Julianne Moore could be seen at the Golden Globes hobbing and nobbing with her begowned, betuxed colleagues at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, waiting for the list of nominees in the lead actress, drama category to be read. She was one of the five — for her heartbreaker of a performance as a brilliant linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in “Still Alice.”
Finally, the names were called: Moore, Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”), Reese Witherspoon (“Wild”), Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”), and Jennifer Aniston (“Cake”).
“Obviously, or not obviously, I got very nervous as my category approached,” Moore said Tuesday afternoon, back in hometown New York. “It had been a long, long night. … And then at one point, you realize that in 10 minutes it’s all going to be over - good, bad, or whatever.”
Moore won.
She will have to deal with that stomach-churning anticipation all over again Feb. 22 at the Academy Awards. Although “Still Alice” — which costars Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, and Kate Bosworth — is a small indie on a subject that’s decidedly uncool, Moore is rightly considered the front-runner for the best actress statuette. Her portrayal of Alice Howland, whose identity starts slipping away as the disease takes hold, is unforgettable. She has been winless after four nominations (“Boogie Nights,” “The End of the Affair,” “Far From Heaven” and “The Hours”); her fifth may prove the charm.
“I’m very fortunate that Alzheimer’s hasn’t been something that I’ve had a close experience with, with either family or friends,” Moore says. “Which is unusual, because there are so many people who have been affected by this disease.
“But because I didn’t know anything, I was very specific and extensive in my research. I didn’t want to represent anything on screen that I hadn’t seen.”
Moore dove in, meeting with clinicians, researchers, neuropsychiatrists. She sat in on support groups, visited facilities where she spoke to caregivers, family members, patients.
“I did Skype calls with women around the country who had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, what they call younger-onset,” Moore says. “One of whom had been diagnosed at 45 and had been a neurosurgery nurse. …
“And one of the women I spoke to said a beautiful thing: She learned that she was not the most reliable narrator of her own life. …
“And that’s how we experience our lives - we’re our reference point, we’re our own narrators, but then you’re not.”
“Still Alice” was written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. In 2011, they were asked to take a look at Lisa Genova’s novel. That same year, Glatzer was diagnosed with ALS, but the pair decided to take on the project. Glatzer’s experiences with his own disease, observing how people responded to it and to him, informed the screenplay.
In the film, Moore’s character, once at ease addressing large groups, agrees to speak about her experiences with the disease to an Alzheimer’s group. It’s a speech of resounding power and pain — and humor — beautifully written, beautifully delivered.
“I feel like one of the things that Richard did in that speech so spectacularly is bring every experience of his alive. What does it mean to have a degenerative disease? … Everybody talks about, with these diseases, that there are people that step up, that really show up in your life, and then there are the people that you think will step up that kind of disappear. People that don’t treat you the same way, because they think you’re not quite the same individual.”
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