Actor Blake Lively had the opportunity to work alongside Hunger Games star Julianne Moore in the romcom drama Private Lives of Pippa Lee. But Moore’s ability to get in and out of character on a whim initially caught Lively off guard.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was a 2009 movie based on the novel of the same name and directed by Rebecca Miller. Lively played a younger version of the titular character. House of Cards star Robin Wright would end up playing her much older counterpart.
The movie featured an ensemble cast that included the likes of Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore, and NCIS star Maria Bello. Bello was a veteran actor who Lively already greatly admired. So when Bello didn’t compliment the Gossip Girl alum on her performance, Lively was concerned.
“I was honestly terrified. I hadn’t slept that much, and all I wanted that day was for Maria to say, ‘Wow, great job.’ And when she didn’t say anything to me, I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m terrible. She hates it,’” Lively once said on Marie Claire. “She’s calling her agent, saying, ‘What have you gotten me into?’”
But Lively calmed down when she realized that Bello was only method acting, choosing to stay in character the whole day. Moore, another actor who Lively was a fan of, did the opposite of method acting. Moore played a dominatrix in the feature who ends up taking inappropriate pictures of Lively in the film. But Moore’s ability to switch from a domineering photographer to a caring co-star on a whim was what really disturbed Lively.
“The way Maria worked was very method, and then Julianne Moore was the complete opposite—between takes, she was a nice, normal mom talking about her kid’s baseball games. Then you would call ‘Action,’ and suddenly she’s playing this creepo photographer! It freaked me out,” Lively recalled.
How Blake Lively felt about Julianne Moore’s performance in ‘Private Lives of Pippa Lee’
Private Lives of Pippa Lee was another career high for Lively. She’d gotten the role after doing a very intimidating audition in front of filmmaker Miller.
“That was a challenge to do in a 4 foot by 4 foot room, in front of Rebecca Miller, and this woman that I had never met before, reading the scene. It was supposed to be my mother and, not knowing what boundaries were there or weren’t, made it difficult,” Lively told Collider in a 2009 interview.
Fortunately, Lively clinched the part right after auditioning for the director. She was so excited about doing the feature that she didn’t mind acting out certain embarrassing scenes.
“It was fun to crawl around in Lederhosen and have Julianne Moore ask me to meow and spank me, as odd as that seems,” Lively recalled.
Still, Lively did have a moment where she questioned her life choices while working with the Trust the Man star.
“I had a leash around my neck, and Julianne Moore was taking pictures,” Lively recalled again to Nylon. “I thought, ‘What am I doing with my life? What is happening? How is this a good idea?’”
But in the end, Lively considered the many unpredictable actions her character set out to do as a part of the film’s appeal.
“I got to play her, over the course of a decade, so there wasn’t one more part that was more fun than the other. It kept each part exciting because they were all so different. I was given such great material. It’s so rare to get material like this, and I’m so thankful for it,” she said.
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