies movies 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.960 but also like really amazing actresses. I feel like he's 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.799 such as well, Like he showed me all the General 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:32.560 Rolands movies. He was. He used to tell me, I 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.480 feels are embarrassing saying this, because it was like a 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:36.440 sort of a I think he was just flirting with me, 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.400 but he's saying he thought I reminded him of Diane Keaton, 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.800 like only in my wildest dreams. I mean, she's amazing. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.040 But he showed me some of her like great movies. 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.640 And I wanted to dinner with Peter once with another 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.840 girlfriend of his, and he said the same thing to her, 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:53.760 you remind me of Diane Keaton. 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.360 It totally works. Yeah, it totally works. 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:57.320 It works like a charm. 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:02.080 Young guys out there, keep that in your pocket. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.800 But he's a movie nut, well expand he. 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:09.200 Really taught me like here's some here's some things that 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.240 that you should see. And then still we were actually 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.320 joking that someone was telling us we had to see 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.240 the Watergate documentary and I was like, yeah, that's like 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.360 a Peter date night movie. Like he's like, we have 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.359 a moment together. Actually, oh do you know that movie, Gomorah. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.359 It's an amazing movie, but it is brutal. And he's like, oh, 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.640 we're just about to get married right near here. I 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.280 heard this movie is great. Let's go see Gomora, Yeah, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.000 you know, or white Ribbon. He took me on. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.320 Thanksgiving one. Let's watch straw Dogs. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.280 Totally, you guys should go Thanksgiving. 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.120 So when you you grew up in LA and your 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.480 parents are making films and you start acting when you're 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:52.919 there when you're very young. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.080 I mean not really, it's funny. I I think it's 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.920 in my Wikipedia page, like some of the other very 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:00.000 untrue things we were talking. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:01.679 Your Wikipedia page is a mess. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:02.479 Yeah, totally. 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.440 We're going to get to that. That that I that 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.599 my debut was in Waterland, you know, which was a 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:11.480 movie that my dad made. And in fact I saw 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.000 Waterland just the other day because they did a screening 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.719 of it at Colombian and invited my dad, and so 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.120 I went up to see it. I am in Waterland 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:25.279 for five seconds. And my dad had been making the 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.599 movie in London and they had maybe four weeks in 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.159 Pittsburgh and I was in school in LA and it 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.120 was like a way I could go see my dad. 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:36.960 It wasn't really my film debut. 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:39.440 Now, when you when you went to Columbia, where'd you 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:39.960 go study? 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:42.520 I studied English literature. 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:44.680 You didn't want to study theater drama. 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.440 I started doing plays there I did. I did a 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.400 lot first. I mean I had one teacher there who 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:56.320 I learned a lot from, this woman, Joan Rosenfels. But 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.080 I don't know. I guess I was a Columbian. I 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:03.360 sort of felt like Columbia, like I should study Columbia 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:04.040 does best? 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:05.320 Were not acting? 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:05.840 Yeah? 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:07.400 Yeah, I tell people that now. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:12.400 Who are students who go to degree granting universities for drama? 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.840 And I say, don't just take drama and acting. Take 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:17.480 something where you're. 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:18.960 Going to read a lot of books, philosophy and the 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.640 nature history. But you're there, get to do. What's the 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.520 first production you do in New York? Do you remember? 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:25.840 Like my first one? 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:27.960 You had to Columbia? You did plays? What did you do? 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.720 What did I do at Columbia was the first one? Oh? 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:38.000 I did a student production of No Exit with this 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:43.440 guy who became my boyfriend named Dante, who was actually 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.360 twenty five and had already graduated from college. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:48.560 He was in a student's production. 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:48.960 Doctor. 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:50.760 Yeah, he's sweet. 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.680 Me in prison. Now that happened correctly. 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.840 So I did that. I also did The Tempest and 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.080 I played prosper in that too. No, no, no, he 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.400 didn't make it in that one, but yeah, that was 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.719 the first one. Was no exit when. 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.920 When you graduated with a degree in literature, was acting 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:11.640 the goals or that what you wanted to do? 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.960 Yeah? I did. I always wanted to be an actress. 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.440 And I feel like, yeah, yeah, okay, yes, and college 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:19.960 you can read. Although there's so much you're supposed to read, 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.240 I feel like I never had read all of it. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.640 But I feel like I really learned to write in college. 