After the failure of The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal bounces back in a French environmentalist community
The director will adapt a successful novel centered on an undercover agent and it will always be for Warner Bros.
Her female version of Frankenstein was one of the biggest financial flops of the year at the box office.
But despite the disappointing results of The Bride!Warner Bros. decided to continue its collaboration with Maggie Gyllenhaal by entrusting her with a new directing project.
The studio has just acquired the rights to Creation Lakethe novel by Rachel Kushner, with the intention of letting Maggie Gyllenhaal develop the adaptation before producing and directing it.
Published in 2024, the book follows Sadie Smith, a 34-year-old American working as a secret agent. Sent to France to infiltrate a collective of environmental activists, she uses her talents of manipulation and seduction to get closer to the group. But as she integrates into the community, her certainties begin to waver. Presented as a thriller as dark as it is ironic, the novel explores questions of identity, history and radical political engagement.
The book met with significant critical and public success. Bestseller of New York Times, Creation Lake was notably included in the final selection of the prestigious Booker Prize and was noticed by several major American literary awards.
This confidence placed in Maggie Gyllenhaal may be surprising after the commercial failure of The Bride! Released this year, this gothic tale inspired by The Bride of Frankenstein only collected around $24 million worldwide for an estimated budget of $90 million. Starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, the film also divided critics with its feminist and very personal rereading of the myth created by Mary Shelley.
But the filmmaker maintains solid credit in Hollywood thanks to her career behind the camera. His first feature film, The Lost Daughterreleased in 2022 and adapted from a novel by Elena Ferrante, was praised by critics and received three Oscar nominations, including that of Best Adapted Screenplay for Maggie Gyllenhaal.
No casting or release date yet for Creation Lake.
