Julianne Moore has explained why she chose for her character to speak with a lisp in May December.
Directed by Todd Haynes and starring Natalie Portman and Charles Melton alongside Moore, the film follows “married couple Gracie and Joe Atherton-Yew (Moore and Melton) whose 23-year age gap sparks an infamous tabloid romance that captivated the nation two decades ago. was seized”. Portman plays actress Elizabeth Berry who is set to play Gracie in a movie about her life and visits her to immerse herself in her world.
Speaking to W magazine about the role of Gracie, Moore opened up about why she chose to talk to Lisp for the role.
Related: May Decembers Julianne Moore revealed her first thoughts after reading the script
According to Moore, the shocking voice choice was not actually in the script, but a decision she made based on Portman’s ability to mimic her character as well as her character’s child-like personality.
“That voice choice wasn’t in the script,” Moore said. “I made the decision based on two things: I wanted to give Natalie’s character some things that she could mimic. I was struck by this idea of Gracie’s lisp, which we attribute to children. That’s another reason: Gracie is childlike.”
This wasn’t the only skill she needed to develop for the movie, as she was playing an expert cake maker, meaning Moore had to practice the art before filming and then teach Portman the same skill.
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“I studied with a home baker so Natalie could come and watch and learn how to be a home baker like Gracie. It was kind of a meta experience,” she said.
When asked if baking was her secret skill, Moore said: “Actually, my secret skill — my superpower — is cleaning. I’ll occasionally go into the bathroom at a restaurant and pick things up. I’m always like: ‘Who is this? ? Who was the pig here?'”
May December is available on Sky Cinemas in the UK, and On Netflix in the US.
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