Movies

An interview with Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore has become quite the lesbian icon. She’s played queer in The Hours and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and played the wife of a closeted gay man in Far from Heaven. And this year, she hooked up with Amanda Seyfried in Chloe and is now co-starring with Annette Bening as lesbian parents in out writer-director Lisa Cholodenko‘s The Kids Are All Right. AfterEllen.com caught up with Moore as she met the press for the upcoming release to talk about families of all kinds, how Bening compares to the rest of her on-screen love interests and how Kids is a political film in how it isn’t political at all.

AfterEllen.com: This year, you’ve had Chloe with Amanda Seyfried and now Kids. What is it about roles like these that attract you to them? Julianne Moore: It’s interesting – both of those roles are about middle age, which is exactly where I am. I think it’s no mistake that I’m attracted to this stuff. [Both films] are also about long-term relationships. Both of these women sort of go, “Wait a minute, where am I? I’ve lived X number of years with this person.”

In Chloe, she feels like her husband is having an affair and she’s disappearing and she has all these issues and she spins this whole story. And in this, you see these people who have been together for 20 years and there’s suddenly this tension because one of them doesn’t know who she is anymore. It’s interesting that they’re similar thematically. That exploration of relationships and time I think is really interesting. AE: You were attached to this project for a long time. What was it about working with Lisa that had that grip on you?

JM: I loved her movies so much. I love Laurel Canyon and High Art – I actually approached her at a Women in Film luncheon and asked her why I hadn’t seen the script for High Art. [Laughs] And she was like, “I think you were working.” I’m like, “I don’t think I was! I never even saw it!” I said I would really love to work with her and we expressed our admiration for each other and she sent me this. Her movies are so much about relationships. There’s never an event in her films; it’s really about how people connect and how they communicate and what they’re trying to illicit from each other and how they love each other. It’s the kind of film I respond to the most because it’s about human behavior.

AE: When you were reading the script, what stuck out to you?

JM: The thing about families is that they’re with you from the beginning to the end and they’re with you through some tough stuff. Mia (Wasikowska, who plays Moore’s daughter, Joni) was saying in an interview that they’re the only people who go through that whole life experience with you; they see everything. There’s something incredibly intimate about that. What’s so interesting about this movie is that it really highlights how important a family is. What a long-term relationship is. What it means to stick it out with somebody; to forgive people’s mistakes; to punish people within your family; to guide them toward growing up and leaving after you’ve been so attached – all of these things. The film is a really interesting exploration of that.

AE: Did the Jules character appeal to you instantly? Or did you consider playing Nic?

JM: I liked Jules right away. Jules was the one I responded to. I liked how searching she is, how in between she is. I just really responded to it. AE: She’s very playful.

JM: Yeah she is. And she’s very emotional, too. She feels first and she thinks second. Her gift is her ability to connect with people. Somebody said, “You have chemistry with everybody.” I said, “That’s kind of what Jules is.” She’s the kind of person who people are like, “Hey, I really like her.” She’s all out front like that. That was a fun thing to play.

AE: How would you rate Annette Bening among the love interests you’ve had on-screen? You’ve had so many!

JM: I know! I’ve had a lot! [Laughs] I’m doing a Steve Carell movie right now and I turned to the writer and said, “I think this is the first movie I haven’t kissed anybody in!” And the writer said, “No, you kiss Kevin Bacon!” I forgot that I had to kiss him. I’ve kissed so many actors! And actresses! Actors and actresses are great kissers. That’s our secret – we’re all really good kissers.

AE: Some of the sex scenes had to be trimmed to get the R rating. Did that surprise you?

JM: Who knows what those people are looking at, I really don’t know. It seems crazy. I have less of an issue with that kind of stuff than with things exploding. Sex is OK, everybody does it. Most of us don’t throw bombs. [Laughs]

AE: You have no problem showing your body on-screen. It’s very honestly exposed.

JM: Thank you, but everyone has a problem showing their bodies. There’s not much exposed in Kids – there are no body parts. The stuff in Chloe – that was harder! Particularly with a 24-year-old on top of me. [Laughs]

It was easier in Kids because it was more covered up and it was more comic – we were just rolling around and stuff like that. It’s never easy to do; you’re trying to give people an authentic experience at the movies and this was supposed to be funny.

AE: Are you nervous before you do a sex scene?

JM: Everybody’s nervous before that stuff, yeah. But it’s part of our job and you figure out how to do it.

AE: You have a long history of being an ally to the LGBT community. How do you feel about this film as a political film?

JM: I’ve said this a lot, but films don’t influence culture as much as they reflect it. I think the reason we can have a film like this is because these are the kind of families we’re seeing right now; this is not shocking. That said, there was an article on the front page of the New York Times about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and they were saying that repealing that act is a major, major thing because what does change opinion is proximity. That if your next door neighbor is gay, if the person in the unit with you is gay, and suddenly you’re like, “Oh my gosh, they’ve been here the whole time and I didn’t know they were gay, they’re just like me!”

That’s what changes, that’s what makes people think that this is not other, this is not different. That being said, the fact that the movie presents everything that way is ultimately very helpful. But it’s also generational. My kids are growing up in a world where people have two moms or two dads or two moms or two dads who have split up and re-partnered just like a lot of heterosexual couples. They’re living in a world where all of it is happening. It is not different. I read a script 15 years ago that was about a lesbian cop and she was in the closet. I asked to re-read it – it’s with Christine Vachon – and I said, “Why don’t you send it to me again and we’ll look at it.” I read it and e-mailed her that it’s really dated. I don’t think we can do it. We’d literally have to make it a period piece. And that’s great.

AE: There’s nothing mentioned about the kids having any problems in school – it’s refreshing that having two gay parents is a non-issue in the film.

JM: The was also an article about an AMA study of same-sex parents over the past 24 years and now the kids have come of age, and they’re able to talk to these children and they found that the kids are very well-adjusted socially, have done well academically, etc. These are very well-loved, cared-for, cherished and smart kids. Very well-parented children with no problems at all. That’s just not an issue, which is great. AE: Did you feel you picked up any of Lisa’s mannerisms?

JM: Totally! Did you hear my voice? I was doing Lisa! Lisa was like, “I like that! You’re doing this sort of surfer-lesbian thing.” And I was like, “Really, Lisa!” [Laughs] It was really funny.

AE: Was that something you did subconsciously?

JM: It was conscious! Of course! [Laughs] It was completely deliberate. I love her voice, I’m really into it! That’s my choice.

“The Kids Are All Right” opens July 9.

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