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.880 And I don't know about you, but I feel like 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.760 there's been so many times where I've had, you know, 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:38.160 lines I wanted changed, or a cut that I wanted shifted, 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.200 or something I had to sort out on a set 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.560 that I had to write an email or even have 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.520 a conversation where I had to organize my thoughts before 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.000 I had it. Where I think, thank god I went 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.440 to college because I was able to say what I 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:54.320 meant to say. 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:56.160 You know what helps if. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.840 You have that background, Because did you feel there was 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:00.800 progression for you? 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:01.440 In the beginning? 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.120 You were timid and shot, you know, less assertive, And 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.320 I want to find out when did that begin to change. 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:09.800 Was there a moment you sat there and you said, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.400 I need to defend my position and I think I 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:14.640 know what's best for me. 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.120 I think, you know, I don't know that it was. 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.920 I think basically it was progressive, right, like basically right. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.560 I was younger and newer, and it was harder for 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.240 me to say what I wanted, and it's gotten easier 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.800 as I've had more experience. But I also think that 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:39.480 different sets give way to a different way of working. 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.520 So first, I'm a jobbing actress and I'm trying to 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.000 get jobs and I come in for two days or 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.840 one afternoon or whatever, and you're like, oh, okay, you 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:52.520 want me to do it like that. I know, I 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:54.640 don't know. It doesn't sound really very good to me, 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.360 but I'm afraid to say, let's say, or maybe I 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.720 do try to say and I get shut down and 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.880 I accept it and whatever. That's like, you know, it's 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.400 very hard to do when you're coming in for one second. 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.080 It's like going to a new school where everybody knows 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.240 each other and you're there for an afternoon. But then 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:17.000 like when I worked on Secretary, which was really early on, 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:23.319 I mean I was twenty two, I had a real 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.120 point of view about what I wanted to say. And 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.520 Steve Shanberg, who directed it was really interested in that. 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.439 And I also think he knew that things were happening 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:36.280 that I didn't have any idea were happening. 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:38.320 Wasn't all on the page. 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:42.800 And also my twenty two I think I'm being very intellectual, 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.880 and I've come from college and I studied feminist theory 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.040 and everything, you know, and I think I'm saying this, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.040 and I think, I mean, he's twenty years older than me, 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.240 that he was able to see. I know she thinks 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:57.120 she's saying this, but this whole other thing is also happening. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.199 Put all that in the film. But so that was 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.640 a space where I felt I was totally able to collaborative. Yes, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:07.720 And then I went to work on a movie after that, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.680 which I won't name, where I was totally shut down 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:12.720 and I was shocked by it. 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.240 I always remember, like you go to a movie and 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:18.440 this is just you know, my opinion, but like you 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.440 do a film and you want to be told what 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.400 to do. Basically, my whole thing is you're making the movie. 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.880 What movie are you making? How do I fit in? 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:26.840 I do. 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.400 One of the first movies I did, I was lucky. 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.040 I did this movie Working Girl with Mike Nichols, and 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:33.400 Nichols says, you're. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.000 Gonna have sex. 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.360 He goes, you're gonna have sex with this woman and 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:40.400 she catches you having sex? How would you have sex 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.160 that are being caught? And I go, well, and I 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.160 try to think of, like what's the most comical thing, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.280 and he goes, he goes, he was very gracious. He's like, 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.120 that's not a bad idea. That's not a bad idea. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.160 But what I think really sells it if she's just 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.280 completely naked and you're completely naked, and she's just sitting 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.960 right on top of you and me and they actually 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:06.920 were like, oh, we had a much more chaste and 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:08.480 kind of like silly version of that. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:10.360 And me and the girl were like. He was like, okay, 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:12.480 come come now, close off, let's go. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.600 But then idea of that clarity time saving somebody who 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:16.080 comes as. 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.720 As this, Yeah, but the thing is, well, I always 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.520 use my fantasy movie I would have made with Mike 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.320 Nichols as like the example of if Mike Nichols is 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.680 directing this, yes, I want to be told exactly what 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.640 to do, please, Like I watch his movies and I'm like, 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.920 he's directing everybody. He's like pushing everybody further and deeper 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.520 and funnier and wilder than they ever would go. In fact, 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.079 the one time I worked with Mike Nichols was on 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.800 this reading. It's not a not a movie or even 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:51.400 a play that was ever produced. It was just a 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.360 few day long reading of a play that Alan Alda wrote. 