Julianne Moore may have survived cults, clones, and killer husbands on screen — but it was bruises, dancing, and Domhnall Gleeson that nearly did her in on her latest project.
The Oscar winner hit the red carpet at BFI Southbank on Tuesday night for the European premiere of Echo Valley, a taut Apple TV+ thriller about maternal sacrifice, moral grey zones and yes, some surprisingly physical stunt work.
Moore was joined by director Michael Pearce and co-stars Sydney Sweeney, Domhnall Gleeson and Fiona Shaw to premiere the project.
In Echo Valley, Moore plays Kate, a grieving mother just trying to keep her Pennsylvania horse farm — and her sanity — afloat. She’s gone broke putting her daughter Claire (played by Sweeney) through rehab, and is forced to make some dangerously un-motherly choices when Claire reappears, blood-soaked and hunted by a violent drug dealer (Gleeson).
Despite the darkness, the film has unexpected flashes of levity — including one memorable scene in which Moore’s character dances awkwardly to Robyn’s Dancing On My Own with her on-screen best friend, played by Fiona Shaw.
So which left a bigger mark — the stunts or the dancing?
“It was the stunts, actually,” Moore told The Standard on the carpet. “The dancing was embarrassing, so I had emotional bruises from the dancing, but I had actual physical bruises from the stunts.”
Director Michael Pearce praised Moore’s relentless energy on set, even when faced with freezing weather, early call times, and emotional breakdowns on screen.
“She’s the consummate pro,” he said. “I don’t know how many movies she’s done now but she turns up to set each day, as script holder, ideas, energy and just the excitement of someone as if it’s their first movie.
“Sometimes filmmaking can be a bruising experience, you’re not sleeping well or you’re getting up at crazy hours and things go wrong, a location falls through... but she still turns up every morning, four in the morning and she’s so excited to be there and play opposite the other actors so that was a reminder to me, ‘oh that’s the attitude you should have on set every day.’ “
The production itself was bruised too: shot two years ago, it was abruptly shut down by the actors’ and writers’ strikes.
They wrapped six weeks of filming, paused for a full year, then returned for final scenes, including underwater sequences filmed at Pinewood Studios, with the rest shot in New Jersey.
“I think in some ways we were just happy to finish the movie,” Pearce continued. “Some films got shut down before they started and then they could never get picked back up again - or if they do, it’ll be in the future.
“You make a lot of good friends when you’re shooting so a lot of people were just happy to see each other. We got into the swing of it very quickly.”
Moore’s co-star Domhnall Gleeson, who plays Jackie, the film’s slippery and sinister antagonist, joked about just how snake-like his character really is.
When asked if Moore was the St Patrick of psychological thrillers, Gleeson laughed: “Well I don’t want to give any spoilers… but he definitely is a bit of a snake. A bit oily. He’s a bit serpentine, I think and he doesn’t play well with others so it’s good character to play.”
Off the back of Echo Valley, Gleeson is switching genres entirely. His next role? A mockumentary spin-off of The Office titled The Paper, which follows the messy inner workings of a failing small-town newsroom in middle America.
So what’s trickier: playing a menacing villain or pretending to care about proofreading headlines?
“The funny thing is, you have to play all of it seriously — whether it’s comedy or drama,” Gleeson said. “With all of it, you’re just trying to connect to other people and get through.
“That’s not a funny answer… but it’s the truth.”
Echo Valley premieres on Apple TV+ Friday, June 13
