Maggie Gyllenhaal's journey from acclaimed actress to a director with an Oscar-nominated debut is deeply intertwined with her experiences on film festival juries. "Maybe 10 days after I finished my final mix in color on ‘The Lost Daughter,’ I went right into the Cannes jury," she recalled from the bustling Hotel Excelsior at the Venice Film Festival, where her directorial debut first premiered. "It was really incredible to, after having just finished my first film, sit and watch 23 films made by really interesting filmmakers. And I absolutely feel inspired being here now."

Now, as she concludes her tenure as the Venice 2026 competition jury president, Gyllenhaal is not just being inspired but also doing the inspiring. She premiered her new short film, "Flesh Impact," at Venice, featuring none other than this year's Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Ellen Burstyn.

Made in collaboration with Genesis, "Flesh Impact" sees Gyllenhaal reuniting with familiar faces like Peter Sarsgaard and Dakota Johnson, as well as key behind-the-scenes collaborators such as "The Bride!" cinematographer Lawrence Sher and "The Lost Daughter" editor Affonso Gonçalves. The short endeavors to imagine what screen icon Marilyn Monroe might say in her 100th year.

The Genesis of 'Flesh Impact' and its Connection to 'The Bride!'

The project came to Gyllenhaal while she was deep in the editing process for her upcoming feature, "The Bride!" The request was to create a film commemorating Marilyn Monroe's centenary, offering an imagined version of Monroe an opportunity to act in ways she was denied during her lifetime. "I'm sure they imagined a young Marilyn Monroe," Gyllenhaal noted. "But it’s an interesting thing to come to me. And so, let me let it knock around in my head for a minute and see what comes up." The idea for "Flesh Impact" quickly formed, and Gyllenhaal, despite her initial limited knowledge of Monroe, dove into extensive research.

"I really learned a lot about her," she explained. "I went on a deep dive and got really interested and found a lot of — I was going to say empathy, which is not wrong — but also ways in which I really related to her experience."

The short film shares a distinct cinematic language with "The Bride!" due to their concurrent production. "It is in a similar language in some ways, to be honest, because I was literally making it at the same time," Gyllenhaal confirmed. "Dead, very well-known iconic people coming back to say some other things that might have been on their mind. This is definitely similar." The interviewer even pointed out an "SOS" line present in both films.

Collaborators and the Art of Casting

Gyllenhaal often works with a trusted circle of actors and crew, a practice she finds invaluable for efficiency, especially on fast-paced projects like "Flesh Impact." "I need my guys. I need my Larry Sher. We speak the same language. We work so deeply and intimately together," she stated, mentioning her editor Affonso Gonçalves and production designer Karen Murphy. While she appreciates the fluidity of working with familiar faces, she also welcomes new talent.

"Ellen’s totally new, and Christian [Bale]’s new, and Penélope [Cruz] was new [working on 'The Bride!']," she said. "I like it all. I like having that conversation continue that’s been happening for years with people you’ve worked with already. And I also love going, ‘Oh wow, who are you, and what are you bringing to the party?’"

As an actor herself, Gyllenhaal has a profound understanding of performance. She described how her Method-based training allowed her to instantly connect with Ellen Burstyn, who also trained at The Actors Studio. "I think that there are many very good actors — many — and there are a tiny handful of brilliant ones," Gyllenhaal mused. "When I see one of those actors pop up somewhere or they come to mind... I’m choosing from a very tiny group, but they’re not all people I’ve worked with. There’s many others, there are people I dream of working with, and hope to work with."

Casting Ellen Burstyn held particular significance for the film's themes. "Some of the things that the movie’s about are life or death when applied to Marilyn Monroe. The ways that we consume actors. In her case, she didn’t survive it," Gyllenhaal explained. "And then you look at Ellen who did survive it... what she’s offered us from the time Ellen Burstyn was 36 until now is so valuable, that Ellen is a presence in the movie as Ellen. And not only as Ellen playing a character, the difference between her experience and Marilyn’s experience, it makes me sad."

Navigating the Nuances of AI in Filmmaking

During a panel discussion, Gyllenhaal mentioned her brief flirtation with AI for "Flesh Impact." She was asked to consider using licensable AI images but ultimately decided against it. "I found it was not a useful tool for this project in that I was after literally the opposite of what it was providing me with," she clarified. "I was after the opposite of the icon, or I was after the really, really deeply human in relation to this iconic image of somebody." She observed that adding a machine-generated layer to Dakota Johnson's performance diminished the human element she sought.

While Gyllenhaal admits to being a novice in understanding AI, she holds significant ethical and environmental concerns about its broader implications. "If I had found that it had been useful, I would’ve been in an ethical bind," she confessed, grateful she didn't face that dilemma. "The environmental aspect is not something you can just say as a qualification. It’s pretty fucking major, ok. And then the cultural aspect that comes along with the environmental one."

Venice: A Place of Support and Truth-Telling

Gyllenhaal chose to premiere "Flesh Impact" at Venice because of her deep connection to the festival. "I love Venice. Venice has been really supportive of me, and not only do I love being here — it’s like I said in the opening statement, it’s where I became a director. It’s where my first film was born," she stated. "I feel really supported by this festival. And so yes, I showed it to them first."

Ultimately, for Gyllenhaal, her work, including "Flesh Impact," is about a fundamental pursuit: "Listen, I’m just trying to tell the truth as bravely and honestly as I can about the world as I see it. That’s all I’m doing and this is what came out."