Julianne Moore: Wanting Moore

Q: When Bart plans a movie, does he automatically expect you to be in it? When he wrote World Traveler, about a guy who leaves his family, fools around and then wants to come back, did you read it at each stage? Or does he get in line like other directors?

A: He told me his idea for World Traveler long before we had a baby, even before we were pregnant. That's why it's interesting that people say the story is based on our lives. We really had just been dating by then. He had this idea for the character, it was about a woman and her relationship to her child. I was excited by the idea and he'd fill me in now and then. I always knew I'd do it. But he's writing something right now with a very dear friend of mine in mind for it. So she's going to be the female character in it. I don't think I'm going to be in it at all. And I'm fine with that.

Q: How is it to act with your mate? I think if I tried to hang a picture with my wife, we'd get into a fight. Making a picture would be impossible.

A: It's hard. Bart is exceptionally patient, which I love about him as a director. But the thing that is most difficult is that we know each other so well, our personal signals and what goes on between us are very subtle. He can see when I start to get tense, whereas another director might not know. I can see it in him. It's good and bad that we're attuned to each other like that. Things you'd ordinarily like to hide from your director are very visible to him.

Q: Does it ever impact negatively on your relationship, like if you have a bad day?

A: No. Especially because it allows us to spend more time together, so I'm always happy about that. You drive to work together, you drive home, you can talk about everything. It's nice.

Q: I've talked to people about you and your reputation is: very professional, not a prima donna...

A: She's no fun at all...

Q: And there you go, having an affair on the set with the director of The Myth of Fingerprints. Was that awkward?

A: It was awful. Especially because it was his first movie. I wasn't seeing anybody at the time, it was all very casual, but I called Ellen Barkin, who's a great friend of mine, and told her what I was feeling. She said, "You're sleeping with him, aren't you?" I said, "I am not!" She said, "Well, you'd better not, because you're going to ruin his movie." I refused to acknowledge that, but I felt terribly guilty.

Q: Like being pregnant, did you try to keep it quiet on the set?

A: We did keep it quiet on the set. We tried to be discreet but you never really are as discreet as you think. You're looking around, wondering who knows. At least we stayed together, so we don't have to feel like it was some casual set affair.

Q: Some people fall in love on movie sets--like every time they make a movie.

A: I never do. I had never done that before, gotten involved like that. It's just not something I do. It was kind of a surprise and I was a little embarrassed.

Q: You'd been married once before [to actor John Gould Rubin]. After your divorce you spent time in L.A. in the movie scene, dating. Did you feel you were ready to settle down again?

A: I suppose I was. I wasn't really thinking about it then. I wasn't officially divorced; we were in the process. I think I was ready for a serious relationship, but I wasn't thinking that when I met Bart. He's younger, and so you don't think...

Q: Do you think when he brought you in he had those designs?

A: No, he really didn't. It surprised him as much as it did me. I think we were both very shocked by it.

Q: With a second child on the way, do you think you'll get married?

A: I don't really know. We feel pretty comfortable and happy right now the way things are. Marriage is not something we've thought that much about. Truth is, having a child or two with someone connects you to a person forever. It's the biggest commitment you can make.

Q: I want to talk about some of your movies. When Jodie Foster stepped out of Hannibal, was that a role you wanted badly? Or were you hesitant succeeding an Oscar-winning performance?

A: It happened so fast, there wasn't a whole lot of time to process it. I was on my way to London to do press for The End of the Affair when I was told I was on the short list and would get the script. I read it, and it was good. Then I was in Ireland when I was told Ridley [Scott] wanted to meet me in L.A. I said I couldn't do it, I was in London two days, Ireland two days. I wanted to go home and see my kid. No way was I going to L.A. Of course, I went out there for a day, but the only thing I was thinking about was that we liked each other, and then I had the offer and the job. I don't torture myself about movies unless I have an offer.

Q: You've been one of the most prolific actresses, at an age when some slow down. Has this been deliberate?

A: I have done a lot of movies. But you have to realize that, with a movie like Short Cuts, that was two weeks, maybe three weeks, of work.

Q: A question about that argument scene with Matthew Modine, where you appeared bottomless...

A: Oh, don't go there, please. It's so boring.

Q: Well, one question. Did you know that you'd be full-frontal in the script and say, "Sure, let's go," or did you have to think long and hard about it?

A: When a director like Bob Altman asks you to do something like that, you do it. And he doesn't lie about it, he tells you exactly what it is and says, "Will you do it?" I said, "Yeah." Because I know what he does.

Q: What was clever was seeing a nude scene with no sexual context. John McTiernan told Movieline that when he remade The Thomas Crown Affair, he wanted Rene Russo to appear topless while talking business because it made her character seem tough and uninhibited. There was no sexual context. Your scene was a husband and wife in the worst argument they've ever had, and it made sense she'd be oblivious to being nude. Yet it took McTiernan the whole shoot to convince Rene to do those scenes.

A: The greatest strength you have as an actor is a great script and director, and then it's so relaxing. I feel this way with Todd; I rely on him. There are so many things I don't have to think about. A director's job is not to direct the performance; people always confuse a director with being some kind of acting coach. They're not supposed to be in there saying, "Do it a little sadder, you should be thinking about your dead dog." That's baloney. It's my job to come up with that performance. If the directors like Bob Altman, Todd, Paul Thomas Anderson and is doing his job, I can do something special.

Q: Was there one film that helped you start your momentum? Perhaps Boogie Nights, in which you were a revelation?

A: It was my first Oscar nomination, and people noticed me in a different kind of way. I also feel that way about The End of the Affair because it was a love story--heartbreaking and poetic. But once again, my career has been such a series of small steps.

Q: For the porn scene you did with Mark Wahlberg, you managed to act it just badly enough that it seemed like many of those porn films of the '70s without straying into parody. Why?

A: We only watched a couple of those movies. What you're really doing is trying to remember how it is for people who don't know how to act. She wasn't connected through her body or her voice. She doesn't know how to get across any kind of sense of rhythm. You can watch some porn films and see wonderful actors, especially in the '70s. But we chose to do someone terrible. So there's a moment where I push myself away from the chair, while saying a line, and I throw myself off balance. That's someone who is trying to be naturalistic, who doesn't know how to put a gesture in there without stopping. They have no sense of language. You have to do it just right, because you don't want to be making fun of anybody. It only took a couple of takes.

Q: Magnolia felt somehow all over the place. Did you feel good about the movie?

A: I think it was a really inventive and wonderfully ambitious piece of work, very challenging and hard to do and I was glad for the opportunity to try something really big and find my way through it.

Q: When you're in a big movie that doesn't do that well, like Evolution or Magnolia, do you take it hard?

A: No, I don't care. I don't mean to sound callous.

Q: You don't wait to get the weekend numbers from the studio?

A: No, that's none of my business. If I were a producer, and had a business interest, maybe I'd feel different. If I do a movie like Magnolia, I'm not doing it for box office; that's an art film and you're trying things. When you do a more commercial movie like Evolution and it doesn't do well, well, what the hell are you going to do about it? It's like, you made it, you had a good time, you hope it will do well for all the people involved, the studio. But it's not something you can get crazy about. Now, maybe if I cared a bit more about how much my films made, I'd be a big movie star and make more money.

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Michael Fleming interviewed Michael Mann for the November issue of Movieline.

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