For months the cast of “Game Change” has been muzzled. No interviews, no mentions of the upcoming HBO political drama, nothing. But finally we’re starting to hear what the cast thinks about their political equivalents. Actress Julianne Moore, who plays Sarah Palin in the made-for-TV feature film, debuting March 10, poses on the cover of the new issue of Capitol File magazine and opens up about playing Mama Grizzly.
“I would say, as a registered Democrat and longtime liberal, I think that I speak for a lot of women when I say that when [Palin] burst onto the scene, the way that she did that was pretty terrifying because I really felt like, Oh my gosh, the Republicans might have this election,” Moore recalled of her first perceptions of Palin back in 2008. “She was so electrifying as a figure, it kind of blew everyone away.”
The actress said she’d never thought she’d be asked to play such a part, noting that the phone call came out of the blue. When she agreed to it she took the two months off before filming so she could do her homework, including learning just what it was that made supporters like Palin so much.
“Here’s a woman who’s a parent, who’s an actual working mother, who worked her way up from local government, who was definitely middle working class, married to a commercial fisherman,” Moore said. “She was incredibly relatable, she was attractive, she was young; she was speaking to a wide portion of the population that didn’t feel that they’d been noticed or seen or heard,” the actress continued.
But in her research, Moore also discovered that there’s a bit of smoke and mirrors involved in politics as well. “I was actually shocked by how close it was to the way Hollywood markets an actor or a film or any idea,” she said. “It’s about a very careful kind of exposure, and putting candidates on with one anchor or another anchor, and limiting appearances and using everything very strategically.”
Leading Moore to this assessment of Palin: “She was not qualified to be vice president,” Palin said. “She wasn’t a qualified candidate, I think that became quite evident during the campaign.”
Moore’s Capitol File issue hits newsstands Friday.
