Actress Julianne Moore discussed filming the 2013 remake of “Carrie,” the iconic 1976 Brian De Palma film of the same name, and addressed how modern bullying didn’t much alter the tone of the movie.
“Carrie” is adapted from Stephen King’s 1974 novel, and relates three months in the life of bullied, telekinetic high school senior Carrie White (played by Chloë Grace Moretz). She lives with her ultra-religious, paranoid and unhinged mother Margaret, played by Julianne Moore.
Here’s the trailer:
To avoid dishing out any spoilers, the movie concludes with an eventful senior prom.
Moore plays a more subdued and self-mutilating version of Margaret, originally portrayed by Oscar-nominated Piper Laurie in the 1976 version, and focuses more on what is in King’s book, instead of the 70’s script. .
Interestingly, with bullying being such a hot topic for the last long while, the filmmakers didn’t want to produce a sort of “Very Special Carrie,” and teach some sort real-world lesson. The producers of course wanted the students to have cell phones, but didn’t seek to focus too much attention on the nature of bullying in the age of social media.
Here’s a hidden-camera “Carrie” promotion that went viral:
Moore commented, “It’s a difficult issue to address – There’s a huge spectrum when it comes to bullying. There are a lot of things that come under that heading like teasing that aren’t necessarily bullying. It’s not something you can be pithy about it. I kept going back to Stephen King’s impetus for writing the book, and that’s how damaging isolation can be to people.”
Juliette Moore is awesome:
Carrie has received mixed reviews, and made $16.1 million on its opening weekend. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film carries a 49% “Rotten” rating with, an average rating of 5.5/10 based on 100 reviews, with the consensus being that the remake might have been unnecessary.
Image via Sony Pictures.