Up for Sayles

''It's something I made up,'' says John Sayles of his latest indie, in which six women reside in a Latin American country before bringing their newly adopted kids home. The movie boasts a typically Saylesian powerhouse cast, including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daryl Hannah, Lili Taylor, and Oscar winners Rita Moreno, Mary Steenburgen, and Marcia Gay Harden.

To gather his ensemble, the ''Sunshine State'' helmer teamed with casting director Cindy Tolan, who had just worked on ''Personal Velocity,'' another distaff drama featuring an unlikely group. As she did for ''Velocity,'' Tolan sought actresses with theatrical experience, which she hoped would reveal a richness in each character: ''There has to be a lot going on in the person.'' While better-known stars like Moreno didn't have to audition, the process proved essential in hiring then-little-known Gyllenhaal, who had yet to break out in ''Secretary.'' Tolan tested about 60 actresses for the part, and Sayles says he was pleased with the result: ''[Gyllenhaal] was terrific. It was a nice surprise.''

So was putting together a cast that clicked so well they spent the four-week Mexican shoot living in a casa of their own. ''It was really great because that's what happens in the movie,'' says Hannah. ''We're all thrown together even though we don't know each other.'' Chemistry like that can't just be conjured. (June 3)