Julianne Moore Explains What She Needs in a Film Director

Summary

Podcast Summary: The New Yorker Radio Hour – Julianne Moore Explains What She Needs in a Film Director

Introduction

In this engaging episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour, hosted by David Remnick and produced by WNYC Studios in collaboration with The New Yorker, legendary actress Julianne Moore delves deep into her illustrious career, her collaborations with renowned directors, and her nuanced approach to acting. Released on December 31, 2024, the episode offers listeners an intimate look into Moore's artistic journey, her working relationships, and personal insights.

Julianne Moore's Career and Directorial Collaborations

Julianne Moore begins by enumerating the impressive list of directors she has worked with over her career, including Robert Altman, Todd Haynes, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, the Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Alfonso Cuarón, Pedro Almodóvar, and more. She highlights her recent collaboration with Almodóvar in his first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, co-starring Tilda Swinton.

*Moore discusses how her film career, which didn't commence until her 30s after years in television, was serendipitously transformed by working with directors like Altman and Haynes. She reflects:

"It was just this weird confluence of opportunity and I suddenly had this film career." (03:23)

The Importance of a Director’s Point of View

Moore emphasizes the critical role a director's point of view plays in her decision to work on a project. She appreciates directors who are visionaries and auteurs, noting:

"I think that, I mean, the most important thing about a director is, is point of view." (04:39)

She values directors who not only visualize their stories distinctively but also often write their own scripts, allowing for a cohesive narrative vision. This alignment in storytelling and expression is what draws her to collaborate repeatedly with certain directors.

Acting Process and Self-Reflection

Unlike some actors who avoid watching their performances, Moore finds value in playback during the shooting process. She explains:

"Playback helps me adjust. Storyboards are fantastic. I like to look through, you know, like, through the lens." (06:12)

This approach allows her to understand her positioning within each frame and make necessary adjustments in real-time, enhancing her performance without dwelling on the final product.

Working Methods with Directors

Moore discusses her preference for directors who are well-prepared and have a clear vision. She expresses frustration when directors lack structure, stating:

"When they don't have a shot list. That's really, really hard... It feels too general to me, actually." (08:09)

Contrastingly, she praises directors like Robert Altman for their ability to balance structure with creative freedom. Reflecting on Altman's approach, she shares:

"There was this incredible shape to it with the way he was shooting it and with language... he always created a boundary." (09:00)

Personal Background and Influences

Addressing a comment about her military-influenced demeanor, Moore clarifies her upbringing and personal traits:

"I love structure because I think that I can do all that kind of stuff. And then when the camera's rolling, I'm free." (12:14)

Her father’s military background instilled in her a love for structure, which she contrasts with the creative freedom she enjoys on set.

Early Career in Television

Moore reflects on her early acting days on the soap opera As the World Turns, describing the experience as a rigorous training ground:

"It's really, really fast, and you learn to be prepared, know your lines, know what you want to accomplish..." (13:51)

Watching her early performances critically helped her develop a more relaxed and natural acting style over time.

Insights into Specific Films

Safe and May December are highlighted as significant projects in Moore’s career. Discussing a scene from Safe, she elaborates on her character's struggle with consumerism-induced malaise:

"Everything that tells her who she is makes her sick, and she doesn't know why." (17:00)

In May December, she talks about incorporating a lisp into her character to signify her protagonist’s self-perception as a child and a princess, thereby adding depth to her portrayal:

"I wanted it to be a signifier of how she thought of herself. This is a person who thinks of herself as a child and thinks of herself as a princess." (18:40)

Personal Interests

Transitioning to lighter topics, Moore shares her appreciation for basketball and the New York Knicks, attributing her interest to her family's fandom:

"What I love about watching basketball is that you can see their faces and there is so much drama." (22:11)

She appreciates the emotional exposure and drama inherent in basketball, finding it more captivating compared to other sports.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Remnick expressing gratitude to Julianne Moore for her insightful conversation. Moore's reflections offer a profound understanding of her dedication to her craft, her selective collaborations with visionary directors, and her continuous quest to explore the depths of human emotion through her roles.

