Julianne Moore seems to grow in beauty and
bankability by the day. What’s her secret? The 51-year-old actress, author and
mother explains all.
Julianne Moore has every reason to
celebrate. Last year’s romantic comedy Crazy Stupid Love, received wildly
enthusiastic reviews. This year, there is high excitement — and already talk of
awards — for her next role playing Sarah Palm in the television film Gaine
Change — as well as the release of two further films. Being Flynn and The
English Teacher. For Being Flynn, currently on circuit, Moore. along with
Robert de Niro and Paul Dano, has been fêted for yet another fine performance.
Julianne
Moore seems to grow in beauty and bankability by the day.
Yet when we meet for breakfast at a chic
brasserie around the corner from her home in New York, the four time s
Oscar-nominated actress is most excited about something that has nothing
whatsoever to do with her glittering career.
‘I’ve just become a UK citizen,’ says
Moore, smiling with obvious delight. ‘Isn’t that something?’ She decided to
claim her British heritage in memory of her Scottish-born worker who died
suddenly two and a half years ago.
‘I’m really thrilled and it would have
meant the world to her: she says. ‘Her parents emigrated when she was 10, so
she didn’t have a choice about moving to the United States. She married my
father and had to renounce her British citizen ship [Moore’s father, Peter. was
an army colonel and later a military judge. and wasn’t allowed to have a spouse
who was a foreign national]. My sister and I both remember her coming home in
tears carrying the American flag.’
Moore has played British effectively over
the years: in The End of the Affair, An Ideal Husband and most recently
opposite Colin Firth in Torn Ford’s drama A Single Man. But now she is a
British citizen. ‘I was sworn in the day Prince William and Kate were arriving
in LA — the day before my mother’s birthday, on 9 July. She would’ve been 71.’
says Moore, close to tears.
We are both silent for a moment as the
actress composes herself. Does the grief get easier with time? ‘It’s still the
same, it’s very painful,’ says Moore quietly. ‘I don’t know that you ever recover
from loss. My mother was very young, too.’
‘She died at 68 [of an infection followed
by an embolism]. The thing about having a very young mother who had you at 20
is that you expect that you’re going to be old ladies together,’ she trails
off. ‘I’ve learnt that you have to appreciate every minute. Don’t wish your
life away. Be present.’
‘I’ve
learnt that you have to appreciate every minute. Don’t wish your life away. Be
present.’
Moore looks lovely, but quite different
from the sophisticated figure she cuts on the red carpet. She’s wearing no
make-up and is dressed casually in skinny jeans and a striped T-shirt. Her
long, red hair frames a pale, lightly freckled face and vivid grey-green eyes.
Her philosophy extends to ageing. If you’re
5O, you re never going to be 50 ever again, so enjoy it.’ she says. ‘If you sit
through the year wishing you were younger, before you know it it’s going to be
over and you’re going to be 51.’
‘If
you sit through the year wishing you were younger, before you know it it’s
going to be over and you’re going to be 51.’
In fact, Moore looks younger. She told me
in a previous interview that she hadn’t had plastic surgery. ‘No. i haven’t had
anything done. See, i have lines right here.’ She says now, pointing to faint
creases around her eyes and mouth.
