Julianne Moore

Summary

Podcast Summary: This Life of Mine with James Corden

Episode: Julianne Moore (Released October 21, 2025)

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Overview

In this insightful and personal episode, James Corden sits down with Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore to explore the places, people, possessions, music, and memories that have defined her remarkable life and career. Moore brings candor, warmth, and humor to stories about her Scottish heritage, childhood on military bases, formative creative influences, and reflections on her professional journey—from soap operas to Hollywood's biggest stages. The conversation features poignant recollections about family, mentors, and the unexpected turns that shaped her both as an actor and a person.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scottish Heritage and Family Immigration (01:24–04:20)

• Moore describes her mother’s immigration from Scotland and the complexities of dual citizenship, including emotional anecdotes about her mother becoming an American citizen.

  • On her mother's citizenship:

    "She came home holding a little American flag, crying...they made her renounce her British citizenship back in the day." (01:59, Julianne Moore)

• The significance of heritage comes full circle when Moore discusses securing her own UK passport shortly before her mother's death, making the process especially meaningful.

• Iron Bru Anecdote: Moore shares a humorous family story involving her Aunt Sissy in Scotland, who mistakenly bought the local soda Iron Bru thinking young Julianne wanted it instead of orange juice.

  "My Aunt Sissy brought this home in lieu of orange juice because she thought I meant Iron Bru." (04:02, Julianne Moore)

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2. Formative Place: The Library (04:24–06:39)

• Libraries as a Constant:

  • Having moved often due to her father’s military career, Moore recalls how libraries represented stability and comfort throughout her unsettled childhood.

    "It's a place of like, learning. It's a place that is communal but also private." (04:58, Julianne Moore)

  • Moore draws a direct connection between early reading and her later interest in acting, finding both to be rooted in imagination and the exploration of possibility.

• Reading Scripts & Tastes:

  • Early in her career, Moore was known to read every script sent her way, sharpening her taste and decision-making. Now, experience allows her to make faster judgments.

• On missing an opportunity because someone else discounted a script:

  "It was a Paddy Chayefsky script...That really made me realize, oh, I need to look at everything. Like, I have to." (07:40, Julianne Moore)

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3. Life-Changing Memories: Juneau, Alaska and Onward (08:09–14:15)

• Moving to Juneau, Alaska at age 10:

  • Describes it as an “exotic” and formative year, unlike anything she had experienced, complete with stark natural beauty and cultural learning via a native Alaskan summer program.
  • On cultural immersion:

    "It was all kind of native. We went berry picking...made whale blubber bubble gum, and we planted and we smoked fish and... I had a tremendous amount of freedom." (10:15, Julianne Moore)

  • Watching movies alone in a small town exposed her to cinema’s breadth, citing seeing a Cassavetes film at age 10.

• Discovery of Acting:

  • A sequence of moves (back to the continental U.S., then to Germany) placed her in situations where she wasn't chosen for sports or other activities, but found affirmation and opportunity in school plays.

    "I couldn't make anything, the two of us...So we both tried out for the play...suddenly I was succeeding." (12:36, Julianne Moore)

• Pivotal Mentor:

  • A drama teacher in Germany, Robi Taylor, encouraged her ambitions and presented her with crucial information on acting schools.

• Parental Reaction:

  • Moore’s parents, especially her mother, were resistant—worrying she was “too smart” for an acting career. Agreement: If she got into specialist schools, she could pursue acting.

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4. Wildcard: The Power of Cinema—Robert Altman’s "Three Women" (16:44–20:54)

• A Turning Point in Film Appreciation:

  • The enigmatic and female-centered film “Three Women” was the first time Moore recognized a director’s point of view and decided to pursue movies, not just theatre.

    “It was the first time in my life I noticed a directorial point of view, right?...I thought to myself, who made that? Who told that story? And then I saw the kind of style of acting, and I was like, that’s what I want to do.” (18:09, Julianne Moore)

• Dreams Realized:

  • Years later, working with Robert Altman on "Shortcuts" brought things “full circle”—a realization of a much-desired artistic collaboration.

• Soap Opera Roots:

  • Discusses early big break in "As the World Turns,” touching on the pace and intensity of soap acting and the underappreciated skills it requires.

    "You have to be so prepared...you might have 30 pages of dialogue that day...You have to imbue it with feeling and humanity." (22:11, Julianne Moore)

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5. Musical Memory: "Don’t Pull Your Love Out on Me" by Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds (23:39–26:23)

• Music & Its Personal Effect:

  • Moore doesn’t see herself as a music person—preferring curation over curation—but this one-hit-wonder song has always been a sign of good luck for her.

    "Whenever I would hear it, I would be sure that I was gonna be lucky." (25:53, Julianne Moore)

• The quirky name of the band sparks amusement and banter between Moore and Corden.

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6. Artistic Collaboration & Magnolia Reflections (26:52–30:47)

• On Paul Thomas Anderson:

  • “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia” were both instant “yes” moments for Moore, noting Anderson’s talent and the power she felt in those scripts.

