Peter Sarsgaard in The Lost Daughter | Between moral support and object of desire

In the film adaptation of the novel by Elena Ferrante, whose headliners are Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard is not visible on screen for long, but his presence is noticeable. The actor also found the idea that director Maggie Gyllenhaal, his sweetheart, of making him play an “irresistible object of desire” amusing.

Marc-André Lussier
Press

In a relationship for several years with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard knew better than anyone the creative talents of his lover, mother of his two children. The film adaptation that the latter has taken of The Lost Daughter (Stolen doll), the first feature film she directed, has been celebrated since its launch at the Venice Film Festival, where she was awarded the prize for best screenplay.

“Maggie has been thinking about doing a project like this for a while, but it’s the first to come to fruition,” the actor said in a videoconference interview with Press. I was not surprised at all that she started directing. As there are a few male characters in this story, she always told me that she would probably have a role to offer me, without telling me which character she envisioned for me. ”

A mentor and more …

The main character of The Lost Daughter is Leda (Olivia Colman), a 48-year-old woman whose troubled mother’s past comes to the surface during a beach vacation in Greece. The relationship of a young mother (Dakota Johnson) with her daughter, prone to tearfulness, indeed brings back to her memories two decades old memories. Just like this young woman today, Leda yesterday had difficulty dealing with the unexpected crises of her two daughters and balancing all elements of her life. The story thus unfolds in both eras, Jessie Buckley playing the younger version of Leda. It is also with this actress that Peter Sarsgaard shot his few scenes.

The character he plays, a leading academic in comparative reading, will become a mentor, and more.

The actor says he had fun playing an emeritus professor to communicate vast academic knowledge, while embodying, according to the will of the director, an “irresistible object of desire”.

“The way I filmed myself was entirely up to Maggie,” reveals Peter Sarsgaard. Frankly, we haven’t even discussed it. I was trying to think of those in my own life who have inspired me academically, with their different qualities, their different energies, all of which have in common that they are very much in tune with themselves. So the most important thing for me was to give this character a real presence. ”

A slow progression

Revealed in cinema in the early 2000s thanks to films like Boys Don’t Cry and Shattered GlassPeter Sarsgaard first played soccer before moving into drama. Low-key and muffled by nature, the man was practically revealed to himself the day in a theater class he had to attend after suffering too many sports injuries, he performed a clip from Bent, famous play by Martin Sherman.

“I, who grew up without ever having the will to become an actor, I immediately knew that I was in my place,” he explains. Before that, the children around me participated in plays where they had fun in a very theatrical way, which did not correspond at all to my nature. I was rather lonely, with a certain intolerance for blah-blah. When I was introduced to cinema, particularly international films, my interest in the game then developed. ”

Peter Sarsgaard says he is happy to have been able to perfect his art very slowly, taking small roles, in productions seen by very few people.

“It allowed me to gain experience and make mistakes,” he says. Sometimes young actors rise very quickly and find themselves in positions of power that they are not yet ready to assume. They are made to sign contracts for five feature films, some of which will not work, and then disappear. I prefer to have done things more gradually. ”

A “G” word for Maggie Gyllenhaal

The actor still vividly remembers the first time he got to see the final version of The Lost Daughter. The experience was all the stronger as he was pleasantly surprised by certain aspects. Although he was very present during production as “moral support” (“that was my main contribution”, he says), Peter Sarsgaard had indeed only filmed a few days.

“I think I told Maggie she was a genius!” he recalls, laughing. She then immediately implored me not to use this word in G… That said, I really meant it. I knew the movie would be good, but I didn’t expect it to be so visually remarkable. The Lost Daughter is exactly the kind of cinema that I like. “

The very favorable reception obtained The Lost Daughter He is obviously delighted, but Peter Sarsgaard believes that beyond prizes and rewards, the true recognition of a work lies elsewhere.

“The most satisfying aspect is the reaction of people who are very moved by what they have just seen,” he explains. Who then want to communicate with Maggie to let her know how meaningful the film is to them and perfectly reflects feelings they themselves have experienced. That doesn’t lie. A trophy is anonymous. A testimony is intimate and personal. ”

The Lost Daughter (Stolen doll is the title in French) will be available on Netflix on December 31.