{allcanada} Julianne Moore, Ellen Page feel the love for 'Freeheld'

 

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TORONTO — The mutual admiration society of Julianne Moore and Ellen Page has reconvened, on this day in regard to Coke vs. Pepsi.

"Pepsi's way better," Page says matter-of-factly, paying no attention to the reporter in the room.

"I prefer Pepsi," Moore replies, "but I don't like to say that in the States."

Page agrees. "No, people go, 'What?! Eww!' "

It's about this time when the stars of the gay-rights drama Freeheld (opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles, expands to additional cities Oct. 9 and 16) finally notice the guy with the digital recorder and notebook. "Hi!" Page exclaims to the third wheel. She's finally catching up with her pal, since "we only saw each other for a second this morning."

For a couple of actresses who had never even met before in the small business of big-time Hollywood, Moore and Page became fast friends, close confidants and onscreen lovers filming Freeheld, based on the story of a true-life lesbian couple.

Laurel Hester (played in the film by Moore) was a successful and ambitious New Jersey cop in the early 2000s who fell in love and legally entered a domestic partnership with Stacie Andree (Page), a shy and quiet woman 19 years her junior. When Hester was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2005 and wanted to leave her pension benefits to Andree, the county government freeholders turned them down, causing a battle that the women would fight as the disease spread through Hester's body.

Moore and Page bonded over the movie first — "It's a love story, so there's a lot to connect with," says Moore, 54  — but they also formed a partnership and ultimately became very vulnerable around one another.

"You were sweet about that because I was nervous around you. I feel like the moment we even started rehearsing, you were just really comfortable," says Page, 28,  as Moore holds her hand. "It was nice, because it made a lot of it go out the window for me."

 

There's a deep sense of privacy in any kind of a relationship, says Moore, and she found that with Page on and off screen.

"You form a bond with somebody and that's your bond" for the duration of the movie, Moore says. "One of the great things about coming to work every day was knowing that Ellen was going to be there."

Page adds that isn't always the case on set, though director Peter Sollett says he didn't worry whether the pair would have chemistry. "They're such skillful actresses. I never took it for granted that it would be instant or easy, but how do you not have faith in Ellen and Julianne?" he says.

Shooting scenes in which Laurel succumbs to her cancer made for emotionally difficult days on set, Page says. "There were people in tears because of their own personal experience," Moore adds. "People take that stuff very seriously. You're not cavalier about it."

One resource that was integral to their performances was Andree herself. Something she told Page "really shattered" her, though, the actress recalls. "She was like, 'It's really cool to meet you, it's cool to meet Julie, she's so sweet. I'm having a hard time when other people get excited about it, because the movie wouldn't exist if Laurel hadn't have died.'

"When you hear something like that, it's a gut punch. You're sitting with the person and they're sweet and funny and joyous and lovely, but you still see the pain and the emotion and the loss within them. Hopefully, that visceral interaction helps you bring that into telling the story."

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