Not sure if I will do that next time. I was on the jury in Cannes this year, probably two or three weeks after I finished my final mix. When I watched some really, really interesting movies, I realized, oh, you can do whatever you want if you follow something truthful and I don’t think I knew that.
What was the hardest thing about adjusting?
I found that adapting actually used a similar muscle to the one I’ve used as an actress in terms of taking a text, whether it’s excellent or having issues, and figuring out the essence of this piece of material. Some things are literal, but they are so strange. Like the line, “I’m an unnatural mother.” That’s just 100 percent Ferrante, a straight elevator, but a lot of people told me, get that line out. I actually did something [Ferrante permitted] and have changed many, many things, but I do believe that the script and the movie are really talking to the book.
Leda is a writer and showing her ambition in her early years is a big part of the movie. Did you see “Bergman Island” this year? Both films grapple with the question of whether you can be fully woman and artist at the same time.
I do believe there is such a thing as writing by women and filmmaking by women. There are really interesting feminist women who disagree with me. I think when women express themselves honestly, it looks different than when men express themselves honestly. This is really dangerous to talk about. When I’m let go, given a little money and space to tell the story I want to tell, it’s about motherhood. It’s about the homely, and it includes a lot of scenes in the kitchen. Can stories about the domestic really be seen as high art? Because to me it’s an opera. I don’t come from women whose apron strings were tied to the kitchen. My mother is a professional person [Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal is a screenwriter and director]My grandmother was a pediatrician in the 1940s and my great-aunt was a lawyer. I am educated and have a professional life, and yet my identification as a mother is a big part of me.
What was it like working with Olivia Colman?
Olivia didn’t like to talk about much. I actually wonder if it’s because it’s relatively recent that she gained power as an actress, or if she feels the same way I feel as an actress, which is very rare for anyone to appreciate my ideas. They’ll say yes, but people get annoyed by actresses with lots of ideas. I’m not an idiot, so I usually keep them to myself. I remember asking Olivia if she liked rehearsing, and she said, I don’t really, and I totally agree.