TIFF 2014: ROBERT PATTINSON & JULIANNE MOORE TALK ABOUT “MAPS TO THE STARS” MOVIE

Bailey's Quest-445.cr2 Canadian master David Cronenberg returns with, Maps to the Stars,  a new satire about Hollywood culture starring Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson.

With an all-star cast, including Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson, Cronenberg examines the vanity, ruthlessness and desperation of the residents of Tinseltown including an aging actress, a pyromaniac assistant, an aspiring actor/screenwriter who makes ends meet by driving a limo and a whole motley crew of eccentric characters who come together in a hilarious and dark comedy.

Award-winning actress, Julianne Moore plays Havana Segrand who stops at nothing to obtain a coveted lead role including resorting to unethical means. The role is a far cry from Moore in reality, who is enjoying a graceful transition into mature actress. “You don’t get the diva, the ego, the entourage,” director David Cronenberg raved to The New York Times about the actress. “Right up until the moment the slate clicks, she’s 100 percent her sweet, approachable self and then she’s this character that you wouldn’t want to spend any time with.”

MTTS_00870.NEFWhile the role may be daring for some actresses — it required her to deliver a very passionate and emotional monologue from a toilet seat — Moore is humble and doesn’t think of herself as especially daring. “Once I’ve ascertained that I’m safe and I’m with a director who is taking care of me, then I’m able to go and do what I need to do and know it’s not me, it’s the story,” Moore explained.

A bookworm at heart, Moore said she fell into acting at the suggestion of a teacher. Unlike some actors, Moore approaches all her scripts literally. “What I hate is having a meeting and hearing someone say, ‘The script is a blueprint.’ I’m like, ‘Don’t do that. I want language,’” she explained. Having read the book upon which Maps To The Stars was based, she was very pleased with the screenplay, which was written by the author himself, Bruce Wagner. “Bruce’s language is so spectacular and so precise that it wasn’t hard to get into the character of Havana. Because the language was so detailed, I felt like I could hear her and see her.”

While it was Wagner’s screenplay that convinced Moore to do the film, her co-star, Robert Pattinson, was on board as soon as Cronenberg asked him.

“I hadn’t even read the script and I was like, ‘Yep.’” the star told Vanity Fair. Pattinson compared his character, Jerome, an aspiring actor working as a limo driver to the protagonist in Cosmopolis, his last collaboration with Cronenberg. “[Jerome] was another character who didn’t have any kind of backstory. I said, ‘What kind of guy do you think he is?’ And [Cronenberg] said, ‘I don’t know, what do you think?’ And we are shooting in two days and I’m like, Great. It’s exactly what happened on Cosmopolis. We don’t talk about it at all and then turn up and every single scene I did was one take. It’s ridiculous.”

Maps To The Stars is essentially a satire of Tinseltown and Pattinson is very adamant about the difference. “I don’t think we are really making fun of [Hollywood],” he said. “I don’t really think it’s taking the piss out of Hollywood. It’s very specific [to these characters].”

 

Maps To The Stars made its TIFF 2014 premiere on September 9 and stars Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack and Sarah Gadon.

 

 

 

 

 

—Sarah Khan

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