Julianne Moore brought a personal—and impeccably German—touch to the Zurich Film Festival on Friday night as she accepted its lifetime achievement honor, the Golden Icon Award.
The U.S. actress used the ceremony to reflect on her teenage years in Germany and the teacher who encouraged her to pursue acting. Delivering her remarks in German, Moore connected that formative period in Europe to the career being celebrated in Zurich.
“Thank you for this wonderful honor,” she said, according to a translation of her speech. “I know that I am in Switzerland right now, but as a teenager, I lived in Germany. And my teacher there told me that I could become an actress. Had I not moved to Europe with my parents, I would not have had this wonderful life. And I wouldn’t be here with you tonight to speak my bad German to you.”
Moore attended the ceremony with Jesse Eisenberg, who directs her in the musical comedy The Debut. The film, which co-stars Paul Giamatti, is screening during the festival’s 22nd edition in Switzerland this week.
Moore and Eisenberg Reunite for The Debut
Before receiving the Golden Icon, Moore said on the carpet that she felt “pretty good” about the honor and praised Eisenberg as both a filmmaker and collaborator.
“It’s really wonderful to be here with Jesse Eisenberg, who’s such a tremendous talent and has been an unbelievably wonderful creative partner,” she said. “He’s such a genius, so I’m just happy to be sharing this experience with him, and to be here with our movie.”
Moore described the production as a joyful experience, recalling a moment when Eisenberg was amused by the expressions she made in one shot.
“Every day was phenomenal. It really was,” she said. “There’s actually a shot of me that Jesse said was so, so funny because I was making so many dumb faces. But I said, ‘That was just my dumb face!’ I was enjoying it so much.”
The Debut, Eisenberg’s third feature as a director, centers on Mona Friedman, played by Moore. After landing a small role at a community theater, the shy and outwardly unassuming housewife becomes an intensely committed method actor. Her determination to defend the artistic integrity of her minor part eventually puts her at war with the production’s domineering director, played by Giamatti.
Eisenberg told reporters that the character has deeply personal roots. “Mona is me,” he said. “When I was seven years old in New Jersey in 1990, I was a sad little kid, and then I joined a community theater and I found a home.”
Moore previously appeared in Eisenberg’s 2022 directorial debut, When You Finish Saving the World. For The Debut, he said she was essential from the writing stage onward.
“When I started writing it, it was only her, and if she did not want to do it, the movie would have not been made,” Eisenberg said. “There’s no one else on the planet, alive or dead or yet to be born, who could play [the role] as good as she [does].”
The Golden Icon recognizes a career that includes Moore’s Academy Award-winning performance in Still Alice, along with roles in The Hours and The Kids Are All Right. Her recent projects include Apple TV’s Echo Valley, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door and the Netflix limited series Sirens. Next year, she is due to return to the stage in the title role of the Off-Broadway play Faydra.
Martin McDonagh Also Honored in Zurich
Friday’s ceremony also saw filmmaker Martin McDonagh receive the festival’s A Tribute To… Award in celebration of his latest film, Wild Horse Nine. The filmmaker behind In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin said he was pleased to return to Zurich and present the movie to its audience.
“I love coming to Zurich, and it’s a tremendous honor,” McDonagh said. “I’m excited. I know it’s a great, very cine-literate audience, so I hope they’ll like [Wild Horse Nine] as much as the other ones.”
Set shortly before Chile’s 1973 military coup, Wild Horse Nine stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as Chris and Lee, longtime CIA partners based in Santiago. Their bureau chief, MJ, played by Steve Buscemi, sends them to Easter Island to assist in the United States’ covert effort to undermine Chile’s democratically elected government. Surrounded by the island’s Moai statues, the two men begin confronting their complicated shared history.
McDonagh said a visit to Easter Island about 15 years ago inspired him to see the location as “almost a character in a film.” He also praised Rockwell, Malkovich, Buscemi and Parker Posey, describing Malkovich—who had not previously worked with him—as “funny” and “dangerous.” The film is moving through the festival circuit and generating awards attention, particularly for Malkovich.
Zurich’s other honorees include Tom Hiddleston, who received the Golden Eye on Thursday as the festival opened with his Everest drama Tenzing. John Turturro is also set to receive the Golden Eye for his starring role in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.
The 22nd Zurich Film Festival runs from Sept. 24 through Oct. 4.