Julianne Moore Has Thoughts on “Making It” in Hollywood | Women in Hollywood | ELLE

I'm Julianne Moore and I'm a woman in Hollywood. So the Hollywood moment that still amazes me is the first time that I was nominated for an Oscar. It was an interesting time in my life because I was so busy, you know, with the baby and my life, and I had a treadmill in my garage. And then I went into my garage and I ran on the treadmill and then, boom, the nomination came in and I was like, I just got nominated for an Oscar. Like, I can't believe it. It was just really, really shocking. To make it in Hollywood, that's a tough one. You know, what's the definition of making it? What do you mean by making it? Does that mean that you are satisfied with the work that you're doing? Does that mean that you're working with the people that you want to work with, telling the stories that you want to tell? Does that mean that you are able to make a living doing it? I think that there are lots of ways to define making it. I think you have to think about what it is that you care about. You know, what it is that you're pursuing, what your goals are, what fuels you, and you have to kind of figure out what that is for yourself in order to achieve it. The project that changed the trajectory of my career was Safe, Todd Haynes' film that I was so, so lucky to get. I really spent the first decade of my career working primarily in television and doing some off-Broadway and fringy things and wasn't able to book a feature. And then suddenly, you know, along came independent film and there was this movie that I desperately wanted and auditioned for and I got. And it really changed everything for me. It changed the way that I wanted to work. It changed how people perceived me. And it really was the beginning of my film career. When other women see me on screen, I hope they see themselves because I think that that's what film is. I think that we go to the movies to see ourselves reflected, to see our own stories, to kind of receive validation for our own human frailties. And when we see that, when we recognize ourselves in a character, we feel known, you know? We feel less alone. So I think that that's why we do it. I know that that's what I get out of watching the movies. I get a sense of being part of a human community. So I hope that that's what women get out of watching me. I don't know about the future of Hollywood in terms of what the business model is. But what I do know is that we continue to look for stories that are interesting and stories that are human and stories that are entertaining. And that always persists. So that is what goes on and on and on.