Julianne Moore Breaks Down Her Career, from 'Children of Men' to 'May December' | Vanity Fair

I think every movie helps you grow as an actor if you don't feel like you're learning something or getting a little bit better or kind of expanding I feel disappointed in myself I feel like there's something wrong I have to find [Music] something hi I'm Julian Moore and this is the timeline of my career I didn't realize that it was possible to be an actor it was something that I did after school then we moved to Frankfurt Germany and I joined the drama club and I met the drama club teacher and she was casting maier's tart I'd never even heard of molier it was kind of an amazing experience to do this play with her she said at the end of it you know I think you're really good you know I think you could do this for a living it had never occurred to me that I would do something like that I'd never even seen a professional play but she gave me a copy of Dramatics Magazine with some different schools in it and I came home um with you know different colleges where you could major in acting and I sat at the dinner table and said to my parents I'm going to be an actor I don't blame you for that please don't be kind to me it only makes it worse it's not wrong to love somebody even when you know it can't why did it have to be Seth I love playing Twins and as a World Turns there was a writer who came on to the show named Douglas Marland and he was sort of a famous soap opera writer and he decided that he wanted to write a really intense storyline for me so my character was named Franny Hughes and she was the daughter of the chief of staff of the hospital and she was sort of a a heroine type she was a a damsel in distress and he decided that he would give me an evil you know an evil twin but in this case she was my evil half-sister cousin because we had the same dad but our moms were sisters ew he helped us find you there's there's a bond between you you're both creative people you have lots in common that's why patients fall in love with their doctor sometimes I guess it was such a thrill to get the opportunity to do that to have a writer write me something that was that complicated at the time at the very beginning of my career but the thing that I learned very quickly about performing twins is that it's really boring because you're always by yourself when I won the Emy for AAL turns I had actually already completed my soap Boer contract I got a phone call just saying hey you won the Emmy and it was kind of amazing I was thrilled absolutely thrilled but also weird and I felt kind of disconnected to it because I had already sort of completed this three years on the soap opera it was certainly an amazing validation it's and and something that I never never expected it's a great memory of my time on that show the most exciting thing about the lost world was Steven Spielberg talk about a career defining moment I can remember being in his office and and talking to him about working on the movie and I was like what am I doing here it's stei work and so fascinating to work with him too because he works with like such alacrity he works as if he's making an independent movie I've never seen anything like it he has all of his equipment as at his disposal and all these huge action sequences it's very complicated but he gets it done let me get his head okay careful I think the most memorable thing about it was carrying around that baby dinosaur which you know these are the days of animatronics so it was before CG it was an actual heavy mechanical dinosaur it weighed probably 70 lb and it had a motor in it they would turn the motor on and you could hear it Go and it would move like that too like in my arms and I have to run I ran everywhere holding that dinosaur it was like I was like this is heavy guys let me put it down and it was so fun to be in in a in a series it's like that's become so iconic to us have you seen Jack's house no he will Boogie Nights wow what a thrill that was I was living in La at the time I lived in La for a few years in the 90s and I went to a party a friend of mine said I want you to meet somebody because he wants you to be in his movie I met Paul and and Paul was terrific and he was like you're going to be in my movie man and I was like I have read it yet but yes I'll read I'm going to read it and I went home and I read it and I was like yes it's one of the best screenplays that I've ever read and and the the part was so original and so exciting if it's not a hit I'm going to get kicked out of my apartment my landlord's a real jerk really why don't you take your pants off it's important I get an idea of your size I Had No Reservations about Boogie Nights I really didn't it's funny because I think there were some people in my life who I was working with you know who represented me who felt was it the the right decision to make a movie about the porn industry but it was very clear to me that the movie was not exploitative and that it was original and that it was heartbreaking I think there are some really really wonderful actors who bring so much personality and energy and presence to movies they can almost make make something out of nothing but I'm not one of them I really need it to be there and so when I think of the great opportunities I've had they all start with a really great script and Amber Waves was there it was very very clear to me who she was and then when you look at the cast