Honestly, if you were to tell me that Maggie Gyllenhaal has directed a half dozen feature films, I wouldn’t be able to argue against that. Not that I’m completely oblivious to the actress’ career, but instead, she just strikes me as someone with a filmmaking maturity that would seemingly come from a great deal of experience. However, that’s not the case, as she’s still prepping work on her upcoming directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter,” of which she has just added a key member to the cast.
According to THR, actor Paul Mescal has landed a role in the upcoming Maggie Gyllenhaal film, “The Lost Daughter.” The upcoming film is based on the novel of the same name by best-selling author Elena Ferrante about a professor (played by Olivia Colman) who becomes obsessed with a young woman (Dakota Johnson) and her young daughter while visiting a beach. This leads her down a chaotic path where she unravels due to reconsidering choices she made as a younger woman that had a great impact on her family.
Mescal just recently earned acclaim for his breakout role in the Hulu series, “Normal People.” And interestingly enough, “The Lost Daughter” will mark the actor’s feature-length debut. So, it would appear that Mescal’s star is definitely on the rise, with Gyllenhaal’s film helping introduce him to a whole new audience.
As mentioned, Mescal joins a pretty great cast that includes Colman and Johnson, as well as Jessie Buckley and Peter Sarsgaard. It’s unclear when production on “The Lost Daughter” will begin, but clearly this is a project that we will want to keep our eyes on. As mentioned, it’s difficult to imagine that Gyllenhaal will not be a great filmmaker, and with a cast like this, she has all the tools to make her feature debut something special.