Natalie Portman Says Working with Julianne Moore on May December Was ‘Absolutely a Highlight of My Life’

Natalie Portman won’t soon forget her experience acting alongside Julianne Moore.

In an interview with Netflix Queue (conducted before the actors’ strike), Portman, 42, said she was working with Moore, 62, on May December was “the absolute highlight of my life”.

“I have admired Julie for a long time, and especially her work with [director] Todd [Haynes]” said Portman.

“Their collaborations remain in my memory as some of the highlights of the movies I love,” she continued. “So being able to work with them together is absolutely the highlight of my life.”

The film is about an actress named Elizabeth Berry (Portman) who travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of the woman she is about to play in her next role: Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Moore).

Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in “May December”.

Francois Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix

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Gracie and the much younger Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) embarked on a controversial romance that landed her in prison due to their age difference. After she was released, the two married and started a family.

According to Netflix Queue, Portman brought the script to Haynes in 2020 and is serving as a producer on the film. Moore said she was immediately drawn to the story.

“I loved this script when I first read it,” she recalled. “It’s interesting. It was light at first. But as soon as you get into it, it’s incredibly solid. It has a tremendous amount of feeling and humanity and complexity.”

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Natalie Portman (left) and Julianne Moore star in ‘May December.’

Francois Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix

Moore also talked about the nuances of her character and what lies beneath the surface.

“As far as Gracie goes, there’s a tremendous amount of judgment about her,” she explained. “She wants to say, ‘Look at me. Know who I am. Know why I made these choices.’ She wants to be famous. I think there’s something really interesting about that, about letting someone into your very, very private life to explore, to see who you are.”

“But of course, Gracie also represents the version of herself that she wants to be known for,” Moore added. “I think Elizabeth becomes more dangerous as Gracie realizes she can’t control her own story.”

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Natalie Portman, Charles Melton and Julianne Moore at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2023. Lionel Hahn/Getty

Haynes told Netflix Queue that Moore is a master at portraying complex female characters. The duo has worked together on previous films like Safe (1995), Far from heaven (2002) and Astonished (2017).

“Julianne likes to go into those places of inscrutability in her descriptions of women, and in stories in general,” he said. “She doesn’t want to appease the viewer. How to stimulate the viewer’s thinking and questioning — that’s the opening of something incredibly powerful and special, and many films sort of close it.”

May December is in select theaters from November 17th, then on Netflix from December 1st.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education