Thanks to their acclaimed performances in “May December,” Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman are closing out 2023 atop a wave of early awards season buzz.
Both actors are, of course, no strangers to critical acclaim. In 2011, Portman’s chilling portrayal of a tormented ballerina in “Black Swan” won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Four years later, Moore took home the same honor for “Still Alice,” in which she played a college professor grappling with an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.
Appearing on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” however, the two women shared the past film performances they thought were better than their Oscar-winning ones.
Watch a clip of Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman on “WWHL” below.
“I felt like ‘Jackie’ was a big one for me,” said Portman, referring to her portrayal of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Pablo Larraín’s 2016 biopic. Though the actor was nominated for her performance in that film, she lost to Emma Stone, who won for the movie musical “La La Land.”
As for Moore, it was her portrayal of flustered 1950s housewife Cathy Whitaker in 2002’s “Far From Heaven” that she felt should’ve taken home the Oscar. That year’s Best Actress Oscar went to Nicole Kidman for “The Hours,” in which Moore had a supporting role.
Moore reunited with “Far From Heaven” director Todd Haynes for “May December,” which was loosely inspired by the tabloid frenzy that surrounded the real-life case of Mary Kay Letourneau.
It in, she plays Gracie Atherton-Yoo, a woman living in relative seclusion with her much younger husband, Joe (Charles Melton), and their children after her release from prison. The couple began a relationship when Gracie was 36 and Joe was a 13-year-old seventh grader.
Gracie and Joe’s seemingly staid lives are upended by the arrival of Elizabeth Berry (Portman), a television actor researching Gracie’s life for a movie.
Whether “May December” will give either actor a chance to add a second Oscar to her mantel remains to be seen. Reviews of the film, however, have already named both actors as 2024 Academy Award frontrunners. Melton, who sheds all traces of his “Riverdale” past in his performance, also seems poised to land on the Oscars shortlist.