    "I was like, oh, absolutely. I'm going to be in this." (27:52, Julianne Moore)

• On the success of "Magnolia":

  • Working with Philip Seymour Hoffman: “He was filled with so much compassion and patience and love and presence...an extraordinarily sensitive actor.” (29:14, Julianne Moore)

• On awards season and winning for "Still Alice":

  • The difficult, solitary nature of awards campaigns and the intense pressure brought by expectations.

    “You know, what was hardest? Being by myself at the beginning...That was hard.” (31:24, Julianne Moore) "You’re gonna win tonight, or else it’s gonna be the biggest upset in Oscar history." (32:49, Julianne Moore)

  • She reflects on the absurdity of the idea of “best” in art.

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7. Influential Person: Charlotte Perriand, Furniture Designer (33:20–35:28)

• Moore celebrates the French designer's creativity, tenacity, and philosophies on egalitarian and accessible design.

  • Personal hobby: Collecting and appreciating design furniture.

    "The older I get, the more and more interested I am in it. And she's someone who's so admirable because she also believed in design as a way for a better way of life, you know, and that it should be an egalitarian pursuit and that [design should] be accessible to everyone." (34:24, Julianne Moore)

• Corden notes her life-long attraction to storytellers and creators, linking Moore’s picks throughout the conversation.

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8. Cherished Possession: Her Mother’s Locket (36:09–39:06)

• The sentimental value rests in its connection to her mother, whom Moore lost in 2009.

  “My father gave this to my mother when they were in high school...It’s nice to have something of hers that I wear all the time...It's like evidence, you know, like evidence of a life.” (36:09 & 37:22, Julianne Moore)

• Reflects on her mother’s influence, particularly in nurturing Julianne’s love of reading and independence.

  "She was the one who taught me to read...She made it very clear...that it's important for you to take your opportunities and...to chase what you want to chase...Choose your life. Your life doesn't have to choose you." (37:42–39:06, Julianne Moore)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On libraries and acting:

  "It's a place of like, learning. It's a place that is communal but also private." (04:58, Julianne Moore)

• On casting and missed opportunities:

  "I need to look at everything." (07:40, Julianne Moore)

• On feeling like an outsider and finding her place:

  "We couldn't make anything, the two of us...We both tried out for the play. And suddenly I was succeeding." (12:36, Julianne Moore)

• On the impact of Charlotte Perriand:

  "She believed in design as a way for a better way of life...an egalitarian pursuit." (34:24, Julianne Moore)

• On her mother's influence:

  "Choose your life. Your life doesn't have to choose you." (39:05, Julianne Moore)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Scottish Heritage & Family: 01:24–04:20
• Libraries & Foundation for Acting: 04:24–06:39
• Script Choices & Career Philosophy: 06:46–07:27
• Juneau, Alaska & Childhood Freedom: 08:09–14:15
• Discovery of Acting & Parental Debate: 12:36–15:00
• Wild Card (Three Women, Altman): 16:44–20:54
• Soap Opera Beginnings: 21:12–23:35
• Music Selection: 23:39–26:23
• Magnolia/Paul Thomas Anderson/Philip Seymour Hoffman: 26:51–30:47
• Awards & Solitude During Success: 30:47–33:07
• Charlotte Perriand: 33:20–35:28
• Mother’s Locket: 36:09–39:06

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Tone and Language

Throughout the episode, Julianne Moore is candid, reflective, and occasionally self-deprecating, revealing vulnerability and gentle humor. James Corden maintains his characteristic warmth and inquisitiveness, eliciting thoughtful stories and genuine laughter. The conversation is accessible, deeply human, and marked by Moore's humility and passion for storytelling and creation.

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This episode is especially rich for listeners interested in the intersections of family, creativity, resilience, and the quiet moments that shape a public career.

Transcript

[Host]

Lemonade. Hello, and welcome to this Life of Mine. This is the show where our incredible guests pick the places, people, possessions, music, and memories that have made them who they are. And what a guest we have today. Joining me as an actor with an extraordinary career who starred in over 80 movies, her range of work is vast. It's always interesting. It includes classics like Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Hannibal, the Hunger Games, the Big Lebowski, and of course, her role in Still Alice, for which she won the Academy Award. Today, she's playing herself. However, there is one line we will need her to deliver. Is she capable? Let's find out. Are you ready?

[Julianne Moore]

Uh huh.

[Host]

Do it.

[Julianne Moore]

I'm Julianne Moore. Welcome to this Life of Mine.

[Host]

I mean, it couldn't be better. It couldn't be better.

[Julianne Moore]

It could be better. Everything could always be better.

[Host]

How are you?

[Julianne Moore]

I'm okay. How are you?

[Host]

I'm so happy that you're here.

[Julianne Moore]

I'm very happy.

[Host]

I'm so happy to talk to you because I've been reading about you a lot and I never knew of your Scottish heritage.

[Julianne Moore]

I know. You know, I have a UK passport.

[Host]

Well, I know this also. Where does this come from? Your mother's side?

[Julianne Moore]

My mother immigrated to the United States when she was 10 years old. She came with her parents and her little brother, who was just a year old at the time, and they came to Burlington, New Jersey. And when she came, I think back, it would have been 1950, and they asked her if she wanted to citizenship, and she said no because she was gonna go back.

[Host]

Right.

