By Gabriela Acosta, Metro World News
When Julianne Moore first saw the script for ‘Sharper’ — a character-driven suspense drama about seduction, deception and betrayal — its multiple points of view, twists and turns astounded her. The thriller is directed by Benjamin Caron and stars Moore as well as Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, Briana Middleton and John Lithgow.
Moore and Stan recently chatted with Metro about the new film.
What attracted you to the project and its characters?
Moore: I read it and was completely surprised, it was totally different from anything I had seen in a long time. I was excited, I agreed to meet with them (writers) and I said, ‘I want to play this character (Madeline), I love her, you have to do it.’
Stan: Yeah, plus it was an opportunity to work with Julianne, something I’ve always wanted to do. And it’s a great movie with strength in the characters, it’s unpredictable and it was surprising and exciting in a way that I hadn’t read in a script before, and just working with Ben was also very pleasing. He had such a specific point of view of the film and I think that’s why it had to be that triad. I think that’s what leads to a great experience.
What was the experience on the set like?
Moore: It was a lot of fun. For me, it was the idea of being in a story that’s about people talking, relating to each other, working and fighting for their plans through their actions and conversations. That’s almost revolutionary in a movie these days because you often see the action from the outside, and here it’s about people and how their lives are affected through their relationships. And we had all these wonderful actors doing specific, detailed, exciting work. So to be involved in that, to have all of us together doing it, I think we were all thrilled to be there and with each other.
Did New York become another character?
Stan: Yeah, I think we were both excited about just that, and it was intense. I think it was exciting for Ben (director) too, because we were shooting in the Village on Friday night and, you know, it’s New York, you can’t tell someone to crosswalk across the street. People are going to walk wherever they want, which is part of the character of the city. And I think we have some of that rawness in the film as well.
Moore: I think New York is a place where you have all kinds of socioeconomic strata. You have the very very wealthy people, and then you have people who are really struggling to get by. And just that idea that all of that exists in this very small place, I think is very much what the film is about. About those kinds of lives that are encompassed and at the same time there’s also some anonymity. I think, in the city, you never really know what people are doing. You don’t know what’s possible, so I can’t think of another city that’s like that, where there’s that intensity. So yeah, I loved shooting there, plus I live there, so that’s really cool.
This is the first time you both worked with Benjamin Caron. How was the experience?
Stan: Ben is such a sweet, generous, patient man. I mean, incredibly in control, in terms of his ability to communicate and what he was looking for with the film. But at the same time, he remained open to ideas.
Moore: Also, he’s a great storyteller. He really knew who each of these characters was and how they would relate to each other and what the possibilities were when he put them together. He’s interested in the very very human and the very complicated as well. We were very lucky to get him on board with this project. Sebastian was also saying that Ben is incredibly kind, collaborative and funny. We all had a great time every day on set. His attitude is just wonderful and that’s appreciated on the projects.
‘Sharper‘ is now streaming on Apple TV+.
