'After the Wedding' star Julianne Moore says she thought 'a gender flip in the leading roles wasn't possible'
Bart Freundlich's 'After the Wedding', which is a remake of the 2006 drama of the same name by Susanne Bier has a twist. The leading roles changed from male to female. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24 and opened to positive acclaim. The film boasts of an impressive cast in Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup, and Abby Quinn.
In an exclusive with MEA WorldWide, actress Julianne Moore shed light on being part of the drama. Moore plays Theresa Young, a millionaire, and benefactor from New York in the film. She is approached by Isabel (Michelle Williams), a co-founder of an orphanage in Kolkata and Theresa askes her fly to New York to prove the need for deserving her investment.
A frustrated Isabel agrees as the pressure for funds mounts. The pair meet on the eve of Theresa’s daughter’s wedding for which Isabel receives a surprise invite and that's when things go south for Isabel after she realizes that Theresa's husband was the man she loved, but left 20 years ago.
Talking about Theresa, Moore said that she loved the character. "When Bart and I watched Susanne Bier's 2006 version, I saw what Rolf Lassgård did and I was intrigued by his opacity and his kind of fierceness and I thought, wow! I'd love to play that part". In Bier's version, the role was essayed by Lassgård who played Jørgen Lennart Hansson, a millionaire.
"Bart was developing the part and working on it when the idea of gender flip came about and I thought it wasn't possible. To be able to play a female character with so much power, who's built this huge business and at the same time she's built a wonderful solid family and says 'I wanted both in my life and I have achieved both,'" she said.
"And here she's is, having controlled so much and built so much and there's this one thing she cannot control anymore. And that drives the drama. So to be able to be in a movie about human relationships, about what we truly want, and who we love, It was a wonderful opportunity," she signed off.
You can watch the complete interview right here:
'After the Wedding' is scheduled to be released on August 9, 2019, by Sony Pictures Classics.