Even before the Golden Globes win, and the Oscar Best Actress nomination, Julianne Moore was having a good year. Her roles in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars and Still Alice, two very different characters, one terrifying and satiric, the other heartbreaking and realistic, were noticed. Moore has been around for a long time: she could be all fashion as in Tom Ford's elegant movie, A Single Man, or the housewife next door as in Lisa Cholodenko's movie, The Kids are All Right, her performances are always noticeably excellent. That she will win the Oscar this year seems a given. And the career salute from the Museum of the Moving Image, is just the proverbial icing on the year's cake.
Co-stars and friends Ellen Barkin, Rebecca Miller, Steve Buscemi, Ethan Hawke, and Mark Ruffalo skyped from Europe to sing her praises as an actor and a person. Moore's husband Bart Freundlich described giving her the script to his film, The Myth of Fingerprints. Their two children, Cal and Liv, were in the room. Moore is most grounded as a parent, yet assured the audience that the teens had not seen most of her movies. As a presenter, Candice Bergen stood out, noting she first met Julianne Moore when Louis Malle, her late husband, cast her in Vanya on 42nd Street. She did not know her well but introduced a clip from Crazy Stupid Love: the title was written on her hand. Michael Barker, introducing the clip from Still Alice, noted Louis Malle's prescient words about Moore, "This is the finest actress in America and no one knows it yet."
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