Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore has revealed that she no longer wishes to 'engage' with films featuring 'explosions and guns' due to ongoing global conflicts. The 65-year-old star made the comments at the Cannes Film Festival, where she was set to receive the Women In Motion award from the Kering fashion group.
Moore's Changing Preferences
'I'm less and less interested in tragedy I would say,' Moore stated. 'I think that particularly now at a time when things are really rough globally it's very difficult for me to invest in a story that I think is pretend; where I feel like the depth of the emotion, the measure of it, doesn't measure up to what's happening in the world. I don't feel like I want to engage in it.'
She elaborated further: 'I don't like easy stakes. I don't like someone being murdered, I don't like explosions and guns, I don't like histrionics, I don't like things that raise the stakes without real feeling underneath. That really bothers me because that's just noise. I don't know how to play it, and I don't want to watch it.'
Upcoming Projects
Moore's next film is a musical comedy directed by Jesse Eisenberg, centering on a shy woman who becomes involved in community theatre. She also has what she describes as a 'small part' in Tom Ford's upcoming film Cry to Heaven, which features singer Adele. 'Small part, lots of dresses,' she joked.
Praise for Meryl Streep
Moore, known for roles in Boogie Nights, Still Alice, and The Hours, praised Meryl Streep as setting the 'golden standard' for women in film. 'She was the first woman I saw who appeared to be touchable and untouchable at the same time. There's something human and modern about her. I feel like she lit a fire in terms of how we could be and what we could do.'
Gender Representation in Film
Moore lamented the lack of female representation in the industry, noting that only five female directors are at Cannes this year, two fewer than in 2025. The percentage of women in lead roles in the highest-grossing films of 2025 has fallen to 37%, down from 47% in 2024.
'It's not endemic just to the film industry, it's global,' she said. 'I mean, there's not representation in C-suites, there's not representation in media, there's not representation in higher education. So there are lots of places where we don't have the representation we deserve. I feel like it's a bigger problem. And how do you change that? I don't know. It's like, how does a mouse get through a wall? One bite at a time. You do it slowly, steadily, mindfully, making choices, speaking up, using your privilege, hiring more, talking about alliances, changing things for us on set. I feel like women are each other's greatest allies, and that's the secret sauce.'