now my God all those incredible actors and cool people really really cool people it was such a wild experience I mean it's it's indelible for me really my a has been commended as being strongly vaginal which bothers some men the word itself makes some men uncomfortable vagina that was an audition Joel and Ethan Cohen want you to come in and read for this and their language is so fantastic and so precise ma Labowski has lots and lots of really long speeches I can remember working on the audition really hard and I had this idea about this kind of voice that I wanted to do I asked my father about his withdrawal of a million dollars from the foundation account and he told me about this abduction but I tell you it is preposterous this compulsive fornicator is taking my father for the proverbial ride and Jeff Bridges who I basically couldn't look in the eye because he was so funny I'd have to look at his mouth when he was acting or like his chest or something so I wouldn't crack up and ruin everything I could go on and on about Jeff he's just a genius and and also maybe one of the loveliest person people I've ever worked with he's just so so lovely and so patient there was one day he went he was doing a speech and at the same point in every take there a plane would Circle and it went 14 times 14 times he had to do that monologue and he never got mad I was like here's something else I love the big Low's a cult classic because what was funny about it too is that it opened I saw the movie and then it like tanked people hated the movie they're like oh what a failure but then I noticed as the years went by I'd walk down the street people be like big Labowski big Labowski and it became evident that it was something that was being watched like all over the place and suddenly became one of those movies that everybody watches and people quote and people dress up as a character so I I'm so thrilled that in my life that I've achieved that I've managed to be in a movie that's one of those movies that maybe my grandkids will even know about just by its reputation and by its celebration this is Special Agent clar Starling 514 3690 deposing Mason R Verger on March 20th sworn and attested I want to tell you Sumer Camp Ridley a masterful director it was an honor working with him and he's so Savvy and so quick and he you know he sketches everything that he shoots he's got it all figured out because I was living in New York and they said really wants to meet you and I had a a little boy at the time they said could you fly to LA to meet him but I just had to go in and out so I I flew to Los Angeles in a really early flight met him had a meeting barely spoke at the meeting cuz I didn't know what to say and then left and then flew back to New York rley told me later he said I I see cuz I said to everybody she's awfully quiet and I said no I'm not quiet I just didn't know what to say what are you supposed to say of course I felt pressure Jody Foster is absolutely iconic and it's one of my favorite performers ever and I think that I think the most important thing was not to try to I'm like I'm not going to be jod there's no way and I'm not in that movie I'm in this movie and I think that was something that Ridley made very clear there are no comparisons I think Ridley maybe feel pretty secure and you can only do what you can do Anthony Hopkins is a is a brilliant actor absolutely brilliant who has a tremendous sense of play I remember we were doing the scene after the brain eating scene happens and we're in the kitchen and he's kind of leaning over me and he's like he looks like he's going to stab me and he's threatening me and he leaned in he goes isn't this fun baking the cake to show him that we love him otherwise he won't know we love him that's right I never think about how films compare to things that I've done prior the most interesting thing about being a kind of like a gig worker which is what we are it's almost like the job you discarded the job behind you because you're moving on to the next one so you're just kind of thinking like what's ahead of me what's ahead of me this was a book that I greatly admired by Michael Cunningham and I remember I reading the book and thinking like God I'd do anything to be in this if they ever make a movie of this I would do anything then of course the movie was announced and I knew that I was being considered for it and boy did I want it you know I mean I really really wanted it it was all I could think about and also the fact that that was the part that I identified with when I when I read the book I think cuz at that point I did have this little boy and it was all between a mother and her small son was something that I kind of understood it's one of those things where you you know you really are trying very hard to get something and you're really wishing that you'd get it and then when it happened it was just it was incredible what a lovely movie such sensitivity such such beauty I think it's one of the most successful adaptations of a novel that I've I've ever seen a Clarity to it and emotion and absolutely staggering why am I here Jo I need your help I need Transit papers not for me a girl she's a Fuji need to get her to the coast to pass security checkpoints I love the script I loved Alonso coron he was living in my neighborhood actually at the time he was in New York and said that he wanted to talk to me about something so he actually spoke to me about the project