[Julianne Moore]

Anyway, so she didn't go back. She met my father in high school, and they got married and had children very quickly. And she became a citizen, finally an American citizen when she was 27. I would have been 6 or 7. And she came home holding a little American flag, crying. She was so. Because they made her renounce her British citizenship back in the day. So when I was actually talking to Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, we were having dinner one night and they were talking about some EU project they were doing, and they changed all the rules about citizenship. It used to be only from your paternal line, and they had just recently changed it, so it was through your maternal line. So I spoke to my mother and decided to apply. And I was in the process of applying for this, and then she died suddenly, shooting, probably cry. So it became kind of more urgent. Right.

[Host]

Have you spent much time there in Scotland?

[Julianne Moore]

Not a whole lot. I mean, I went back with my mother. We visited some aunts of hers that lived In Dunoon. We went to Greenock. That's where she was from. I've been to Edinburgh, but I haven't spent a lot of time.

[Host]

Do you know what this is? How would you pronounce this drink that's in front of you?

[Julianne Moore]

I don't know, but I think I've had it.

[Host]

How would you. That's exactly right.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

This is really. I think it's really awful. Have you ever tried it?

[Julianne Moore]

I believe I have.

[Host]

Have you tried iron? Would you like to try a tiny bit today?

[Julianne Moore]

Can I tell you a story about my aunt?

[Host]

You say. Can I say fuck off?

[Julianne Moore]

No, but I have to tell you a story about my aunts. My Aunt Sissy and May, who lived in Dunoon, who were elderly, and we were visiting, you know, and kind of taking care of them and stuff. And my Aunt Sissy did the shopping every day. And she said, ann, what does Julie like to drink? And I had said, well, you know, I like to have orange juice. And Stu. But Cissy, I don't think she knew about orange juice, but this is what she brought home.

[Host]

My hunch is this is the last time you're gonna try Iron Brew.

[Julianne Moore]

No, this is the. This is the. Yes, this is the last time. But I am familiar with this because my Aunt Sissy. My Aunt Sissy brought this home in lieu of orange juice because she thought I meant I. In brain.

[Host]

Raise a glass to Aunt Sissy.

[Julianne Moore]

That's right.

[Host]

To Aunt Sissy.

[Julianne Moore]

To Aunt Sissy.

[Host]

There we go. A lovely glass of Ern Bru.

[Julianne Moore]

Ern Bru.

[Host]

You've given us some wonderful selections for your picks today. I'm excited to talk about them. We're gonna start with place.

[Julianne Moore]

Boy, you know, this is so hard. I tried to think of something that was consistent for me growing up, and it's consistent now. And so I chose libraries because, as I said, my parents were married very young and they moved around a lot. Cause my father was in the army, and so there wasn't a lot of consistency from place to place. You're always in a different base. You know, they didn't have a lot of money. But one of the things that my mother always did was bring us to library. So I read when I was very young. I really remember reading. I loved reading. I loved going to libraries. You know, it's a place of, like, learning. It's a place that is communal but also private. Do you know?

[Host]

I know exactly what you mean, yeah. If I'm honest, it's one of those things where, when I saw it on your list, I thought, oh, and then actually reading about quite how much you moved around with your father moving to different military bases, it makes complete sense to me because also what a lot of people forget. And I think this perhaps resonates more with me now because I've just moved my family from one country to another, that what you don't do is carry with you hundreds of books. So actually it makes complete sense to me that this would be a place which is very grounding for you.

[Julianne Moore]

It was. And also because I was a kid that wasn't a sporty kid, I'm not athletic at all. I didn't have tremendous number of hobbies, but I love to read and like, reading is something that you can take with you everywhere. And so you'd go to a new place, I wouldn't know anybody, but I could go to the library and check out 10 books and read them. And I think that it was what brought me into acting, frankly. Cause it's just a deep imaginary world. There's all this possibility there. And then when you think about that placement of it, that there's actually a building that's devoted to that, to kind of holding those ideas, those objects and those people, the people that kind of enter into it. I don't know, it was really, you know, something that's special and formative and yeah, like I said, going back to that idea of something being private but communal.

[Host]

Is it true that you. Cause I've read this about you and I. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't believe it.

[Julianne Moore]

Uh huh.

[Host]

Is it true that you read every script that gets sent to you or is that just a myth that got.

[Julianne Moore]

Spread on the Internet? It was true, to be honest with you. It was.

[Host]

But now there's just so many scripts.

[Julianne Moore]

I think that's not. No, it's not that. But I think that. I think I needed to know, you know. Yeah, I needed to read absolutely everything because I needed to know whether or not it was something I wanted to do or not. I think now that I've had more experience, I can read a few pages sometimes and look at something and go, mm, mm. But I used to read them all, all the way through because I thought, well, maybe it'll change and maybe I'll see something and maybe. And I really needed to. It was a way to hone my taste, I think.

[Host]

Is there ever been a script you've passed on that then you've seen come to light and you've gone, oh, I didn't realize it would look like that I'm not asking you for a role, but has there been.

[Julianne Moore]

No.

[Host]

Okay.

[Julianne Moore]

But I think one of the things that did happen to me a long, long time ago was that there was a script that kind of came my way. Somebody didn't send it to me. They said, oh, I don't think this is for you. And it turned out it was a Paddy Chayefsky script. And I was really. I was like. So that really made me realize, oh, I need to look at everything. Like, I have to.

