FROM Still Alice’s breakout performance at the Toronto Film Festival through to Julianne Moore’s Golden Globe win in Los Angeles last week, it’s been a heady few months for independent filmmakers Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer.
“What can I say? We are very happy to be in this situation,” says Westmoreland, who has become the couple’s media spokesman since Glatzer was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a progressive disease that attacks his motor neurons, four years ago.
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Perfect fit ... Julianne Moore in a scene from film Still Alice. Picture: Sony Picture Classics. Source: Supplied
The director isn’t inclined to add his tuppenceworth to conjecture that Moore, a five-time nominee, might finally bag an Oscar this year for her heart-wrenching performance as a Columbia University linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers.
“That’s up to the Academy but the buzz certainly isn’t hurting,’’ he says.
Happier times ... Moore and Baldwin with their children in the film. Picture: Sony Picture Classics. Source: Supplied
Westmoreland and Glatzer, who won the audience and grand jury prizes at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival for their 2006 film Quinceanera, had more modest aspirations when they sent Moore the first draft of their screen adaptation of Lisa Genova’s book.
“We were just thinking about the story and the character.”
Moore took just two days to respond enthusiastically in the affirmative — which was lucky, because the filmmakers, who married in 2013, didn’t really have a plan b.
No plan b ... Westmoreland (left), producer James Brown (centre), Moore and Glatzer (front) at the AFI Fest in California. Picture: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty. Source: Getty Images
“We didn’t even have a list of Alices we wanted to go to. We just wanted Julianne Moore,’’ says Westmoreland.
“We knew she could project the intelligence of this international linguistics academic and that she could also do the very raw exposed work required later in the story. She never does anything showy or overblown and we knew that would work brilliantly for the part.”
But even with an actress of Moore’s stature in the lead role, Still Alice still didn’t have a distributor when it lobbed at the Toronto Film Festival with very little fanfare.
“We had a Monday afternoon slot. The red carpet was really tiny. But once the film started playing, we could feel the emotional response from the audience,” says Westmoreland.
Tough love ... Moore with Alec Baldwin, who plays her husband in the film. Picture: Sony Picture Classics. Source: AP
The rest, of course, is history. Moore got a standing ovation. The first round of reviews for the film were incredible. And Sony Pictures Classics snapped up distributions the following day.
It’s an incredible success story for Glatzer and Westmoreland, who laboured for seven years to make a film after Quinceanera, made on a shoestring and set entirely in the Latino neighbourhood in which they live.
“They say make hay while the sun shines. Right now Richard and I are working on setting up our next project,” says Westmoreland.
The film will be based on his “short disruptive” spell in a religious cult when he travelled through Yugoslavia at the age of 19.
“It was quite a dramatic summer.”
The pair’s first art house feature, The Fluffer, took inspiration from Westmoreland’s early career in the adult film industry.
All at sea ... Moore’s character comes to terms with the diagnosis. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied
“When I arrived in LA in the ’90s, nobody else was paying me to make films and I just jumped at the chance to work.
“I made some films that I considered very creative, that challenged the conventional way things were done in the adult industry.”
But given the parallels with Glatzer’s own illness, Still Alice is the most personal of their projects so far.
Although ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, doesn’t impair his cognitive abilities, Glatzer has now lost the ability to speak or use his hands. He communicates via an iPad, using his right foot to type out the letters.
It was Glatzer who wrote Alice’s impassioned speech, delivered at an Alzheimers conference, in which she expresses her frustration at people’s tendency to identify her with the illness, and talks about her desire to stay connected to the world.
Dazed and confused ... Moore gets bad news. Picture: Sony Pictures Classics. Source: AP
Westmoreland has himself found inspiration in the character of Lydia (Kristen Stewart), Alice’s youngest daughter, who puts her own acting career on hold to take care of her ailing mother.
“She is so emotionally present.
“Right now, our lives are a mixture of caregiving, making sure Richard’s health is as good as it can be, and making movies. It’s difficult, when you are looking after someone day in and day out, to keep that pure emotional connection, but it’s so important.”
Westmoreland says the pair also wanted to acknowledge the work of caregivers.
“More and more people in America and Australia and everywhere are dealing with issues around ageing relatives or family members who are sick. They are like the unsung heroes of society.
“Ultimately what Lydia decided to do in the story is testament to her, but it’s also saying that it’s a valuable thing to do with your life.”
STILL ALICE OPENS JANUARY 29
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