before I read it and he was like there's something that I want you to do and it's you know it's very special and it's not going to take a lot of time and he kind of described it and he's such an extraordinary filmmaker I love what he created with me and cl it's really a lesson in storytelling and that amazing shot with the camera that moved around the car that got us all where we all participated by kind of moving our bodies and ducking and turning it was all one take the camera starts outside moves inside the car kind of moves around all of us and then suddenly goes outside again and then you know and then there's like all this Burning I mean it's a really famous shot and I think what was special about it that we were active participants in the mechanics of it I'm so much older than I thought I'd be there's a a a turnoff foul for the sprinklers over there last week you know when I told you that I had to work late I really went to see the new Twilight movie by myself I don't know why I did that and it was so bad I'm always actively looking to do a comedy frankly I love comedies and I I love being in them and this was a screenplay that was so fantastic and so so so incredibly like human and real and multigenerational and starring the great Steve Carell you know who I absolutely adore and Emma Stone who was amazing and Ryan Gosling and Kevin bacen what a crazy cast right it was so much fun to do that I forgot how much I cried in it when I finally saw it because I all I remember doing is laughing because we laughed really hard I really enjoyed myself on it then when I saw the movie I'm like oh I forgot I'm the one who's always was crying because my marriage fell apart like God this a bad time yeah Jacob you know how much pain and suffering you cause my friend you Dum son stay the hell away from my daughter you stay away from my daughter I don't even know you that fight scene was great because of the level of talent and the complication I think in the scene the fact that we were all in it at the same time you know it was one of those things is really elaborate in terms of the the choreography and and the editing I think is wonderful because as people come in and things start to accelerate you watch it go boom boom boom boom boom boom boom and then there's that really you know Nutty Nutty fight my daughter loves now because she's of course a young woman she's 21 I'm blindfolded the whole time and then when I take my blindfold off the first thing I say and it was an ad lib when I see Ryan Gosling to Emma Stone is oh honey he's so cute and she she she just loves it because that's how you know if she has a boyfriend or something I'm always like that's he's a cute one I loved working with Ricard requa um I love working with all the actors and it's one of those movies that people always reference they're like oh I love that movie I watch that every year and it's it's just a I I think it's just a movie about about loving people and making mistakes and finding your way back and things not being perfect and not being what you expected I love that one did you get the numbers the what my approval rating in Alaska they're not in yet I am trying to trust you people but you're making it really hard hard for me I'm sorry Governor I'll call Steve right away about it not like that'll do anything Game Change was what maybe one of the more difficult undertakings of my entire career honestly I spoke to J roach about it and said yes before I really gave it enough thought you know and then when I got home and I really considered what it was going to take I was like this is going to be bad I had two months to prepare and this is the first time in my life that I stopped doing anything anything at all except preparing I did all the mom stuff but I didn't meet friends I didn't go to the movies I didn't go to plays I wiped my social calendar and all I did was work with my dialect coach and watch footage of Sarah Palin and I even took I would pick up my kids from school in the car and I took everything off my playlist except for Sarah Palin's voice so that's all they heard when we drove from place to place with Sarah Palin talking like that for two solid months they're like you don't even have any music mom you just have this lady's voice because I knew if I got it wrong like the minute when you're playing someone who's that iconic when he who's that present in in in popular in public life right if you get the tone wrong then they're like I can't watch this this is this is this isn't her so it felt really like urgent that I that I get it right why won't you take me seriously no I know what I'm feeling I know what it's feeling and and it feels like my brain is dying and everything I've worked for in my entire life is going wash and Rich had sent me another script previously came very close to Doing It ultimately decided um that I wasn't going to do it and then really shortly after that they were like can we send you something else though they sent me the script and I couldn't stop crying I was really surprised by its immediacy I didn't expect to be so compelled by this I emailed them right away yes I'm going to do this but you know you guys have a whole movie to make so I doubt you're going to get to it they said no we're going to get to it we're definitely going to get to it next when we finally did do it the the one prerequisite I had I was working on The Hunger Games it's like I had a whole year of The Hunger Games