Julianne Moore learned sign language to prepare for her role in 'Wonderstruck'

Academy-award winning artist Julianne Moore has revealed that she spent two months learning American Sign Language for her portrayal of a deaf woman in upcoming movie 'Wonderstruck'.

The actress played two characters, a silent movie star in 1927 and a deaf woman in 1977.

For her scenes as Rose in 1977, Moore spent two months learning American Sign Language, and then got pointers from deaf actress Simmonds.

She said, "She was so nice about my signing, which is bad. t's like talking to a baby. I'm not kidding! But Millicent was very encouraging. She'd always go, 'You got it, keep going, keep practicing."

 

The 'Still Alice' star also revealed that getting to play two roles was just "too hard to resist" for her.

Moore noted, "That's hard to resist, getting to play two parts. And the book is pretty extraordinary. It's about these kids who are trying to find their parents, but what they end up finding is their culture and community. That's something beautiful and very meaningful."

Julianne also shared that she was able to provide some pointers to her young costars about how to adapt their performances to a historical period.

"One thing Todd does so beautifully is that he assembles all these research materials for us. Obviously because I was playing a silent film actress, I looked at all of those. Then some really wonderful iconic films from the '70s and a really great documentary on the blackout of 1977."

Adding, "The material gave us all a tremendous amount of context. And what I think Todd does better than any filmmaker alive is physicalise and manifest emotions cinematically in cities. That's why we are so inspired by big cities and places we've created, because they are monuments to humanity."

'Wonderstruck' tells the story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.

The flick also stars Millicent Simmonds and Cory Michael Smith in pivotal roles.