Notable Quotes

• Moore on Director’s Point of View:
  “I think that, I mean, the most important thing about a director is, is point of view.” (04:39)

• Moore on Playback:
  “Playback helps me adjust. Storyboards are fantastic. I like to look through, you know, like, through the lens.” (06:12)

• Moore on Structure and Creativity:
  “I love structure because I think that I can do all that kind of stuff. And then when the camera's rolling, I'm free.” (12:14)

• Moore on Character Development in May December:
  “I wanted it to be a signifier of how she thought of herself. This is a person who thinks of herself as a child and thinks of herself as a princess.” (18:40)

Final Thoughts

Julianne Moore's candid discussion provides invaluable insights into the symbiotic relationship between an actor and a director. Her emphasis on a director's distinct vision, combined with her methodical approach to acting, underscores the essence of effective collaboration in filmmaking. For aspiring actors and enthusiasts alike, this episode serves as both an inspiration and a guide to navigating the complexities of the film industry.

Transcript

[Julianne Moore]

Listener support WNYC Studios.

[David Remnick]

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co production of WNYC Studios and the New Yorker.

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. At the New Yorker Festival recently, we were joined by a film actor we can legitimately call a legend.

[Julianne Moore]

Whether she's playing a 1950s housewife, a 1970s adult film star, a linguistics professor losing her memory, or Sarah Palin, she brings depth and humor and tragedy and incandescence to all her roles. And she's the author of the best selling children's book Freckleface Strawberry.

[David Remnick]

Staff writer Michael Shulman sat down last month with Julianne Moore.

[Julianne Moore]

The following is only a partial list of the directors she's worked with. Robert Altman, Louis Mall, Todd Haynes, Paul Thomas Anderson, Lisa Chlodenko, Steven Spielberg, the Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Steven Daldry, Alfonso Cuaron, Rebecca Miller, Jesse Eisenberg, Tom Ford, Kimberly Pierce, David Cronenberg, Julie Taymor and George Clooney. And she's just added to the list Pedro Almodovar in his first English language feature, the Room Next Door, co starring Tilda Swinton.

Have you. Have you decided where we're going?

[Unknown]

That's why I called. It's near Woodstock. It's about two hours from the city. It looks fantastic. It's a bit expensive, but, hey, the occasion calls for it.

[Julianne Moore]

Please welcome the gigantically gifted Julianne Moore.

God, I'm so flattered. Thank you very much. Thank you.

I mean, let's start with that list because, my God, I mean, that's, you know, just an incredible roster of people. And I'm curious, when you choose roles, how important is, you know, the idea of wanting to work with someone or wanting to work with someone again versus, like, a particular character or the script? Do you actually have, like, do you have like a life list, like a birder or something of directors?

You know, first of all, we don't have as much choice as you think. That's what's sort of interesting. And as you're going through that list, I thought, wow, I never ever thought in my life I would work with that roster of talent. And my film career didn't even start until I was 30. And before then I was really working in television. I started on a soap opera and I did lots of. Yeah, right on. Yeah, it's here for as the World Turns. But I just, you know, I just got the right. And so I came to New York thinking that I was gonna work in the theater. And then I also thought that somehow I could work at a regional theater for the rest of my life, which is not. Which is difficult to do. And ended up mostly doing television stuff and auditioning for Broadway things and not getting it and feeling frustrated by not getting any film work. And then when the independent film world started in the early 90s, suddenly my life changed. And one of the people who changed it was Robert Altman.

Right. Shortc.

Cause he saw me in a production of Uncle Vanya that became Vanya on 42nd street, which Louis Mal filmed. And at that same time I also auditioned for Todd Haynes for Safe. So those three movies came out at the same time in the early 90s and completely changed my life. And it was sort of, it wasn't intentional that I didn't seek these people out. It was just this weird confluence of opportunity and I suddenly had this film career.

