Julianne Moore reveals dark reason shows like Sirens and White Lotus are made

As Julianne Moore stars in Netflix’s new dark comedy Sirens, she poses that our fascination with the mega-rich is due to ‘tremendous income inequality’.

The new ‘seductive’ five-episode series follows three very different women – the lavishly rich philanthropist Michaela Kell (Julianne), her assistant and mentee Simone DeWitt (Milly Alcock) and Simone’s sister Devon (Meghann Fahy), whose life is in a downward spiral.

After Simone and Devon’s father Bruce (Bill Camp) is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Devon embarks on a journey to Michaela’s luxury island to confront her absent sister and stumbles into a world with far more nefarious undertones.

The Molly Smith-created series, also starring Kevin Bacon and Glenn Howerton, and has been sold as the ‘incisive, sexy, and darkly funny exploration of women, power, and class’.

The cult-like aesthetic and critique of the wealthy through the medium of dark comedy seems to be an increasingly explored area of TV, not least in the recent HBO phenomenon The White Lotus.

And Julianne, 64, thinks she has put her finger on exactly why, as she tells Metro.

Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock play rich boss and devoted assistant in Sirens (Picture: Netflix)

‘We’re living in a time of tremendous income inequality, and it’s baffling to us. It’s certainly not something that I grew up with.

‘When I grew up as a kid in the US, it was that it felt like was possible to live a solid, middle-class life. There were a lot of us who had the same access to housing and education, and health care.

‘I think recently, and it’s happened globally too. There’s been this great disparity where so few of the population has so much of the wealth.

‘Rightly so, people are intrigued and baffled and confused about why there should be this vast separation. So I think that’s why we have suddenly this plethora of shows that are investigating what this is [about],’ the Hollywood actor explained.

Shows like The White Lotus also offer a cynical take on the obscenely wealthy (Picture: HBO)

Her character, Michaela, is an animal activist married to old money tycoon Peter Kell (Kevin) who is ‘not quite who she seems’ when you first meet her.

‘I was also really attracted the idea of playing someone whose identity and inner emotional life would slowly be revealed over the course of five episodes,’ she explained.

And her turbulent dynamic with Peter was made all the easier to flesh out thanks her and Kevin’s historic working relationship after they both starred in Crazy Stupid Love.

‘I was so delighted that he was going to do this, because when you work with someone you automatically… have shorthand, and it’s easy for you to re-engage.

‘He’s a joy to be around. He’s such a such a wonderful actor and a really, really wonderful person.’

She added that it was ‘interesting’ to portray a couple at a ‘precarious point in their relationship’ which is not always something you come across.

At the heart of this show, however, is the relationship between these three women who are pushing and pulling against one another in a bid to achieve their conflicting goals.

And we especially see the unhealthily co-dependent relationship Michaela and Simone have forged during their time together.

Julianne was delighted to work with Kevin again after Crazy Stupid Love (Picture: Macall Polay/Netflix)

Julianne praised her House of the Dragon co-star as ‘extraordinary’ and someone who quickly mastered the American accent.

For Milly, her experience working with Julianne proved invaluable and their dynamic in real-life naturally translated to the screen.

Milly explained: ‘I just used my own position of being a younger, less experienced actor who is enamored and inspired by this woman who’s obviously very capable and has the career that I want, and is very talented. 

‘Then as their relationship changes and shifts, Julie is just such an open and accessible actor and person in general so I didn’t feel that I had to reach, I felt that she was always there and she was always willing to play.’

And was inspired to see the ‘good standard’ that Julianne set while filming.

There are three strong female leads on screen, and plenty of women behind the camera too (Picture: Netflix)

‘She was someone who just set a very good standard in always being a team player and always being there to play and to serve the story and not to be self-serving,’ she reflected.

This powerful atmosphere was only bolstered by the fact that not only was the show led by three nuanced female characters, but the crew was also filled to the brim with female talent.

‘All of our directors [such as Nicole Cassell] were women. All of our first ADs were women. And it just made the process and environment of going to work every day something very different to what I was used to,’ the 25-year-old screenstar said.

‘I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of female directors, but to work with like a fully female team in front and behind the camera, just made it such a welcoming environment. We could ask questions and things would change, or things would be incorporated, and they would listen.’

She pointed to the pink megaphone Simone uses to boss everyone around with in the first episode which came about thanks to her suggestion.

Milly was able to bring her own elements to the character (Picture: Macall Polay/Netflix)

‘I went up to Molly, and I was like, “I think it would be really funny if she didn’t yell [but] she had a little pink megaphone.” Things like that… it was such a joy,’ she recalled.

As for her connection with her character, it was definitely ‘the most different character [she’s] played’ from herself.

‘You can be like: “I don’t really understand that set of circumstances but I understand the feeling of being outcasted and needing to prove and needing to perform and needing to be perfect.” So I could relate to that,’ she said.

One thing she couldn’t relate to, however, was the sibling dynamic between Simone and Devon.

‘Me and Meghann both don’t have sisters so we would go talk to Molly like “how do sisters behave with one another?” and we found it with each other.

‘There’s one scene at the end in episode five that was very, very difficult to shoot because I think it was mine and Meghann’s last day together. We didn’t have to act. We were both just so choked up about it,’ she teased.

Milly was not the only person who tried to bring a personal nuance to the script.

Bill brought ‘tremendous curiosity’ and research when approaching Bruce’s diagnosis.

‘It’s so individual as to how it manifests itself in that particular person. So I took what Molly had written and applied some of my own experience with friends and family that and [what] I observed when visiting people with that condition at different levels, because it’s a progressive thing,’ the Presumed Innocent star said.

‘I can remember having a conversation with Felix, actually, in one particular scene where I was a little that I was moving into a realm that I shouldn’t be. And all he said was, “be honest” and that is always, always, always gonna work.’

And Felix Solis, who played Jose – the manager of Cliff House – spoke about how impactful Bruce’s early-onset dementia storyline was for him, as someone whose mother experienced the disease.

‘The magically beautiful irony of it is that the ailment which Bill was portraying is one that actually triggers the person’s curiosity. They ask a lot of questions, because my mother passed of that ailment that Bill played, and she was so curious and asked so many questions throughout the progression of the disease.

‘It’s just magically ironic that that is actually what he was doing as well.’

Sirens is available to stream on Netflix now.

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