Julianne Moore fearlessly faced freezing weather and dead crows for Lisey's Story
TV Features Lisey's Story
AppleTV+’s Lisey’s Story is, among many things, a brilliant showcase for Julianne Moore, who has her meatiest role in years as the widow to a world-famous author who comes to realize her late husband’s work may be more reality than fiction. From Jackie director Pablo Larraín, the miniseries is an adaptation of Stephen King’s 2006 novel of the same name, a deeply personal story inspired by the famed horror/fantasy author’s own brush with death. In a sense, Moore’s Lisey is a fictionalized version of King’s own wife, and her story is one of grief, loneliness, timeless love, and an otherworldly realm of mystery and menace known as Boo’ya Moon (because, of course—this is a Stephen King project after all). In the video above, Moore discusses her “live wire” performance and why she was so intensely drawn into the story. The actor also gets technical and shares some behind-the-scene secrets about the series’ eye-poppingly gorgeous pool setting, and a particularly memorable scene involving a mailbox and a dead crow.
Lisey’s Story streams exclusively on AppleTV+; its first two episodes premiere on June 4.
Image Credit: Apple TV+
6 Comments
This is why I come to The A.V. Club in spite of being an eternal grey. I had no idea that Lisey’s Story was being put to film.
I now must watch for the legions of incels to try to tear the film down. However, I don’t know why, in my mind, I keep trying to assign the title over to the story of Rose Madder. There was a film planned for that novel, but it didn’t make it to completion.
You might be thinking of Dolores Claiborne, the sister novel to Rose Madder, which was in fact adapted at some point.
I often conflate the two, as well. I enjoyed Lisey’s Story on my first readthrough far more than Rose Madder, but upon rereading (over and over again as I tend to do with my books), Rose Madder wins in the longrun. Viva ze bool.
I’d think Rose Madder would have been a pretty straightforward one to adapt to film and am surprised it hasn’t made it past the planning stage.
I think AppleTV+ is still trying to figure out how to promote their shows, but what I’ve seen is really excellent, so I’m happy this interview helped get the word out there! Really and truly a top-notch Julianne Moore performance.
I resisted getting Apple TV for ages because there just didn’t seem to be that much there. Then I relented, and really what _is_ there is worth it for me. For All Mankind alone gets a couple of months from me.
woo I wanna see this. Julianne Moore has such a beautiful voice.