Yes. However, I mean, when I look at this list of directors and I've been throwing myself at Julianne Moore Film Festival over the last couple weeks, which I've really enjoyed, what's striking is how, you know, these are all very visionary, auteur kind of directors that you've worked with. They're all very different and yet you're able to really find, you know, fit yourself into all of them. And I can only imagine that you, you know, an Altman film is completely different than being in at least a Chalonenko film or, you know, Cronenberg film. How do you figure out sort of what that means for each director? Are you like going back and watching their previous movies? Are you like just sitting down discussing with them, like what is the style that you want? Or is it like more intuitive?

That's an interesting question. I think that, I mean, the most important thing about a director is, is point of view. And when people ask me, they'll say, why is Ridley Scott so special? Or why is so and so different from this other director? And I'm like, I don't really see the differences. What I see is that through line of point of view, all of them have a really distinct way of telling a story and a lot of them write their own scripts as well. That's something I've been very drawn to. People who are also writers and I can sort of tell in the language, especially with first time directors, what they're trying to communicate. So that's really important to me, the language and then you see it in the frame. You know, it's like I could, Todd and I, when we did Safe, we didn't have a lot of time. We didn't have any time to really talk. We had a little bit of rehearsal. I felt like the language was very specific. But then I would always ask him to show me the frame before we, you know, and he had a lot of storyboards, too. And then I could kind of see from the way he was looking at it in combination with the language, where I was supposed to be in it, how he saw me. I was, like, always searching for, once again, his point of view. Where does my character exist in this narrative?

Okay, see, but this is totally fascinating to me because a lot of the actors who I have spoken to absolutely will not watch themselves on playback. You know, I mean, someone like Adam Driver, for instance, I profiled him. He won't ever watch anything he's in. And if you try to make him, he'll, like, run to the bathroom and throw up. Like, how does that not make you get inside your own head? Self conscious? Like, what are you getting out of watching yourself as you are shooting?

Well, you know, interesting enough, I don't like to watch the final product. I also don't. Back in the day when we had dailies, I hated dailies because dailies are. That's the footage that you shot that day. So you've already shot it. And it used to be that people would watch their own dailies. And then I don't know. But it made me feel sick because I can't change it at that point. I've done it. But I love playback, because playback, I'm like, oh, there's the frame. There's the camera movement. That's where I am. That's what. Oh, that lens is. I'm bigger than I thought. Oh, I'm further away. I need to do. So playback helps me adjust. Storyboards are fantastic. I like to look through, you know, like, through the lens. All of those things inform what I'm doing. Once it's done, forget it. I don't want to see that. That's like. That's a mess. You know, but in the process of making it, it's very exciting to watch it.

I mean, that's probably partly why you're such a director's actor. Because that's a kind of directing of yourself, like analyzing how you look in a frame and figuring out what to change.

Yeah, yeah, I get, you know. Yeah. I feel like it's a tool. Right? You know, I'm always like, what do they see? What are they communicating? You know, everything in film is a kind of a communication, you know, that's why I always hate that let's see what happens kind of directing, because I'm like, no. Or the script is a blueprint. I'm like, no, the script is not a blueprint. It's specific. You know, shots are specific. All of those things add to our understanding of a story.

I mean, without naming names, are there other things that, like, directors have done that have sort of turned you off or made you sort of alienated you from their process, where you're like, I just. I can't really work like that.

When they don't have a shot list. That's really, really hard. Because then I'm like, well, wait. You know, if you get to the set and the director hasn't prepared and they don't know how they want to shoot something, I feel lost because I'm like, well, wait. Well, then I don't understand how you see it. So how am I supposed to, you know, do my work, too? It's not. It's not. Yeah. It feels too general to me, actually.

I mean, what was Altman's process like? Cause he seems like it was very freewheeling in a way. I mean, maybe I'm thinking of, like, Nashville, which is sort of like a sprawling thing.

