Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dakota Johnson Break Down a Scene from 'The Lost Daughter'

I'm Maggie Gyllenhaal.

I'm Dakota Johnson.

And this is Notes on a Scene.

[water splashing]

Elena?

[Nina] Elena!

Most of the movie is through the eyes

of Olivia Colman's character, Leda.

For the first section of the movie,

Nina is just observed by Leda,

and I was thinking a lot about how to shoot that.

There's a really compelling history of movies,

like, kind of Antonioni, or Godard, you know,

with Monica Vitti, or, you know,

any of those amazing Godard women,

where they are objectified.

They are being adored by the camera

from a very particular point of view,

but it's an elegant adoration.

What happens if Nina then kind of bursts into our frame,

and has real human needs and desires.

And so that is basically what happens in this,

and the way she's shot in the beginning of the scene,

versus the way she's shot later

in the scene is like, completely different.

For the whole time that you've see Nina, you know,

from when you meet her until now,

she also knows that she's the sort of objectified,

watched person on the beach,

and it's almost this boredom that she has with it,

but also a power, and then when Leda wakes up from her nap,

Nina is in the most vulnerable, feral state, which is,

she did the one thing you're not supposed to do as a mother,

which is like, lose your child.

Bianca?

Bianca!

At this point in the movie,

I think it's not entirely clear who this person is.

This is only the second time we see Jessie,

who ultimately plays Olivia Colman, young.

So you have Nina screaming for Elena, who's her daughter,

and here you have Jessie playing young Leda,

screaming for Bianca, who's her daughter.

Bianca!

Bianca?

[waves lapping]

We don't have a lot of money,

and we don't have a lot of time, and it's a pandemic,

and we're shooting everything on this island in Greece.

This beach vacation that Leda's remembering is not

supposed to be in Greece.

So we had to figure out how, where,

I mean, Greece looks like Greece.

The light looks like Greece.

The, you know, the rocks look like Greece,

so we really had to figure out a way to shoot this,

and contain this, so that, you know,

you could have been anywhere.

The other thing I want to say about the scene is that

the little girl holding the ice cream cone,

this was Jessie's idea.

Basically, Jessie said to me,

What if she has she's holding a melting ice cream cone?

That tells a whole story.

It tells the story that, who knows?

In my mind, the story it tells is that

they went to get an ice cream.

They left Bianca for a second.

They turn around, and where is she?

[indistinct yelling]

I do just want to go back for a second,

and look at the shot of Olivia, because that-

[Dakota] It's so beautiful. I know, it's so beautiful,

and it's also like, classic, kind of noir thriller vibe.

You're like, on Olivia's face.

You know she's watching.

You know what she's watching.

It's weird.

It's so abstract,

and yet, you know exactly what's happening.

It makes you feel like you're inside of her mind.

Right.

Just the best feeling.

That's our water gun.

It's okay, she's wearing a big hat.

We'll find her.

[eerie music]

That moment was so tense.

It was so like, hot, and the adrenaline,

and then I remember it got, we moved on from that shot,

and I was so, like, the relief of it.

I was so emotional.

That's also the first time that Leda

and Nina speak to each other.

Nina's pulled out of it for a small second.

Yeah.

Like, does realize who's speaking to her.

Yeah.

And she also offers a like, important bit of information.

Yeah, yeah, exactly,

and the music, I mean,

[rumbling sound]

I love the music in the movie.

My composer, Dickon Hinchliffe is the composer,

and I actually think working with Dickon was

a lot like working with an actor.

Like here, you know, we're kind of playing

with what happened to this little girl.

There's like, a kind of almost helicopter sound

in the music,

which, of course there's no helicopter right now,

but I loved that.

I feel like it does something really ominous and strange.

Bianca!

Bianca, come here!

[waves churning]

Bianca!

That was a little like, subliminal moment.

Did you catch the little Olivia?

Yeah.

I mean, that, there's a little, trippy, you know,

we begin the movie, and we end the movie

with Olivia on the beach, passed out on the beach,

and so we just, for one second, Affonso and I,

and my incredible editor, we thought maybe, in some ways,

all of this was taking place in her mind,

kind of as she had passed out on the beach.

I mean, no, but, but maybe.

Like, as my 15-year-old would say, like,

time isn't linear, so like, why not just throw that shot in?

I loved it, though.

So that's a little tiny subliminal message

in the middle of The Lost Daughter.

Bianca!

Hey.

I lost my mama.

Well, I'll help you find her, come on.

[Nina] Elena!

[indistinct chatter]

[Elena crying]

We basically built this scene with sound.

If you look at it, it's all built in sound.

It's like, a super wide shot, beautiful actors moving

in the frame, but it's actually sound

that was almost entirely built in ADR.

[Elena crying]

I just wanted to come and say thank you.

Yeah, it was scary.

