Julianne Moore covers the latest issue of Town & Country to promote Bel Canto, the film based on the popular 2001 book of the same name. Personally, I think the movie looks a bit overwrought, but considering the popularity of the book and the cast assembled, I think it might end up being okay. Ken Watanabe plays the Japanese titan of industry who is obsessed with Moore’s opera singer. Renee Fleming provides Julianne’s operatic vocals, but in the speaking parts of the film Julianne just uses her real voice. As it turns out, Julianne did a lot of research with Renee Fleming, and they have something of a friendship now. Fleming was the one to conduct this interview for Town & Country, and you can read the full piece here. Some higlights:

The loneliness of opera singers & actors: “One of the things you said to me that touched me when we first met was about working with young singers who reach out to you and ask, “Am I always going to be this lonely?” A character who had been in Paris by herself, that was something I could relate to, because before I had a family I would find myself in a location all by myself and think, This isn’t the kind of life I want to have. She lives without any kind of community.

She thinks opera could be shorter: “I was asked how I thought they could get more young people to come to the opera, and I said, “Make it shorter.” And they said, “You can’t do that, because people don’t want you to destroy the opera.” But it’s too long.”

Why she did the film: “It was an adult love story, and you never get to see that. So often with love stories it’s young people, and this was an interesting, sad, complicated love story with middle-aged people who didn’t think something like this was ever going to happen to them.

How she’s played a lot of housewives from the ‘50s and ‘60s: “Oddly, a lot of my roles get clumped together. There was a series of 1950s housewives that were all thrown at me at the same time. Or you do a bunch of funny things all at once. My daughter recently asked me about a project, “Do you die again, Mom? I feel like you always die.” I don’t, but there were a couple of movies where that happened.

Whether she’s a strict mom: “I find it challenging. What are you going to get hung up about, the ­cleaning-their-rooms thing? [My daughter] Liv recently came back from being away a couple of weeks, and she needed to do her laundry. She said, “I need to do my laundry,” and I said, “Okay, I’ll help you. I’ll put it in.” Then, before I knew it, I’d done it all. Then Bart asked, “Why did you do her laundry?” and I said I couldn’t help myself and I wanted to help her. But I probably shouldn’t have.

Not all films have to be for all people: “Recently, when I read a script, I asked, “Who are you making this movie for?” Because one project is not for everybody. Somebody was complaining to me about a movie that was for teenagers, and I said, “Please stop. That movie is not for you. Of course you feel dissatisfied watching a young-adult movie, because you’re 45, and that movie is for someone who is 16.” It’s not the same thing.

[From Town & Country]

Should opera be shorter so that kids will be interested in it? I don’t know. Fleming tells Julianne that opera directors, writers and performers are always told that the shows should be shorter in general. I can’t say I’ve ever sat through an entire opera, either on TV or in person, so I’m probably not the best person to ask. But I do agree with Julianne that every film doesn’t have to be for every person. Let young-adult films be for young adults, etc. The problem is that there are too few films made for actual honest-to-God adults who want to see movies that aren’t about kids or superheroes.

Photos courtesy of Tom Munro for Town & Country, sent from promotional T&C email.