Well, exactly. So I'm not. I don't think. I mean, like, you have to be strict with your shots so that they have to be tight or something. But Altman, first of all, he was a person that made me want to be a film actor, because I just. I had never. I made it kind of all the way to college without ever having seen an Altman film. I missed everything in the 70s, and it wasn't until the 80s when I got to college and I saw three women in a revival house that I was. It kind of woke me up. And I'd never seen that kind of acting before, and I'd never seen that point of view before, and I'd never seen this kind of sort of naturalism to it. And I was like, that's what I want to do. I want to work with him. I want to do that kind of work. So he had such a generous kind of viewpoint of humanity. He so loved individuality and flaws and just everything that was sort of, like, weird about us. And he put all these people in a room, and everyone thought it was chaos, but it was very. Even with the improv, you might say something, and then the next one he'd go, okay, now you say that, and you say what you said before. So it was like. There was this incredible shape to it with the way he was Shooting it and with language, you know, and we're all in this pen that he kind of controlled, but you knew where the boundaries were. You know, he always created a boundary.

Right, right. So what about Almodovar? I mean, what struck you about Just, he obviously talked about somewhat. The point of view is a very strong one. What st about just his process of directing.

What I didn't understand about Pedro was that everything in his movies is so intensely personal that, you know, I think I thought, because I'm an American, too, when I first saw, like, Women on the Verge of a Nervous breakdown, I'm like, oh, Spain must be like that. I know, I know. And then I sort of learned. I was like, no, that's not Spain. You know, but when we were there and Tilda and I walked into his apartment, I saw every single one of his movies in his apartment. Like, all of the stuff, the red kitchen and all the little figures and the stacks of books and the DVDs and their opera was on. The lights were low, and I was like, so overstimulated. I was like, I don't think I can concentrate. But that's his world. And then after working with him and meeting, like, his producers and other people on the crew, I realized I'd seen them all in his movies, too. Like, even the people are in there. So everything that he does is drawn from his life. You know, he would bring jewelry to the set that he said, you know, if anybody wants to wear this pin, you know, you can put that on today and be like, okay, you know, but all of it, that's his. That's his language. That's his imagination. You are. You're in it. And I think he also has seen everything in his head. And so you're always thinking, okay, how do I fulfill this vision that he has of this. Of this film?

My colleague John Lahr wrote a profile of you in the New Yorker in 2015, and there's a quote in it from Wallace Shawn, who is in that Uncle Vanya production with you. He said, she comes from a military background. She takes a military approach to her very unusual job. Her orders are to turn into a complete maniac on Tuesday at 3:00 in the afternoon. And so she guiltlessly does that. Is that right? Is that how the military brat life rubbed off on you in a way?

No, no. You know, my father was the person who was in the army, and he was a paratroop trooper and a helicopter pilot. A really smart, wonderful person who's very liberal and not, you know, Rigorous about behavior or anything like that. I think I like. I love to learn. I like to read. I like to ask people about what's going on. You know, I like all of those things, but I do. Yes. I love structure because I think that I can do all that kind of stuff. And then when the camera's rolling, I'm free. You know, I'm free to. And it's safe. One of the things that makes me. Always rubs me the wrong way is when somebody calls an actor brave. We're not brave. We're having a great time. We're, you know, we are pretending, and that's wonderful. So you've created all these circumstances to be free and have that moment to think, like, what would that feel like? How can I make myself feel. Feel that? How can I engage in that? And the minute, you know, you say cut, you're like, oh, I did that. It's like a little bit like back with Bob Altman. He made you feel safe. He gave you a container so that you can explore this. And I think the instinct to act or for any creative endeavor, I think. I mean, I think there's pleasure involved. You know, why are we attracted to it? We don't have to do this, but, like, you start doing it and you're like, I like this. It feels good. There's pleasure in it.

Well, so as you mentioned earlier, you know, your first kind of big break was as on as the World Turns.

