Julianne Moore sparks backlash for rejecting movies with guns, explosions

Julianne Moore ruffled some feathers online after saying she doesn’t like movies with “explosions and guns.”

During a recent interview with Variety at the Kering Women in Motion Talk at the Cannes Film Festival, the 65-year-old actress sparked backlash when she shared the kinds of projects she is interested in acting in at this point in her career, saying she is “less and less interested in tragedy.”

“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. And I don’t feel like I want to engage in it,” she said.

She detailed reading scripts or watching other films and noticing “when something is there for stakes,” adding, “I don’t like easy stakes.”

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Moore explained that she doesn’t want to appear in movies with “explosions and guns.” (Claire-Lise Havet/Getty Images for Kering)

“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,” she said. “I mean, that actually bothers me because that’s like noise. I don’t know how to play it. I don’t want to watch it.”

After a clip of the interview was shared on X, many fans took issue with Moore’s statement in the comments section, with many pointing out she has starred in multiple movies with guns and violence.

“I’ve lost count how many movies she’s done with guns,” one fan wrote. Another added, “Funny how artists forget their own catalog until it’s time to virtue signal.”

Another fan shared, “That’s great! Now playback all the degenerate, violent entertainment Julianne has happily participated in throughout her career.”

Many on X took issue with Moore’s comments, pointing out that she has appeared in many films involving violence, including “Hannibal.”

A fourth fan wrote, referencing the sequel to “Silence of the Lambs,” which tells the story of serial killer Hannibal Lecter, writing, “A man had his skull removed in Hannibal, and brain eaten.”

While many took issue with her comments, others came to her defense, with one writing, “Julianne Moore choosing emotion over chaos is exactly why she’s respected worldwide.”

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“I actually agree with her! We already have enough violence in the world! We need good family values in movies back!! Good family fun!! And the movie theaters will be full again! We want to go to the theaters but there’s not enough quality movies going out! That’s why The Devil Wears Prada was great,” another said.

This isn’t the first time Moore has faced backlash, as Vili Fualaau, who gained national attention for his illicit relationship and marriage with his sixth-grade teacher in the late 1990s, took issue with her film, “May December,” which told a similar story, calling the project a “ripoff” of his life.

Moore previously received backlash for her role in the 2023 movie, “May December.” (Joe Maher/Getty Images)

Despite the backlash, Moore maintained when speaking to Entertainment Tonight in January 2024, that throughout filming the movie, director Todd Haynes was “always very clear when we were working on this movie that this was an original story … a story about these characters.”

“So that’s how we looked at it too,” Moore said. “This was our document. We created these characters from the page and together.”

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Moore won an Academy Award in 2015 for her leading role in “Still Alice,” in which she played a woman dealing with her early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She was previously nominated for her roles in “Boogie Nights,” “The End of the Affair,” “The Hours” and “Far From Heaven.”

The actress was at the Cannes Film Festival as the recipient of the Kering’s Women in Motion Award, an award which is presented to an actress who has helped advance the role of women in society and film.

Moore is receiving the Kering Women in Motion Award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)

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