Maggie Gyllenhaal to make her directorial debut with The Lost Daughter

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

THE DARK KNIGHT and THE HONOURABLE WOMAN actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is set to make her directorial debut after she and Pie Films recently acquired the film rights to author Elena Ferrante’s novel, The Lost Daughter. In addition to directing the feature-length adaptation, Gyllenhall will also write the screenplay, as well as produce alongside Pie Films' Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman-Keren.

According to Deadline, who exclusively broke the news on Friday, The Lost Daughter follows Leda who, while on a holiday by the sea, experiences a seemingly meaningless event which causes her to be overwhelmed by memories of the difficult and unconventional choices she made as a mother and their consequences for herself and her family. What begins as an apparently serene tale of a woman’s pleasant rediscovery of herself soon becomes a ferocious psychological thriller about a confrontation with an unsettled past.

THE LOST DAUGHTER marks the second collboration for Kleinhendler, Handelsman-Keren and Gyllenhaal, who previously teamed for THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, a drama destined for an October 12 release on Netlix that tells the story of a kindergarten teacher in New York who becomes obsessed with one of her students who she believes is a child prodigy. No news as to whether or not Gyllenhaal will also star in THE LOST DAUGHTER has been reported at this time.