Yeah.

I mean, my impression of being on a soap is that it's like, you get in there, you have to cover, like, 30 pages in a day, and it's just like, go, go, go, go, go. Is that what the process is like?

It's really, really fast, and you learn to be prepared, know your lines, know what you want to accomplish, and then try to. You know, and then. And that's. I actually would watch myself on television to see how bad I was, and it helped. Cause, you know, you're.

That was like an early version of watching yourself in the playground.

Yeah, it kind of was. Because I would be like. I would be. I was stiff. I had a terrible voice. I sort of had a voice like this on television. I didn't know how to relax. You know, I didn't know how to do it. So it was a really way to learn. Kevin.

[Unknown]

I told you to go away.

[Julianne Moore]

I told you I was. Stan.

[Unknown]

I don't want you here. I don't want to see you again.

[Julianne Moore]

Is that why you kissed me yesterday?

[Unknown]

Why are you doing this to me?

[Julianne Moore]

Why are you Doing this to us. Franny.

[David Remnick]

Julianne Moore in her early years on as the World Turns. And she'll be back in a moment. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour.

[Julianne Moore]

Todd Haynes, who you've made, I believe, five movies with at this point. Of course, there's Safe, Far From Heaven, most recently May December. But we have a clip from Safe. Basically you're playing Carol White, who is a woman living in LA in the 80s. And she's like redecorating her living room and stuff. And suddenly she starts experiencing these bouts of mysterious affliction, like a coughing fit or a runny nose. And she's not sure what's happening with her. This is a scene with her and her psychiatrist. So let's take a look.

[David Remnick]

Do you work?

[Unknown]

No, I'm a house. I'm a homemaker. I'm working on some designs for our house, though, in my spare time.

[David Remnick]

And you have one child?

[Unknown]

My husband's little boy. He's not my son, he's my stepson, Rory. He's 10.

[David Remnick]

How long have you been feeling unwell?

[Unknown]

About two months, three. I've been under a lot of stress lately. And then my friend Linda and I. She's probably my best friend. She lives down the. Anyway, we started this fruit diet together. I think that sort of set it off.

[Julianne Moore]

Poor old Carol.

I know, yeah, it's a great movie. Do you remember anything about that particular scene? About sort of. About being inside of that scene and how you approached it?

I think that was Todd's mom's suit that I was wearing.

Oh, my gosh.

We shot a lot. We shot in his grandparents driveway. We shot at his uncle's house, at the beach. You know, it was all very. It was a million dollars making the movie.

Wow. I mean. Well, you can tell obviously, that the sort of breathy voice. Why was that the thing you. Was it instinct or did you really have like a sort of intellectualized reason for that?

It was instinct, I think, when I first read it. But I also thought this is a person who's not comfortable in her body. So she can barely make contact with her own throat, their own vocal cords. She doesn't want to make any sound. She doesn't even have. Like. She talks about her son. It's like her son. It's her stepson. She doesn't have a. She doesn't like to take up a lot of space. She wants to be attractive and offensive and doesn't want to offer herself. Like, she's like. He's like, we want to hear from you. And she's like, what? You know, she's been completely defined by the world that she lives in, by consumerism, capitalism, by her marriage. She's not working. She's kind of absorbed. You know, she spends her time on a fruit diet and at aerobics and buying her couch, and then suddenly she feels terribly ill. Like, the. You know, the fabric on the couch makes her feel sick. She starts to have a. She has, like, a seizure at the dry cleaner, and sudden she's confused. She's like. So everything that tells her who she is makes her sick, and she doesn't know why.

That choice about sort of where her voice lies reminds me a little bit of in May December, your most recent Todd Haynes film, where you had a lisp that kind of like. It kind of. Did it come and go a little bit. Like, I noticed at certain moments more than I was.

