Maggie Gyllenhaal is proud that her new film 'The Kindergarten Teacher' surprises viewers.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
The 41-year-old actress "loved the feeling" of her upcoming drama - a remake of a 2014 Israeli film which follows a pre-school instructor who forms an intense relationship with an unusually poetic five-year-old - surprising audiences when it was shown at Sundance Festival.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, she said: "I loved the feeling when it showed at Sundance, where people went in expecting one thing and the rug was pulled out from under them. The film is truthful and hard to sit with, but that's the intention."
The 'Secretary' star went on to explain that she is happier with her recent work than anything she's done before and although she's had to go through some "painful learning" the actress said she's been "trusting her instinct" about what roles to accept these days.
She said: "I've been trusting my instinct about what jobs to take and it's been really serving me well. But I've had to go through some painful learning.
"That's the way life works - you have to go through hard, dark times to keep learning and ultimately keep moving forward."
Maggie has previously admitted she struggles to put director Sara Colangelo's 'The Kindergarten Teacher' into a specific genre because it is such a unique story.
She previously said: "It was like nothing I'd read before, and it felt impossible to categorise it, which I still feel is very true in the final product. I mean, is it a horror movie? Is it a thriller? Is it kind of like a French movie, you know? What is it? I think it is new and that is one of the things that compelled me about it."
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