Julianne Moore slams website for twisting take on 'The Kids Are Alright' role, fans call her 'Queen of gays'
In a recent interview, Julianne Moore spoke about her highly controversial role as a married lesbian having an affair with her straight male sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) in the film 'The Kids Are All Right'. Both Moore and her onscreen partner in the movie, Annette Bening, received major backlash following the movie's release for being straight actors cast in the role and of course, for showing a lesbian woman succumbing to an extramarital affair with a man. Years later, Moore has finally addressed the topic of straight people playing gay on-screen in a Variety interview, that was retold from another publication in the most sensational angle, insinuating Moore didn't want to be a part of the film. And Moore served back so hot, fans are now calling her a 'Queen of Gays'.
Borrowing Moore's quotes to Variety, IndieWire chose to run a story titled 'Julianne Moore Reconsiders Lesbian Role in ‘Kids Are All Right’ 10 Years Later'. Some have noted the headline initially said 'Julianne Moore Wouldn't Take 'Kids Are All Right' Lesbian Role Today'. Either way, it didn't sit right with Moore who decided enough was enough and finally called out the outlet for hurting her feelings by misconstruing and twisting her words.
"I have never responded to an article before but I was so upset by how @indiewire and @zsharf misrepresented my @variety interview the I had to respond," Moore clapped back on Instagram alongside a screenshot of her saying the same things on the tweet. "What I said was that I don’t know that today we would have a totally straight cast play gay characters in a film but that I am grateful for the experiences that I have had as an actor because my job is to communicate a universality of experience to the world. The idea that, rather than othering people, we are saying we are all the same. Our humanity is shared. It was a privilege and a real joy to play Jules in #thekidsarealright. With Lisa, Stu, Annette, Mark, Josh, and Mia!!!!"
Moore's film 'The Kids Are All Right' was a groundbreaking rom-com for queer family representation on the screen. Written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, and directed by Cholodenko, the film arrived in 2010, back when gay rights and associated movements went through a tectonic shift within the nation. So it's imaginable why casting straight people as gay, or making them fall for other straight characters was problematic to some at the time and many, over the years. While Cholodenko opened up about the backlash calling it super 'interesting' and claiming to her, the actors' sexuality didn't take away from the queerness of the movie, Moore straight up announced the concept would make many uncomfortable now.
“I can see why people took issue with a lesbian character having an affair with her sperm donor,” Moore said. “On the other hand, I think that Jules’ character was someone described as being very fluid, sexually, and personally. She was floating, in the sense of her entire identity — as a woman, as a person, in her career. I’ve thought about that a lot. Here we were, in this movie about a queer family and all of the principal actors were straight. I look back and go, ‘Ouch. Wow.'” Moore also explained, “I don’t know that we would do that today, I don’t know that we would be comfortable. We need to give real representation to people, but I’m grateful for all of the experiences [...]” But her sentiments came out real wrong in the other article.
Soon as Moore posted this on Instagram though, fans buzzed with comments underneath. "Don't take their shit" wrote one, while others called her "Queen of the gays!! you’re a legend!" For some fans, they simply couldn't see what was wrong with Moore playing a lesbian, even 10 years later. "The idea that a gay actor should be chosen to play a gay character is utter nonsense. An actors sexual orientation should not be relevant when being chosen to play a role. They’re actors. They’re supposed to, umm idk, act?" Another defended the film noting "I don’t see why it matters if you are straight gay or bi playing any of those roles. It’s a role. It’s acting. That’s like saying Ellen Page is only allowed to play a gay character. She shouldn’t be type cast and nor should you."
Pointing out how damaging these headlines can be, a fan noted: "It's so Easy to destroy and so hard to build!" Another congratulated Moore, saying "Good for you for calling them out." A third fan felt total love for Moore's way, writing "This lesbian couple loves you. The movie had far bigger problems than the straight cast. But you and Annette did a beautiful job representing us."