Since 2016's Ghostbusters remake, gender-flipped films appear to be all the the rage. Be it the all-female-lead Ocean's 8, Overboard remake (both in 2018) or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' 2019 redo: The Hustle, Hollywood is leaping at the chance to both reboot successful films, as well as provide female actors with meaty and mainstream roles.
Julianne Moore's latest on-screen venture: 'After The Wedding' is a gender-swapped film so subtle, that you could barely guess Moore and co-star Michelle Williams' roles were originally played by men.
Based upon a 2006 Danish drama, the film - which was written and directed by Moore’s husband, Bart Freundlich - sees the two women entangled in various moral dilemmas.
We spoke to the 58-year-old actor about gender-swapping in films, her co-star and fellow equal pay enthusiast Williams and much more.
On gender-swapping film roles...
It’s more than a story that needed to be told about one sex or another sex, its making a movie about human beings and about the choices they make.
Plus, it was great to have two powerful women, two very self-actualised women, in these roles, simply because it’s something that you don’t always see, so for us it was a real pleasure.
On judging other women's personal choices...
It’s personal. What you choose to pursue and what gives your life meaning, all of it is up to you.
We’re always setting standards for one another saying, ‘No this is the way you do it. No, this is the way you do it.’ Well no, there is no one right way, there’s only the way that you choose.
!["Les Miserables" Red Carpet - The 72nd Annual Cannes Film Festival](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-1149312038.jpg?resize=980:* ""Les Miserables" Red Carpet - The 72nd Annual Cannes Film Festival")
On why female representation in film matters...
As much as we try to be free of gender, we are fascinated by those who are closest to us.
I always say that it’s hard for me to see a film with only men in it because I’m like, ‘Where am I’, ‘How do I fit?’, ‘Where is my story?.'
I get so excited and perk up when I see lots of women [on screen] because I’m drawn to them, because they’re like me, you know? So as much as we try, and it’s important to be able to identify with all human beings obviously, we identify more strongly with our own gender.
On working with Michelle Williams...
It was fantastic and we were just absolutely thrilled that she responded to the material because you need someone who has a real emotional ability and depth ...and Michelle was able to do that, easily..and very beautifully.
On gender equality...
Gender equality, globally, is a tremendously important issue right now. I always say women are not a minority, we’re 50 per cent of the world’s population. This idea that we’re somehow a special interest group is something that's absolutely absurd. So happily I think we are in the middle of a culture change and people are understanding.
We [actors] get asked a lot of questions about it, but obviously these problems are not endemic to Hollywood. What’s exciting is that women are finding peers all over the world, leading us to band together, to right this issue.
On what women with privilege should do to help...
There’s impact investment that you can do, so invest in different communities including women’s small business. Leading the charge in terms of hiring practices, when you’re hiring make sure that you’re hiring diverse people. Honestly, I think a lot of it is economic and a diverse female population that’s most important.
'After the Wedding' is in cinemas now.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
