Watch Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton’s speech at ELLE’s 2024 Women in Hollywood event.
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00:00It's such a thrill to be here tonight with all of you whose work I so admire.
00:05Some of you I know, some I just met, and some I am dying to meet.
00:11So, do you know how you watch someone's work, and you just die for them? You think, oh my god,
00:17I can never do that. Plus, she's so cool, and how does she look like that, and why can't I do that?
00:23And then you think, well, you know, well, I'd like to meet her, and maybe we could be friends,
00:27and then you do meet her a couple of times, but just at events like this, or in hallways doing
00:32press, or film festival red carpets, which are not conducive to long conversations,
00:39and so you think, I'm probably not going to really be friends with her. I'll just admire her from
00:45afar. So, obviously, that is how I felt about Tilda, and I hoped that our lives would intersect
00:53in a more meaningful way, but I didn't think it would happen, and that I would like to work with
00:58her, but I doubted there would be a project that would put two old redheads together,
01:05and then along came Pedro with this incredible gift. So, generally, when women are cast opposite
01:13each other, there are several scenarios we find ourselves in. We're a mother and a daughter.
01:19We are lovers. We are antagonists and want to kill each other, but if we are friends,
01:26one of us is in the lead, and the other one is the sidekick. So, I don't know about you,
01:31but nobody in my friendships is a sidekick. Throughout my life, my female friends have
01:38been the witnesses to my life, and I the theirs. We've been there for each other through jobs,
01:43and men, and children. We have had lunch, and done pottery, and gone on walks, and consistently
01:50told each other, no, you're not crazy. So, imagine my surprise when I finally found myself in a film
01:59that mirrored my own experience of female friendship, that was about showing up, witnessing,
02:07listening, and keeping someone company in the most profound way, in the way that I have seen
02:13women do for each other again and again. And then the most wonderful thing happened in the process
02:20of making the film, of playing friends in a film, Tilda and I formed a friendship in real life,
02:26because in between takes, we talked about our jobs, and men, and children, and told each other,
02:33no, you're not crazy. So, I feel so lucky to have had this experience with this extraordinary
02:40actress, and with this incredible director, who has long been a champion of women in film,
02:46and has consistently put them at the center of his narratives. And I'm honored to be among you
02:52all tonight, and so happy to be talking about what we as women mean to each other. Thank you,
02:59Al, for this honor, and for including me and my friend Tilda.
03:04I'm doing this because I'm a tall person. No, which one is it? I'm going to go like this.
03:18Okay. I can see it now. Oh, what?
03:23You are too tall.
03:24I'm too tall. Well, we know this, Pedro. I've always been too tall. Okay. To describe this
03:31moment as an honor would certainly be true, but more than that honor, I have to be frank,
03:38this is a pleasure, on a pleasure, on a f***ing fiesta.
03:46To be standing beside my beloved, newest, old, old, old, old friend, Julie,
03:53we made up for lost time. We've been very old friends for one year. In any circumstance would
03:58be jam. I'm the lucky one. I get to hold her hand a lot these days. But to be here, having heard
04:06everything that Pedro said to us, Pedro Almodovar talking about us, it's something, right?
04:13And to be here in celebration of a film that we made together with him about so much that we care
04:23so much about, friendship, fearless witness, honesty, and self-determined life touches us
04:32deeply. But I have to say for my own part, on top of this heap of treasure, to come from Scotland
04:40this week as I have to be in America with my American sisters on this side of the mountain,
04:50chock full of resilience and resourcefulness and gumption and everything that manifesting
04:58a brighter future is going to need, energy and edge and all the wisest smarts, right?
05:09Compassion and righteousness and downright dignity. This is what it's going to take. And we
05:15have this. This is a sincere joy to me. This is fellowship. It really means something. I come from
05:23a very small country at the very top of it with very few people. And this is community. You have
05:31a warmth here in Hollywood that people outside of Hollywood don't necessarily expect. It's
05:37breathtaking. And it's led by women. And it's absolutely infecting the men. So let's keep it rolling.
05:55Hallelujah for this gathering. We are so blessed to have all the alliances that bind us.
06:02And may they sustain us to the end. I believe they will. Thank you, Elle,
06:07for throwing this beautiful party.