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.400 Bob Ballaban directed the reading, but Mike was sort of 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.960 producing it. I guess he came up to me after 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:09.439 a day of rehearsal and he just said, she's feral 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:16.280 the character. And I've often thought that was the best 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.800 direction I've ever gotten, because it doesn't say, like, you know, 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:20.160 I don't know directors ever come up to you and 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.880 say like, I'm worried that we're not going to tell 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:27.600 that you're mad because you're acting so nice, and I'm 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.160 worried that it's not going to communicate, you know, Or 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.120 I'm afraid that you're going too far in this direction, 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:38.000 or I'm afraid that you're, you know, gonna confuse people 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.520 by something that you're doing. I have been told that before, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.000 but Mike Nichols is basically going, like, go further, like 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.920 in any direction you could possibly go, Like what he 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.559 said to you, you know, go all the way she's feral. 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.120 I was playing Murray Currie and he's saying like she's 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:57.880 a wild animal. 0:12:58.000 --> 0:12:59.600 She's a wildcat. 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.839 Because the other parts taken care of. She's Marie Curie. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:07.680 You know, all the French radiologists knew that background. She 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:09.840 was wild, that Marie Currie. 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.080 So I want to be told what to do. Yes, 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.720 I wish for that kind of collaboration, but I don't. 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.280 I don't go in expecting that it's going to happen. 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.160 I wanted who. 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:23.200 Was a director you worked with, because I think you 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.439 and I maybe share this what you said where we're 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.600 not out to offend anyone, but you don't think of 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.280 somebody who it was really just great you loved working with. 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.880 Other than your current collaboration. We're going to get to that, 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:36.160 which I did love. 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:41.040 My current collaboration. I have a few that I've really loved. 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.960 Martin Scorsese on Vanya, right that. 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:50.680 Martin Scorsese directed, supposedly according to Wikipedia, me and my. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.800 Husband and and uncle Vanya. 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.680 At CSC's a good tiny black box theater in New York. 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.240 Is a Martin Scorsese directed the check out and I'm going, 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.280 my god, this is like the seismic thing that got 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.080 by me. It's like, it's like someone will come to going, 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.040 you know, the Lindberg baby was kidnapped, right totally. 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:11.160 No, I didn't know that. 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.600 And then in this Wikipedia entry that Alec just showed me, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.720 it then goes on to quote a terrible review of 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.360 me in the play. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:25.080 That's not a good section of that not direct No, but. 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.320 Austin Pendleton did. And he is one of the most 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.880 incredible directors I've ever worked with in my life. Austin. 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.960 It's funny Austin asked me to do uh Uncle Vanya 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.720 and he when when they offered it to me, they 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.880 sent me this interview with Austin and it basically talks 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.960 about this sort of incredible way that he likes to 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.200 work with actors, you know, where everyone's free to respond 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.240 to each other in the moment on stage. You know, 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:56.720 all the fantasies that actors have of a way that 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.080 you could actually really work together, which rarely happens. And 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.280 I was like, Austin, I'd love to do this, I'd 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.640 love to work this way, you know, where it's all 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:08.400 just reacting to the reality of the moment with the 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.800 other person on stage and how everybody says that's what 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.040 they want to do, how are you actually going to 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.720 do it? And he's like, well, you got to come 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.600 and work with me to find out. And the truth is, 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.960 I don't know how he created this situation where everybody 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:30.560 on stage had deep respect for each other, even though 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.200 it was clear to me that there were actors who 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.320 were stronger than others that there were, but it made 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.560 no difference, you know. I know one way he did it. 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.560 I remember the first day of rehearsal, he said, however, 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:50.200 you imagined Sonia, whatever fantasy you had of who Sonya 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.360 was going to be when you read this play, Sonia 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.120 is her. Sonia's this person, and all the feelings you 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:01.120 have about this person, about the way that that ricochets 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.080 off what you anticipated when you read the play, that's 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.280 all useful. But Sonya is her. And so we did 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.520 create this little black box theater situation where and I 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.160 did it with my husband and he's a brilliant actor, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.520 so that was cool. And we got to pretend we 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.480 were having an affair. Both checkofs we did. We were 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.840 playing people who were having affairs, which was really hot 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:26.120 and great, you know, but I loved working with Austin. 