[Host]

Let's move on to a memory that you've chosen for us. Tell us what it is. Tell us the memory.

[Julianne Moore]

It's about the year that we lived in Juneau, Alaska, which was in 19. I think it was 1971. We moved there.

[Host]

So how old would you have been when you lived in Juneau?

[Julianne Moore]

10.

[Host]

So you were 10?

[Julianne Moore]

I was 10. So I was going to the fifth grade, and we'd been living. My dad, after Vietnam, got out of the army, and we went to Nebraska, where he went to college and then law school. And then he applied for a couple of jobs, and there was a job offer that he really liked in Chicago, and there was a job offer that he really liked in Juneau, Alaska. And we visited both places, and then my father decided we were all moving to Juneau, Alaska.

[Host]

I mean, they feel very different.

[Julianne Moore]

They were very different.

[Host]

You couldn't be further apart, really, I guess, in terms of just the landscape, everything.

[Julianne Moore]

Right. And in 1971, Juneau, Alaska, was not what it is now. You know, it was very landlocked. I think at the time, you could only go in and out by boat. They had a very small airport, but there weren't, like, big planes that went in. So we took a ferry. We came in on a ferry. It's a very, very small town, and it was so exotic. It was the first time in my life that I went somewhere that felt, like, so utterly different than what I'd experienced before in the United States.

[Host]

Was this a place you were nervous about moving to? Worried about me? Were you excited to move to Juneau?

[Julianne Moore]

You know, I thought when you're really young, you don't have a lot of thought. You just kind of go, right. You know, I think I was still young enough, so I was like, well, we're just gonna go. I think I was excited by the idea that something. There was something ex about it, but I don't know that I was prepared for how different it would feel, how much it would appear different. You know, just the geography of it. The Mountains and the trees and the people. You know, one of the first things that my mother did was sign my sister and I up for like a summer course. It was actually a course for native kids. It was a course for Inuit kids and Tlingit kids. And my sister and I got there and we were the only Caucasian kids in this place. And everybody was kinda like, what are these two girls doing? But it was amazing because it was all kind of native. We went berry picking and we, you know, wove our own belts and we dyed them and we made whale blubber, bubble gum, and we planted and we smoked fish and we did all of this kind of this crazy stuff. And I had a tremendous amount of freedom. I would take the bus to the movies every Saturday by myself.

[Host]

That was what I was gonna ask. I was gonna say, what is there for an 11 year old to do?

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

Not like in Juneau.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah. And looking back, this is another thing really kind of shaped who I am as an actor and my cinematic taste, even though I didn't know it at the time, because it was such a small town, they changed the movie every week. So you might have like a really hot week where like Aristocats was playing or something. And everybody's really excited. So the whole town would rush to see this, you know, Disney film. But then you'd have a weekend where it was a Cassavetes film. Like I saw Minnie and Moskowitz when I was 10, 11. But just this idea of being able to get on a bus and go somewhere and come back by yourself and wander around town. And the weather was so severe, so, so severe. It was the worst winter they'd had there since like 1917. So the snow was on the ground until Mother's Day, the end of May. It was not an ideal place for our family. You know, my mother hated it, but it was. You just don't know what's out there. Right. Until you see it, until you're living in it. So it sort of reshaped my idea of like what the world was.

[Host]

Because it wasn't long after that that you moved to Germany.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

And am I right in thinking it was around that time that you started to feel like you wanted to act?

[Julianne Moore]

From Juneau, we moved back to the lower 48, as they call them. So my father was working in New York City and we were in Westchester. We were there for a couple of years, and then my father went back into the army and we were stationed in Northern Virginia. And so we were there for three years and then we moved To Germany. It was probably when I was in Virginia and my friend Chris Jebson and I tried out for the drill team and didn't make it. We tried out for cheerleading. We didn't make it. Like, we couldn't make anything, the two of us. They took, like, 50 girls in drill team, and they didn't take us. So it was like. I know. Yeah. So we both tried out for the play. And I had always done, like, little.

[Host]

They took you. Cause there was nothing. Everybody else was in the drill team.

[Julianne Moore]

Exactly. But I got the lead in this. Suddenly I was succeeding. You know, where I wasn't succeeding when I tried out for things where I had to march or cheer. And it felt to me kind of like back to the library thing, too, that it was just like reading aloud. I'm like, I didn't understand why it was something that would seem challenging. And then that's when I started realizing that not everybody felt that way about it. So I continued doing the plays. And then we moved to Germany and, you know, went to the drama club and went to see what plays they were doing after school. And I auditioned for. There was this woman there named Robi Taylor, and they were doing Tartuffe, which I'd never heard of. Like, I'd never heard of Moliere. So I was like, you know. And she said, why don't you try out for the part of the ingenue? The part, Marianne? And I said, I don't want to play that part. I don't. That's an interesting part. I want to play Doreen, who's kind of. She's the maid. She's sort of the voice of reason. And I really argued very strongly about why I wanted to play that part. And then I did it. And at the end of it, she said, you know, I think you're really good at this. I think you can do this for a living. And I was like, huh? But she said, here's a copy of Dramatics magazine. And she goes, there's some schools in here. Why don't you take a look at these schools? And I came home and, you know, put the magazine on the table and said to my parents, I'm gonna be an actor.

