Director Maggie Gyllenhaal on ‘The Lost Daughter’

Actress and now director Maggie Gyllenhaal wanted to set her new drama “The Lost Daughter” in Maine, but New Jersey offered a better tax credit. So the plan was to shoot in New Jersey until Gyllenhaal decided it just didn’t feel right.

“It was so interesting,” Gyllenhaal says. “Because as an actress, a big idea like that — something that crumbles everything — it’s really rarely welcomed. And as a director, the response was, ‘OK, let’s go back to the drawing board.’”

Gyllenhaal tells KCRW about finding her power as a director — which is how she wound up shooting “The Lost Daughter” in Greece.

And she explains how she found the courage to write to the intimidating anonymous Italian author who writes under the pen name Elena Ferrante, seeking permission to adapt one of her books. The author’s response was unlike anything she’s ever told another director.

Plus, banter buddies Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw join Kim Masters to look ahead to what 2022 holds for Hollywood.