Un big and affectionate smile. «Hey you! How are you?”. And you already feel better, you relax. Three years have passed since the last meeting with Julianne Moore – it was for Gloria Bell (story of a fifty-year-old divorcee looking for love and a new life) – and you feel like you talked and joked with her two days ago.
Every time I am surprised by this availability, this immediate opening and letting go. Generally, stars of his caliber, with years and years of success behind them and handfuls of the most prestigious awards and recognitions – Oscars, Bafta, Golden Globes and Emmys – portray themselves as oysters. Not her, Julianne Moore, she remained the same, as she was. This is how I remember it from the time of Safewhen I interviewed her for the first time in January 1995 in Park City, at the Sundance festival. Both hooded and cold, both enthusiastic about that super independent, disturbing, subversive film. I, as a fascinated spectator, observed the amazed audience, confused by the deliberately ambiguous tone of the story and, above all, uncertain about its message. The director was Todd Haynes.
Julianne – she recalls – burst into tears of joy when the director offered her the part of that young and beautiful, but emotionally disconnected wife, who spent her days in the gym, in the garden and at lunch with her friends: she knew, she felt that ‘he would have made it his, and he would have given a soul to that alienated and suffering creature.
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in May December.
He didn’t know yet, though with Haynes he would have shot others four films – Ior I’m not here, Far from heaven, The room of wonders And May December – in which with ironic coldness, humor, but also delicacy, they would continue together to dissect, deconstruct and communicate to the spectators the neuroses and desperation well hidden by the perfect American housewife.
May December, inspiration from a famous news story
«I also can’t believe that so much time has passed. I’ve been working with Todd for thirty years» pronounces the syllables. «It’s truly a huge amount of time! I would never have imagined that I would share this creative partnership with him, and that he would promptly call me back and include me in his future projects. It was a wonderful gift, a miracle. Is it ever possible? Sometimes I fall into a sort of funny amnesia that obscures what we have done together.” Laughs, Julianne Moore. «How lucky it was to get that audition for Safe: I doubt I would have gotten here today without that opportunity. That audition changed my life.”
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in May December.
Dark checked jacket with a masculine cut, black sweater, hair tied, light and transparent make-up, the only touch of color are the bright red nails. Chic and rigorous, Moore is for decades one of the most admired and requested actresses both by independent directors and by blockbuster Hollywood. For her versatility – she shines in both dramatic and comic interpretations – and for that subtle and elegant charm (it is no coincidence that she is adored by the most famous designers, she is now brand ambassador for Bottega Veneta), they wanted her directors such as Robert Altman and Neil Jordan, Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Spielberg, the Coen brothers and Gus Van Sant, to name just a handful.
In May December Julianne Moore is Gracie, a character based on Mary Kay Letourneau, the Californian teacher, wife and mother, who in the late 1990s began a sexual relationship with her then thirteen-year-old student (Vili Fualaau, in the film played by Charles Melton). Accused and convicted of child abuse, in prison for six years, Mary Kay then married Vili, lived happily with him for 14 years and raised three children.
The upheaval in Julianne Moore’s life
Haynes, however, is not interested in Gracie’s biography, he shows her to us in a domestic paradise, ideal mother and wife, smilingly baking delicious cakes, one after the other. But the arrival of a famous television actress (played by Natalie Portman) who wants to bring her story to the screen will break the spell, shatter that postcard image and reveal all that is threatening in the American archetype of the exemplary housewife. , actually a sort of “monster” nestled between the walls of the house.
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.
«It wasn’t easy to immerse myself in the character of Gracie, it’s a decidedly challenging role, because she is a radically unconventional woman, but the way in which Todd builds the story and the framework in which he places it make everything simpler and more natural. Working with Natalie was a real joy, I’ve been following her since I saw her in The black Swan. The relationship between these two women is different from what you usually hear or see on screen: It’s not a mother-daughter relationship, and it’s not a love story, but it’s still an intimate and intricate relationship. Here: I’m always interested in exploring emotions, analyzing them and then throwing myself into them headlong.”
Julianne Moore, soon to play an ambitious mother
Moore’s passion for acting it has never faded over the years. «My interest, if anything, has grown over time, it has expanded» she explains. «I thought that one day I would get tired of acting, but the opposite happened. Mine is a continuous challenge, a constant search for in-depth analysis. For me it is a profound pleasure to immerse myself in realities that lose their contours and become increasingly more complicated and real. In this story, in particular, I am interested in understanding Gracie, her need to put herself on stage, to project an image different from what she is. We all do it a bit, it’s true, and we all know people like her, I think it’s due to ours stubborn refusal to look inside. I wanted to immerse myself in that emotional world, understand why I felt uncomfortable and so insecure.” But the actress immediately changes her tone, and she plays down: «But I also enjoyed filming May December… Running madly in an action movie to avoid the imminent explosion is not my strong point” (laughs).
Julianne Moore and Charles Melton in May December.
Avid reader since childhood – the family moved often to follow their military father and reading was great company – passionate about culture, design, architecture and art (she recently dedicated herself to ceramics), the eclectic Moore is happy to be married to director Bart Freundlich, whom she met in 1996 on the set of The secrets of the heartwhich he wrote and directed, and with whom he raised two children, 26-year-old Caleb and 21-year-old Liv.
Engaged for years in the campaign for gun control as well as for equal rights for women (including wages), the actress Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski And Still Alice continues to follow different projects. Seeing is believing: we will soon admire her in the television series Mary & George as the intriguing and ambitious Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who pushed her son George to seduce King James I of England, becoming his favorite and one of the most influential figures of the English court. Another woman, in short, who happily wallows in a murky and corrupt ethic. This time, however, Mary is much lighter, a very different woman from Gracie, Moore points out. A romantic and costume drama in which she is a mother without scruples and integrity was missing from her book. Is this finally complete today?
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