[Host]

And what did they say?

[Julianne Moore]

They were like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And my mother was. You know, she said, oh, you're so smart, Julie. Don't do that. Don't. It's a waste.

[Host]

When was the moment that they changed that the penny dropped and they thought, oh, hang on. She's really Good. And I think this is gonna be okay. I think when you won the Oscar.

[Julianne Moore]

Well, I think what it was really, they were so, you know, like I said, they worked hard to get where they were and they basically. It was that kind of thing where your parents tell you, you can do anything you want, you can be anything you want, because it's possible. So I think they were able to say, okay. Cause I said, listen, I want to, you know, I said, why don't I. If I audition for these schools for college, if I get in, I can go. I said, if I don't get in, I'll just go to a liberal arts school.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julianne Moore]

And they were like, that's fair. And I auditioned for Carnegie Mellon and bu and then I got into both.

[Host]

Well, thank God you did.

[Julianne Moore]

Ah, you're nice.

[Host]

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[Julianne Moore]

Robert Altman's Three Women.

[Host]

Why?

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, God, that movie. I mean, like I said, I don't think I realized that I love movies. You know, I didn't really understand that going to the movies every week when I was 10, or being interested in old movies on television or any of that really meant anything. And even when I started studying acting, you're working on theater, you're working on plays. So I wasn't really thinking about what cinema was in relationship to that. Things came together for me slowly. But I used to when I was in Boston, when I was at bu, those are the days when there were these revival houses everywhere, and I would go to the movies and, same thing, see whatever was playing, and you'd see some crazy things. I remember I saw a double bill of Straw Dogs and Emmanuel. It was like, okay, whatever.

[Host]

The film came out in 1977.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacey, Janice Rule.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah. I love it. It's so beautiful. And that's my bed. And that's your bed. This is my bed. Oh, Millie, I love it. I couldn't have imagined it being more perfect. Thanks. You know what? What? You're the most perfect person I ever met.

[Host]

I can't imagine there were a plethora of movies in 1977 with three women in the lead.

[Julianne Moore]

No, but this is. I didn't see it in 1977. I saw it probably in 1982. Yeah, right. So I saw it just in some revival house and. And I had made it all the way through the 70s as a kid, not seeing Nashville, not knowing who Robert Altman was, not knowing anything. So I go into this movie theater and I watch this movie with these three extraordinary actresses, right? And it's so weird. And it was the first time in my life I noticed a directorial point of view, right? I was like. And I thought to myself, who made that? Who told that story? And then I saw the kind of style of acting, and I was like, that's what I want to do. And so it was the thing that made me want to work in the movies and made me want to work with Bob. The fact that it actually happened, that.

[Host]

I mean, that is extraordinary.

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, my God.

[Host]

To be watching a film in 1982 and go, who made this? This is amazing. And then end up working on a movie like Shortcuts with Robert Ullman. How did that come about?

[Julianne Moore]

It was crazy. He came to see a production of Uncle Vanya that I was doing here with Andre Gregory that was later made into a film by Louis. But Bob came once, and so after that, he brought me in to talk to me about the Player. And I was just desperate, you know, I was so, so desperate to work with him. And I didn't get cast. And I was devastated. Like, really devastated. Then I got a call, like, I don't know how much longer it was, a year or so at home, you know. Like, my phone rang, picked it up, and he said, this is Bob Altman. And I thought someone was playing a trick on me because everybody knew how much I loved Robert Altman. Everybody knew that's who I wanted to work. And I'm like, no, come on, come on. You know? And he said, I just want to talk to you about this movie. I hope you'll think about doing it. And I was like, I'll do it. I'll do it. But everything about him, everything about how he saw actors, what he wanted from you, what he appreciated in you, how he saw the world, how human his people were, you know, how flawed, but how much he cared about them, how it was always filled with so much sorrow, but so much possibility, a tremendous amount of humanity. It was always an ensemble, too. When you look at his world, there are lots of people. There's not one point of view. And I just admired him so much. But, yeah, the fact that there was a straight line between, like, seeing that movie, having kind of a revelation about what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, and kind of following it through to completion to actually being able to work with this person, that's really lucky.

[Host]

Well, I don't know that it's necessarily luck, because to a listener who's not perhaps as aware of the breadth of your career, it's not like you were sitting watching Three Women and then suddenly Robert Altman called. There's an entire career in the middle of that. Because obviously, your first big role on camera was in a soap opera, as the World Turns.

[Julianne Moore]

That's correct, yeah.

[Host]

Your character lived quite the life.

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, she sure did.

[Host]

Kidnapped, she had amnesia, discovered she had a half sister who was also her cousin.

[Julianne Moore]

That's correct, yeah.

[Host]

I think there is a snobbery towards actors in soaps, which I think is really unfair.

[Julianne Moore]

Exactly.

[Host]

And I say this quite a lot to friends of mine. I say all the time, I'm like, if you are good in a soap, there's a strong chance you're the best actor in the world, honestly, because you don't have any time.

[Julianne Moore]

No time.