We were very specific about it because people only lisp on certain sounds. And so there are sounds where the lisp will be more pronounced. But Todd and I talked about that, and what I wanted with the lisp is that a lisp is often a characteristic of childhood because it can be like a tongue that's not quite developed yet. Now, obviously, when people have actual speech issues, there could be a lot happening that's not addressed. But with this particular character, I wanted it to be a signifier of how she thought of herself. This is a person who thinks of herself as a child and thinks of herself as a princess. She's not the queen. She's not the. You know, she's still a little girl. She's still the princess. He's the. He's the prince who rescued her. In order for him to rescue her, she has to be the princess. So this was like another manifestation of the way she felt in the world and what she was projecting, you know, in the world. So Todd and I talked about it, and we talked about the specificity of the. The lisp, too, and made sure it was always really, really specific.

It's interesting to see that clip where she stumbles over the word housewife, because you've played a lot of great housewives. Of course. I remember the year when you were nominated for two Oscars for playing two different unhappy 1950s housewives in the hours in Far From Heaven. Is that like a fluke, playing people who are sort of stuck in the domestic realm? Or is it something that you sought out that you were interested in for a particular reason?

I think that was a fluke. And that year in particular was frustrating to me because Those parts were so. Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, you know, I don't know that I seek out things in the domestic space, but I do think I'm really drawn to ordinary lives. I like people I've never been like, I'm gonna play an astronaut next. You know, I don't think that way. I always think, what is this emotional dilemma? Who. You know, why is this compelling to us? Like, I always think that thing in the New York Times, you know, my Sunday morning. And we all read it avidly, like, oh, she gets up at 8:30, and then she has one cup of coffee and then a banana, and then she goes for a run. And I read it all the time and I'm like, why do I care about the banana? And I care because she's a human being like me. And I'm really interested in how she approaches her life and what she does and what she thinks. And all of these things hopefully give me a deeper understanding of what it is to be a human being. And so the stories, a lot of these stories, domestic stories. Well, that's the biggest story of our lives. Right. How do we live? Who do we live? Who do we love? Where do we live in our communities? You know, those are the things that we are all. We all know about. We know about that. I don't know what it's like to be a queen. I've never met a queen. Maybe I'll try to meet a queen. I don't know. But, you know, you. You know, but I do know about this. We all know about this.

Well, I mean, you are yourself a kind of ordinary person.

Yeah.

One other interest of yours, which is the Knicks, how did you get. You're at Knicks games all the time. How did you get into basketball? And, like, what do you see when you're watching the Knicks?

Frankly, it's not me. It's my family. It's my husband and my son who are here with his fiance. Not my husband's fiance, my son's fiance. But they're big basketball fans. And so it's a really. It's a family thing. And. And I didn't know. I grew up with a dad who watched football, and I never really watched basketball. But what I love about watching basketball is that you can see their faces and there is so much drama. And you see their faces and you see their bodies and all these other sports. Like, I feel like in baseball and in football, they're all. I don't know what's going on, you know, but they're so exposed and I really like that and I love the drama of it. I mean, sometimes it's heartbreaking, really. Right.

Yeah. Well, Julianne Moore, thank you so much for doing this. It's such a privilege to be able to talk to you.

[David Remnick]

Julianne Moore at the New Yorker Festival last month. She's co starring in the room next door alongside Tilda Swinton. And it just opened. I'm David Remnick. That's our program for today. Hope you had a great holiday. We'll see you in the new year, whatever that may bring.

The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co production of WNYC Studios and the New Yorker. Our theme music was composed and performed by Meryl Garbus of Tune Yards with additional music by Louis Mitchell. This episode was produced by Max Balton, Adam Howard, David Krasnow, Jeffrey Masters, Louis Mitchell, Jared Paul and Ursula Sommer with guidance from Emily Bottin and assistance from Michael May, David Gable, Alex Barish, Victor Guan and Alejandra Deckett. Special thanks this week to Katherine Sterling, Amanda Miller, Nico Brown and Michael Etherington. The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported in part by the Cherina Endowment Fund.

[Julianne Moore]

Don't.