The one actor who “never fails to inspire” Bill Hader: “She’s a master”
Ever since he burst onto the scene as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, Bill Hader has gone from strength to strength, and like many stars before and since, managed to translate that stint on the long-running sketch show into a Hollywood career.
For a guy who used to earn his living impersonating John Malkovich, now, he’s a multi-time Emmy award winner with dozens of film and TV credits to his name, and he’s even stepped behind the camera a few times to direct, overcoming enough obstacles to work with some of the biggest names in showbiz history.
He’s an accomplished voice actor, lending his pipes to productions from Pixar, Sony Pictures, and even Star Wars (he contributed to the voice of BB-8 in The Force Awakens), but when it comes to his all-time favourite, there’s only room for one name at the very top.
When asked by Time Out to drop his ten favourite movies of all time, Hader named one of them as the 1995 psychological thriller Safe, after which, when asked to elaborate, he said that he was drawn to the captivating presence of the film’s leading lady.
“Julianne Moore’s performance in this never fails to inspire me,” he gushed, “She’s a master. If there’s one actor whose career I’d love to have, it’s hers. And she’s an amazing children’s author”.
We’ll get to Moore’s literary career in just a moment, but for now, let’s focus on the film directed by Todd Haynes, which stars her as Carol White, a housewife living a sleepy, suburban existence, all of which goes for a toss when she falls mysteriously ill.
With no apparent diagnosis, Carol believes that darker forces are at play, which leads to her psyche spiralling, resulting in a film that is routinely cited as one of the best of the 1990s, with everything from Carol’s illness to Moore’s performance depicting its various stages to Haynes’ directing style has been analysed and adored for over three decades.
Moore is one of those actors you just seem to forget about, and while her talent is unquestionable, she’s never reached the same heights of fame as many of her contemporaries, perhaps that’s because she’s never really gone down the franchise route, with the only exception to this being her appearances in The Hunger Games, but those only came towards the end of the series. Not that this matters to Hader, for he got to fulfil his dream of working with his idol when the two appeared in the 2015 romantic comedy, Maggie’s Plan.
As promised, we will talk about her children’s books, so if you have kids under five, now would be a good time to bring them back in the room. Beginning with Freckleface Strawberry in 2007, Moore has penned a number of stories aimed at little ones starring the eponymous character, and the series proved so popular that it was even turned into a stage musical. Now all we need is for Moore to star in that musical, and the circle of life will be complete.