[Host]

So you've got. You've been handed a script that day, and you might be doing seven different episodes, changing costumes, jumping from here to there. You are not lit the way that movies are. The set's lit and you walk out and there is no time no time at all. You're not working with Robert Altman, saying, did you. The editors, all those things.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

Do you look back on that time as instilling this work ethic in you that you.

[Julianne Moore]

Oh my gosh, yes. I mean, you have to be so prepared. I mean, you might be. You're probably reading the storyline two weeks ahead. Right. That's when you get the storyline, but you're really only getting the scripts probably a couple of days ahead. So you're always sort of looking ahead to see. But you can only prepare the next day, the night before. That's when you're learning your lines. And you might be what they call front burner, which is that you'll have 30 pages of dialogue that day. And the dialogue, as you know on soap opera is about plot. It's not about like, feeling. You have to come in and say, hi, James, so nice to see you. Last time I saw you was in the hospital cafeteria when Bob had a heart attack. Do you remember that? You know, so you have to make that kind of stuff work because you're delivering this information to the audience all the time. So you have to. To kind of imbue it with feeling and humanity. And the actors that I worked with were amazing and worked so hard and cared a lot. But I had a great writer writing for me, a man named Douglas Marland, who was the person who kind of invented the Luke and Laura storyline on General Hospital. Remember that? He was amazing. And he was the one who kind of spun all these stories about kidnapping and amnesia. And my half sister, who was also my cousin because that meant that we had the same dad, but our moms were sisters. Ew. Right.

[Host]

Let'S move on to your next selection.

[Julianne Moore]

Uh huh.

[Host]

Which is music.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

I understand you found this one quite tricky. I was told I'm not a music.

[Julianne Moore]

Person and I hate saying that to you.

[Host]

No. Well, I'd never heard this song before and I love it. So tell us the piece of music that you've picked.

[Julianne Moore]

All right. It's called Don't Pull youl Love Out. And the band is called Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds. Don't pull your love out on me.

[Host]

Baby if you do then I'll claim to me But I'll just lay me.

[Julianne Moore]

Down, cry 400 gifts don't blow your.

[Host]

Love out on me honey Take my heart, my soul, my money but only.

[Julianne Moore]

Me drowning in my tears I have to say, you know this weird, weird name. Hamilton. Joe Frank and Reynolds. Hamilton is the last name of the first guy. Joe Frank. Are the first two names of the second guy and Reynolds is the last name of the third guy. And why. Yeah, why would they do that? Hamilton. Joe Frank should just be Hamilton Frank.

[Host]

And Reynolds, which honestly is a better name.

[Julianne Moore]

I know. But also Joe Frank, because those are his. That's his first name. He's got a different last name. I don't know.

[Host]

He's Joe Frank something else.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah, he's like Joe Frank something. Yeah. Joe Frank. Wow. Yeah. Just Lay me down, Wrap up Laundry.

[Host]

I heard this song for the first time last year.

[Julianne Moore]

You never heard it?

[Host]

Why have you picked it?

[Julianne Moore]

Did you like it?

[Host]

Yeah, I think it's great. It's a great vibe. Why have you picked this song?

[Julianne Moore]

So like I said, I'm not. People always say, like, oh my God, what's your playlist? Or who are you listening to? Or who's your favorite artist? Or whatever. And I always draw a blank. Like, I like to put the radio on in the car, you know, I like to have somebody else curate music. I'm not a curator of it. My son is a musician. He writes songs, he does scores. My husband loves music and plays the guitar. My daughter listens to a lot of music. I get overwhelmed. It can make me crazy. I just can't concentrate. It's like it takes over everything and then I can't think. So. And this is like a nutty song. And I thought, this is like this weird, weird song. They were like a one hit wonder. This is a song that came out when I was a kid. And I don't know what it is about it, but whenever I would hear it, I would be sure that I was gonna be lucky.

[Host]

Is there any evidence of this luck?

[Julianne Moore]

It was just like a good feeling. I'd be like, it's gonna be a good day. And because the song was wildly popular and then completely disappeared and no one knows it. Whenever I hear it randomly, like, you'll just hear like a snippet of it or something. I'm like, hey, there's that song again. It's still out there. It's like a good vibe. I don't know if it's the horns, you know, it has.

[Host]

That's a great horn.

[Julianne Moore]

As kind of like this sort of like brassy thing that happens. And then it's just weird.

[Host]

I wonder if they would even know that this has become such a four leaf clover in your life. It's wonderful. I mean, you were in a musical. You were in Dear Evan Hansen a year or so ago. You do also sing in one of my Favorite movies of all time. And if it's okay, I'd love to talk to you a little bit about Magnolia.

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, sure, yeah.

[Host]

Because Paul Thomas Anderson's film, Magnolia, when you were shooting that movie, obviously you'd work with him on Boogie Nights.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

Did you know that this film was gonna be quite as brilliant as it was? Did you know it was gonna be great?

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah, yeah, I did. I mean, I did. I mean, that's the way I feel about Paul. You know, he's extremely. I think that, you know, the Boogie Nights kind of came to me. It was the same sort of thing. This kind of goes back to reading, right? This goes back to me loving to read and reading books and feeling like acting is sort of an extension of reading and recognizing material and why I read everything, you know, why I really try to see what's. Because I met Paul at a party. Somebody that I was going out with said, this guy really wants to meet you. And he says he's got a part for you in his movie. And I met him, and he was 26, and he was really fun and nice and was like, you know, you're going to be in my movie, man. And I said, well, I have the script. I'll read the script. And I read the script. And I was like, oh, absolutely. I'm going to be in this. So I think I was the first.

