It is a wonder to watch Julianne Moore switch from being a children's book author to portraying a psychologically troubled woman. The Oscar-winning actor, best known for Children of Men (2006), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), Still Alice (2014), and Gloria Bell (2018), is as popular in children's bookstores and multiplexes, as she is in art-house circles. But she sees this duality as different forms of communicating the same idea. "What are monsters in fairy tales, if not the manifestation of our feelings?" she observes.
In her new show Lisey's Story, Moore plays the titular character of a woman dealing with the loss of her author-husband and the weight of his legacy. It is the first Stephen King book to be adapted by the writer himself, who has also called it his "favourite" work from his repertoire. Directed by Pablo Larrain (Jackie, Ema), Lisey's Story sees Moore unravel onscreen like she has not previously in her illustrious career so far.
She talks about what drew her to the story, and the therapy that psychological dramas and supernatural horrors provide. Edited excerpts below:
What was the primary challenge of playing Lisey? Do you have something in common with her?
The biggest challenge you have with every story is to find the reality of that character. Every actor struggles with getting there. Since I worked with some great actors in this show, it helped to find that even in the most extreme situations. When you're dealing with horror or the supernatural, you often ask yourselves where the reality is in there. It was exciting and challenging to do that every day with this group of people.
As far as the similarity between Lisey and me is concerned,
what you always have in common with every character is your physicality. When you're excited about how 'different' a character is, you look in the mirror and it hits you, "Oh but it's the same face!" As an actor, you drag your physicality everywhere. So you have to find a way to reinvent it.
How did you approach the love story between Lisey and her husband Scott?
What attracted me to the story was the representation of a long-term relationship. Any of us who have been in one knows it's only the two of you who know what happens inside that relationship. Stephen has taken that idea, and made that secret world manifest into a natural place called Boo'Ya Moon. I love the supernatural and psychological horror. It's our feelings writ large. It helps us examine our anxieties and emotions.
Do you believe stories like these are a great platform to deal with our shared anxieties?
What I love about modern life is the ability of people to express their feelings. So many of them think they're isolated with their own feelings. They're the only with this kind of anxiety and fear. But everyone in life wonders whether what we go through in life, are those anxieties real and conquerable. I'm a fan of therapy and everything else that helps you learn more about your anxieties. They're like the monsters in fairy stories. Children see them as monsters but they're actually manifestations of our anxieties. Literature is a way to process those anxieties. Feelings are fantastic, wonderful, and often debilitating. But you need to engage with them constantly.
You have been hailed as the "queen of the big-screen breakdown." After masterfully wading through psychological drams like Still Alice (2004) and Shelter (2010), did you come across anything that managed to push you in Lisey's Story?
It always is challenging because you want to get it right. There's nothing worse than watching somebody fake it [laughs]. So you fear if something is very flaky and wouldn't land. Luckily, I had a great partner in Pablo. He was somebody I could really rely on. He made all of us go deep. I trusted his taste and point of view. If I was out there thrashing around of my own, it'd be difficult. But I had this great creative partner every single day.
Stephen King dedicated this book to his wife as he wanted to explore the "burden of legacy" she may have to carry after his death. Did you get to talk to Tabitha first-hand to get into the skin of the character?
Ahan. Nope. I haven't met Tabitha. I've met Stephen who was there all the time, and always available. He talked about her a lot. But he writes about the universality of human experience. There's a specifity obviously to his marriage but he writes about something we all share and can relate with. That's what I took away from it. He's bringing his experience of a relationship to it, but I can bring mine too.
What could you infer from this story about Stephen's understanding of relationships?
One of the main draws to Lisey's Story for me was the family element. You see Lisey's childhood, Scott's childhood, the wonderful things and the awful ones that shape them, her relationship with her sisters from childhood and onward. They're really moving and affecting. They're fractious at times but they also lean on each other. To see these three women so intertwined was so heartening. Its shows how much Stephen values his family. It's really interesting that in a supernatural story, we were dealing with both family relationships and romantic relationships.
Was it tough to juggle the acting and executive producing duties?
It wasn't that difficult. As an executive producer, a lot of the work happens before shooting. So I had a lot of responsibility in making creative decisions. And even in that, there are a lot of people involved. It's not like you're the final arbitrator. When you start shooting, you just flip to being an actor where my primary responsibility was to deliver. By that time, there are a lot of line producers on set too. So there wasn't some tremendous heavy-lifting I had to do once I started acting.
There is a track in Lisey's Story when an obsessed fan of Scott, your character's husband who is a renowned author like Stephen, stalks Lisey relentlessly. Being an actor of global repute, have you encountered similar obsessed fans personally?
Aww, thank you for being so generous. I'm struck by when people have a response to your work. It's great that they see themselves in you. As an actor, what you want to is something so personal that someone says, "I know that, I've had that experience." So if any fan obsesses over you, it's just their way of saying that. Let me tell you that when someone catches you and says, "Who're you? I've seen you in something but I don't know where," that doesn't feel good. But you get blown away when a fan tells you, "I saw that movie and I saw myself in you — just wanted to say hello." That's the kind of interaction you want to have. I've never found someone who's intrusive. Sometimes, people are inappropriate but then you know, aren't we all?
Lisey's Story is streaming on Apple TV+. New episode drops every Friday.
source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-julianne-moore-interview-to-find-the-reality-of-your-character-in-a-supernatural-story-is-exciting-challenging-9679931.html