and they were like we have to squeeze it in before that I said there's no way because I don't have time to do the prep they were like well no you have you have a month in November I said I have no time to do the prep we had to go to Hunger Games and say like is there any way we could make this work out they gave me the month of February off I went went back to Washington rich I said we can do it if we shoot it in February just those days that's it and then I could start my prep in November when I had a little bit of a space and so it was the same thing like I just did this really kind of rigorous prep all the way up to it did some stuff in Hunger Games and then when I got to be February went straight into that this project had to be deeply deeply observed because I knew nothing about this disease and I knew no one with it I'm really fortunate that my f that I haven't had that in my family I was really meticulous and I and I said to them too I said I don't want to do anything on screen that I haven't seen personally I said because behavior is really important important it's important to the people who are dealing with this disease with the families of people who are dealing with it so I think it was another opportunity to to really learn how much observation matters and how much um information matters and immersion in a subject and I also had some people you know who who were advising me who were in early stages of of the of Alzheimer's disease who were would they be there and I'd ask them questions like what do you feel like what what do you do and that gave me so much so much clarity I heard you saw Tom yes for coffee how was he he's handsome oh yes he's very handsome I could see how being in a relationship with him in a marriage would be isolating precisely Natalie's the best I love Natalie I knew her a little bit socially just from like around from around La and once we were at a Stevie Wonder concert together and I wrote her an email after Black Swan just saying how impressed I was by that beautiful performance but I didn't know her I didn't know how she worked of course you have some trepidation when you're working very intimately with someone that you that you haven't met and I met her and I was like she's amazing she's so accessible she's so available she's really really smart she's very practical about her work she's very similar to me and that she's very very committed to her work but she doesn't carry it around with her like once it's over we could relax and talk and enjoy each other's company everything Natalie and I created we created together and we could push each other and just go a little bit further every time the script was so beautiful and so loaded and so muscular so the things that people say are deceptively simple but they are weaponized and I think that's what Natalie and I I think because of our um the intimate nature of our scenes and our connection were're really able to to come together in a great way where were you I took a walk showed Elizabeth and neighborhood Elizabeth she's getting on my last nerve the script initially for May December went to Natalie and Natalie was a person who sented to Todd Haynes who I've made many many movies with and Todd right away thought of me for Gracie and said he wrote me an email saying I'm going to slip you a script because he didn't want to tell Natalie that I might be interested unless he knew that I was going to be interested in the script and I was so excited to get an email like that from him I was like wow yes yes I am in I mean first of all to find a a movie with two really complicated compelling female characters who are in kind of a power struggle or certainly a struggle for whose truth whose story is going to win and Gracie's story she's concocted this narrative you know about of of of true love you know she's someone who had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old and I think in order to kind of propel this narrative forward she thinks it is a great love story in that sense he has to be the man at 13 and she is the child and she Remains the child sort of elevates him to to manhood but her view of life is is as that of someone who is hyper feminine very childlike very naive is fragile and dependent and it's very difficult narrative I think to give support to and so she's always looking for affirmation from the outside she looks for that Elizabeth and then you also see how how emotionally volatile she is because of the space between what happened and the story that she's telling being like a kind of a gig system you're always looking forward you're always thinking what's next it's almost like eating candy when you're eating candy you're like oh man I love this candy and then you you're done with it and you don't think about the candy you ate you're just like when can I get some more candy [Music]

Channel: Vanity Fair

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Keywords: as the world turns, boogie nights, career timeline, charles melton, children of men, crazy stupid love, entertainment, game change, hannibal, julianne moore, julianne moore best movies, julianne moore best roles, julianne moore funny, julianne moore interview, julianne moore movies, may december, movies and tv, natalie portman, still alice, the big lebowski, the hours, the lost world jurassic park, tv and movies, vanity fair

Id: YhYiWh39JRc

Length: 21min 8sec (1268 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2024