[Host]

Person to sign your character in the film. Almost cloaked in regret.

[Julianne Moore]

Right.

[Host]

And you go to some places in that movie, which I think. And if anyone's listening to this who hasn't seen it, I would urge you just to commit the time to go and watch it, because it holds up with every single minute. I saw the film twice in two days.

[Julianne Moore]

Did you really?

[Host]

I watched it and then I was in a musical in the West End at the time, on my first ever job. I watched the film and I came into London early again to watch it again. Before I did it, I felt like I'd never watched a film quite so bold as to have two openings. The film's got two openings, and they all burst into song later in the film. And it's. I mean, it's amazing. What was it like working on the movie? And do you think you'll go back to work with him again?

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, God, I would work with him again in a heartbeat. I love him. I love him. I just think he's a major, major talent and a wonderful person. So. Yes, absolutely.

[Host]

And you've got some amazing moments with Philip Seymour Hoffman.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host]

I was lucky enough to Meet a couple of times. I was lucky enough to tell him that he was, you know, my favorite actor. You have an incredible scene where you sort of hand him these pills and you say, I'm just gonna go. Yeah, I'm gonna go. And it's drops. I think it's drops that you give him medicine. What was he like to work with? What was he like on a film?

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, he was amazing. I mean, in Magnolia, too, he was filled with so much compassion and patience and love and presence. And he was somebody who cared very, very deeply about his work. And I think about what it meant to people and how to kind of hold it all right. How to hold what he was doing, how to hold what the other actor was doing, how to incorporate. I don't know. It was just. He was a very special actor, I think. And it was. And you could feel his humanity when you worked with him. You could feel his presence and his depth of feeling and his sensitivity. He was extraordinarily sensitive. And Jason Robarts at the time was older and was not particularly well. And so it was a strange concoction of characters and actions in that room.

[Host]

And a strange concoction of cast because then, obviously, then Tom Cruise turns up.

[Julianne Moore]

Right.

[Host]

It's an amazing film. I would urge anyone to go and seek it out.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah. And then we all sing that song, right?

[Host]

The Amy Mann song.

[Julianne Moore]

You could what you want. You can hardly stand it, though. But now, you know, it's not going to stop. It's not going to stop to you.

[Host]

You won the Academy Award for your role as Alice Howland, and still Alice. You won the Oscar, you won the bafta, the Golden Globe, the SAG Award, the Critics Choice Movie Award. You went on one of those runs. And whenever I see people going on those awards runs, I. I always think this must be so overwhelming, the volume of anxiety that must come with just the pressure of it all the time. What was it like? What do you remember about that moment of just planes and dresses and red carpets and speeches? What do you remember about it?

[Julianne Moore]

You know, what was hardest? Being by myself at the beginning. Kristen was there a lot for things. There were a couple of events that we did together, and I was so grateful. I just love her. Kristen Stewart, so much. But then a lot of the stuff that I was doing, I was by myself, and we didn't have anybody else from the film who was. You know, sometimes films have a lot of people nominated, and so you kind of go in a little like posse, but usually it was just me. And I'd End up at somebody else's table, and they're like, oh, here's the odd man out, or whatever. And that was hard. And there is that feeling of like. I don't know, it sounds so crazy, the expectation, I guess, you know, when that kind of the pressure of it.

[Host]

Because I have a theory about awards now. My theory on, like, say, the Oscars, for example, is that your prize, if you win best actor, best actress, best director, is that you will be handed your trophy in your seat, and the other four people have to go up and make speech. The prize should be that you don't have to speak in public. Right. You know. Cause the pressure now is crazy.

[Julianne Moore]

I know it's crazy. And I remember, too, you know, it was really funny because I won everything throughout the season, which was really incredible and hard to believe for me. I got to the Oscars, and it's a long season, and you're so sitting there, and somebody came over to me and they said, you're gonna win tonight, or else it's gonna be the biggest upset in Oscar history.

[Host]

Oh, my God. Who would say that?

[Julianne Moore]

I thought to myself, who would say that out loud? I know. But then I went, oh, I could be the biggest upset. I could be the biggest upset. And then you're just like. You're just sitting there thinking, this is crazy. But also, it's just a silly thing, right?

[Host]

How can there be such a thing as best?

[Julianne Moore]

There isn't. And there isn't such a thing as best.

[Host]

You can't be the best song.

[Julianne Moore]

No.

[Host]

You know, let's move to your fifth selection, which is person. Tell us the person that you've chosen.