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:32.000 I also loved I loved Hugo Blick, who directed The 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:32.760 Honorable Woman. 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.440 You got a Golden Club for that. Yeah, that was 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:38.320 that you mentioned me. That was one of the longest 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.360 times you were overseas and away from home. 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.360 Yeah, and it's funny. I really admire what you said 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:50.600 about how for you your trust is a director's to lose. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.480 I wish I could be like that, but I'm not. 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:04.400 And I go in with my guard up and secretly 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:11.199 I want the deepest, most intense artistic collaboration possible, but 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.600 I don't. It's not easy for me. And with Hugo, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.960 I think we were both like that. And you know, 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.800 it was eight hours of television. I'd only ever done 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.280 a two hour movie before. I didn't know how to 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.080 do that. And I'm in every minute of every scene 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:33.160 and it's super intense. Yeah, and it could have been terrible, 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.080 you know. But I remember about two thirds of the 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.760 way through, somebody I came over to him and I 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.000 just sort of said something in his ear about the scene. Oh, 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:42.439 I think we need to shift this and actually can 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.160 we move this here? And could this happen over here? 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.600 Just almost shorthand at this point, and he was like, yeah, absolutely, 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.800 and someone sitting next to him said, do you just 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.960 do whatever she says? And he said he's English. Also 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.639 he said I trust her completely like that, and I 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:03.480 took it in like, whoa, Actually he was kidding, but 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:07.320 I kind of think he does. And then at the 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.879 very end, on the very very last day, I had 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.399 this voiceover to record which plays at the beginning of 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:18.880 every episode, and it's basically about trust, and it basically, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:23.399 I think it says something like you have to just 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.000 I mean not in these words, but what it meant 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.400 was you either trust nobody or you just jump off 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.840 the cliff and you trust. And I was like, he'd 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:35.760 put me in this little room to record it because 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.359 we'd forgotten to record it, and I was like, you go, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:41.760 do you mind if I say it to you? And 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:43.679 so he came in the room with me, and I 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.200 basically the subtext I guess of what I was saying 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.959 to him was I trust you. 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:50.240 You know. 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.880 Maggie Jillenhall, she said in an interview, but she would 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.440 probably be a different person by the end of her 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:28.639 work on The Honorable Woman. This is Alec Baldwin and 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:33.200 you're listening to. Here's the thing. Sarah Colangelo directed Maggie 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.480 Jillenhole's new movie, The Kindergarten Teacher. Jillen Houll told me 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.119 she heard about the project at a holiday party. 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.040 Two people at the party said, have you heard about 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.719 this script The Kindergarten Teacher? It's coming to you And 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:49.880 I don't know about you, but for me, and it's great. 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.320 And for me, I think it's really really rare to 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:55.960 read a great script, and also to have two people 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:57.880 in one night out of nowhere to say like, there's 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:02.600 this great script and it's coming to you. I was like, okay, okay. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:04.960 I was waiting every day after that for the script 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.000 to come, and it took a while, and when it came, 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:12.959 I read it and I I had that feeling like 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.520 you just I've had it like three times, you know 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.680 where I was like, and also, if you have seen 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.080 the movie, and I won't give anything away, the ending 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.480 is pretty great. And I closed the last page of 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:28.680 the script and I was like, I want this movie, 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:30.520 you know. And it wasn't clear to me that it 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.240 was offered to me, which actually just increased my appetite 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.600 for it more. Of course, they say now it always was, 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.840 but I didn't know that, and one of the producer's 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.199 mothers was having an operation in the hospital, and like 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.200 nobody got back to me for a few days after 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.679 I like really energetically raised my hand and was like, yes, please, 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.879 what do I gotta do? And again, just waiting just 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:52.640 made me want it more. And then then they came 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:54.200 back and they were like, oh, yes, we always meant to. 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:56.040 Yeah. 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:01.680 It's based on an Israeli movie, which I haven't seen. Literally, yeah, yeah, 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.600 I mean I probably should see it now. I've heard 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.440 wonderful things about it, and I've heard that narratively it's 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:13.520 very similar, and yet it tells an almost entirely different story. 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:22.480 So our movie, I think, is really about the consequences 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:27.439 of what happens when you starve a vibrant woman's mind, 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:32.480 told from the point of view of a group of 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:37.679 women filmmakers, and our conclusion is that it's fucking dire, 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.600 you know. That's and I think this Israeli movie, which 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:47.080