Maggie Gyllenhaal, director of ‘The Lost Daughter,’ on corresponding with novelist Elena Ferrante

Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her feature film directing debut with “The Lost Daughter,” based on the novel by Italian author Elena Ferrante. Gyllenhaal says she exchanged emails with the author, who writes under a pseudonym and whose real identity is not known. “In some ways not knowing who she is has meant that she’s been able to be whatever it is that I needed her to be,” says Gyllenhaal.