[Julianne Moore]

I've chosen Charlotte Perriand, who's my absolutely favorite designer. She's French. She lived to be 99. She's somebody who was, I think, when she was very young, she had a teacher, noticed that she was talented and she was gifted and encouraged her to study furniture design. And I don't know why I was curious about that. I'm like, so if she was a gifted artist, why was she encouraged to study furniture design? But she was. And she went to school and did well. And then when she came out of school, she had. There was this exhibition that she made that was kind of like a modern bar or something, I think. And it was in the 20s, so it was sort of the beginning of the industrial age, right, where people starting to work with metals and different kind of materials. She wanted to get a job as a designer, so she went to Corbusier's Studio, who was a major architect designer at the time. And she was told, we don't embroider cushions here. She's a woman, you know, so they thought she was just, you know, and so she went away and didn't get the job. But evidently, Corbusier saw the exhibit that she made and was so impressed that he hired her, and she ended up working in his office with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret. And they created these amazing pieces of furniture together, iconic designs of the 20th century. And then one of my biggest hobbies, one of my huge interests, is design furniture. And that's something that I. The older I get, the more and more interested I am in it. And she's someone who's so admirable because she also believed in design as a way for a better way of life, you know, and that it should be an egalitarian pursuit and that be accessible to everyone. She actually even changed some of her materials because her materials were too expensive. She started working with wood and cane and things that were more easily available. Of course, the irony is that her pieces are a fortune. You can't touch them. Right. When in reality, that's so often the case. I know. And in reality, they were meant for people who were just living in an apartment and wanted to have a beautiful table and bookshelves that worked. And, you know, she's just a cool person.

[Host]

What I love about you choosing Charlotte Perryron is essentially. I mean, her autobiography is called A Life of Creation. And I feel like even from us talking about libraries being your favorite place, this passion, this obsession with stories, with storytelling, and then that becoming storytellers, whether it's filmmakers that you yourself have always sought to be around creative people, to search for them.

[Julianne Moore]

Yeah.

[Host]

And we started our conversation with your Scottish connection, and we're going to finish there, too. We asked you to pick an item.

[Julianne Moore]

Right, right.

[Host]

That has sentimental value in your life. And what have you chosen?

[Julianne Moore]

From my mother's locket, I don't want to cry again, but I wore it because it's right here. So, believe it or not, my father gave this to my mother when they were in high school. So it has an inscription on the back that says, to Ann love Pete. And the fact that they met in high school and married and had three kids and had a whole life. And, you know, like I said, my mother died in 2009. And it was very sad and it was really terrible. And it's nice to have something of hers that I wear all the time. And it's nice. It'll Be something. It'll give to my daughter, and it's nice and something I saw in her. And it's funny because I don't. Even though I'm a. I'm a lover of stuff. Like, I love furniture, and I love jackets, and I love ceramics, and I love. You know, I love stuff, right? I'm not. At the end of the day, I'm like, well, I lost it. I lost that jacket, or I broke that pot, or I sold that sofa, or I gave those things that I don't want anymore, you know, away. And I'm not attached, but I'm attached to this locket because I saw it on my mother all the time. So it's like I could still see it, you know, I can see it on her body. It's one of the few things that I think, like, it's nice to have sometimes. It's nice to have, like, evidence, you know, like evidence of a life.

[Host]

What do you think you inherited from your mother?

[Julianne Moore]

Oh, God, everything. You know, I mean, I think that. I think she was the one who. You know, she was the one who taught me to read, you know, so she was the one who said, you know, you're ready for this book, and you're ready for that book. And she was the one who. With my father, too, who said, you can do whatever you want to do. You just have to go to school and learn it. I think, you know, I think she was smarter than me. She was really, really smart. She was somebody who was very led by her intelligence and I think didn't have the opportunities that she should have had or the opportunities that I've had because she was married so young and she lived in a different time. You know, it wasn't. I think she made it very clear to us, to all of us, my sister, my brother and I, that it's important for you to take your opportunities and to make sure to chase what you want to chase. And, you know, I mean, she was very clear about that, about, like, choose your life. Your life doesn't have to choose you. I mean, oddly, I think it's interesting that I think I was so driven in my career in my 20s, because my mothers had an insistence that I explore what I wanted to explore. And so I was like, well, I need to do this. And it wasn't until I was, like I said, in my early 30s, when I was like, well, wait a minute, I have to do the other thing. But I think she was the one that was like, choose it. You know, choose yourself. Do you know, do what you want to do.

[Host]

Julianne Moore, thank you for sharing this life of yours. What a thrill.

[Julianne Moore]

Thank you so much. You're such a pleasure to talk to.

[Host]

Next week it's this.

[Tom Ford]

I'm Tom Ford and welcome to this Life of Mine. There would be two guys having sex on the floor in front of a man and a woman in evening dress. You know, it was a completely free environment. I had no idea that he was gay. I had no idea gay people really existed. It was like a film. I said, please, God, let something happen happen. And I went to the door and there was this guy in a jacket and tie and he said, hi, do you want to go to studio? And I heard the crash and I thought, oh, God, he's fainted again. Okay, what are we going to have to do? And I went up and his eyes were open and there was an expression on his face, absolutely frozen. And then I immediately realized he was dead.

[Host]

If you haven't subscribed to Lemonade Premium yet, now is the perfect time. You can listen to this Life of Mine completely ad free. Plus you'll unlock exclusive quick fire rounds of questions with all of my guests. They're all in two minutes or less. Just tap that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts or head to lemonade premium.com to subscribe on any other app. Or you can listen ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership. That's Lemonade premium dot com. Don't miss out.