I thought I was gonna die.

Yeah.

Thank God you were here, thank God.

Sometimes it's easier for strangers in these situations.

[Callie] You know, I was, I was so crazy.

I couldn't, I couldn't see right.

You know, so many awful things can happen.

People are so fucked up.

[gasps] Oh my God.

What happened to your back?

Oh, I think it was a pine cone from the beach.

[Callie] A pine cone?

That looks so awful.

Did you put something on it?

[Leda] No, I haven't.

[Callie] Oh, no, no, I have something for you.

I, it's so good, hold on.

We did so many takes of this scene,

and we had so little time,

and we went through like, every possibility,

every possible emotion that could come from Nina,

also, the dynamic between Nina and Callie.

[Maggie] Callie is the other woman

who comes in to the frame.

Nina loves her, but like, can't stand her.

Thinks what she does is ridiculous,

and almost hilarious, and annoying.

Nina goes to finally have this one, this communication,

because there's something to communicate about with Leda,

and Callie comes in and like, takes it.

Here, all of a sudden, she does what I'm talking about.

She kind of bursts into the frame,

and I did so many takes for two reasons.

I mean, I just kept the camera rolling,

and we just rolled, and rolled, and rolled, and rolled,

one, because this was the first time you got to open

your mouth, you know?

So like, let's give the space

for that beautiful thing to happen,

and second of all,

because it was just so compelling, and fascinating,

and I think like, 40,000 things are happening

between every single line,

and I just got really thrilled by watching it,

and it's funny, 'cause Callie comes in the side.

She's almost-

Disrupting the scene.

Which is between them,

and she's like a mosquito in the scene.

And all of a sudden you're in Nina's point of view,

as well Leda's point of view,

and that's for sure the first time.

[Elena's crying continues]

I like your bathing suit.

[Leda] Oh, thank you.

Mm-hmm.

So she's not calming down?

Yeah.

[sobbing] Mommy!

It's been a weird day.

The first thing that she says is I like your bathing suit,

and Dakota was like, on fire, you know?

And we were, we were just like, I wanted to shoot on film,

but we didn't have the money, and like, we really tried,

but we didn't get it, and we're shooting on digital,

which in a way it was really amazing,

because it meant that I never had to cut.

So we were shooting Dakota's coverage.

We're finally in the angle and the frame that I wanted,

and I would just go, and go, and go,

and I think we were shooting.

I just ran over to you and said,

Well, when you say I like your bathing suit,

what you mean is, and you were like,

Oh, I know what she means.

I mean, I love you.

That's that I love you.

I've loved you forever.

Yeah, and that happens,

that someone smashes into your life and you're like,

[gasps]

Whoa.

Yeah.

You're really impacted by that.

Yeah.

You know?

[Dakota] Well, it's those things that you say to somebody

when you mean something entirely different,

but you can't say it.

[Elena's crying continues]

My sound designer is amazing, and I was like,

Okay, the girl has to be crying through the whole scene,

and he plays it at one level, and I was like,

No, it needs to be louder, and he was like,

Okay, well, not louder than this, though,

and then, and then I was like,

No, louder than that.

It needs to actually be like,

a whole 'nother character in the scene with them.

To me anyway, like you hear someone else's child crying

on an airplane or something,

and you're like, Oh, poor kid, you know?

Or sometimes I actually feel like I'd love to just pick

that kid up, and give that mom a break,

but it doesn't make you want to tear your hair out.

No.

And when it's your own child,

it's like, very difficult to listen to anything else,

so I think that really helps the scene.

[Callie] How's that?

[Leda] It's good, like, it's cold.

[Callie] It's really amazing.

It's gonna make you feel so much better, okay?

By tonight, you're gonna feel amazing.

All right?

All right, and let's go.

Let's find the doll.

I can't hear her scream anymore.

See you tomorrow.

[Elena] [crying] Mama!

Bye.

I think there's, I mean, a million things happening,

but one of them is that she knows

this conversation is gonna come to an end soon,

and it's almost like she had this,

this was her in, this was her chance, this moment,

and then Callie has come in and taken it.

She's still gotten to say, you know, in some way,

I see my, I see you, or really, I want you to see me,

or even, Is there something to be seen in me?

And then to witness Leda have a small, little break,

like, a small, little moment of being so fragile,

I think makes her feel like, Hold me, you know?

Just like, Love me.

Like her need is so clear,

and obviously this is not you,

but this particular story was speaking to something

inside you, and that you wanted to shake up,

and, and express.

I mean, I think that's like, any interesting actor,

that's what they're looking for, that kind of connection,

and I think you came to Greece,

like, ready to offer yourself.

But here, I remember you had had this one line to speak,

and you were kind of like, Did we,

I still don't feel satisfied, you know?

And I was like, It's coming, it's coming.

You will, you know?