How far would a mother go to protect her child? This inherently human question lies at the heart of new Apple TV+ thriller, Echo Valley. Kate (Julianne Moore) lives a secluded life on a farm, tending to the property and struggling to maintain a relationship with her daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney), who is a recovering addict. When Claire shows up at Kate’s home one night covered in someone else’s blood, the film plunges into a series of twists and turns that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.
“We don’t always know what others around us are capable of,” muses Moore. “The film posits an interesting perspective, as it presents a lens for us to realise that maybe we know much less than we think we do.”
A high-stakes thriller fused with human drama, this gripping tale of love and survival explores what it means to love unconditionally. Here, Moore shares the nuances of crafting a complex mother-daughter dynamic, working with Sydney Sweeney, and embodying the role of a mother who will do whatever it takes to protect her child.
What were your very first thoughts upon reading the script?
I loved the script. I remember I had COVID when I read it, so I was in bed and it was such a surprise—it grabbed me right away. I had the experience I always want to have when I read something new, which is that it totally shocked, thrilled and surprised me. Right away I knew that I wanted to do it.
Kate is trying to be a strong, supportive mother, but she’s also grieving deeply herself. As we see her evolve throughout the film, where do you think she gets her strength from?
I think she’s always had it. When you encounter her at the beginning, she’s someone who is struggling quite a bit, with grief, economic pressure, and a daughter who’s a drug addict. Even though her choices are morally complicated, you realise she’s incredibly smart, tenacious and very protective. That’s what I like so much about the character: you think you know what she’s capable of but you don’t.
What was it like working with Sydney Sweeney?
I loved working with Sydney. She has an incredible talent and an unbelievable work ethic. She is very emotionally available and just a joy to be around. One of the wonderful things about being in this business for a long time is that you have this incredible peer relationship with people who are not your age. Because when you’re in a scene with somebody, you’re their partner. There can’t be a dynamic of hierarchy.
You have some really intense scenes with Sydney in the film. How did you approach preparing for them?
We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare actually. I had just come off another project so we didn’t have much time in pre-production. We met with our director Michael Pearce and we talked about our characters and their histories. It was lucky because we’ve both experienced mother-daughter relationships; we’re familiar with the intensity of that bond and also the elasticity of it. It’s such a fundamental relationship, the one between a mother and a child, that it can bear a lot—and it does bear a lot. So we talked about how far these women are able to push it with each other. It’s exciting to work on something that you understand as a person and that you’re interested in exploring as an actor.
The film is rife with both dramatic and emotionally intimate scenes. Was there a particular scene you were excited or perhaps nervous to shoot?
The water scenes were terrifying to me. All the exteriors were shot on a real lake in New Jersey and all we could think about was what was the temperature going to be like in the water. It’s one thing to get into a cold lake in the day when the sun is shining, it’s another to get into a cold lake in the middle of the night. And I had to do both.
Then all the deep underwater scenes took place in a tank in London. It was the first time I had done anything like this. I had a day of training, learned how to use a regulator—how to inhale as much air then remove it underwater. It was really daunting—exciting, as well—but that was the thing I had the most trepidation about. But now I’m really glad that I had that opportunity.
As we see Kate take extreme measures to protect her child, what is the most extreme thing that you have done to protect your children?
They would say that I make them wear sunscreen all the time. That seems to be the thing that left the biggest scar. [Laughs] The funny thing is my son—who is 27 now, by the way—said that I made him so paranoid about sunscreen that he never goes out without it. And when either one of them gets a sunburn, they don’t want to tell me.
Do you think there’s hope for Claire and Kate’s relationship at the end of the film? How do you interpret the final scene?
I think the film leaves it with the audience. It’s a deep and complicated dilemma: how do you help a child and when have you helped too much? One of the things I found so admirable about the script is that it didn’t seem to levy any kind of moral judgement, one way or another. That’s a tribute to our director Michael Pearce and our writer Brad Ingelsby. You see how flawed these characters are, how challenged they are by life and experience, but they’re also drawn together by this intense bond and love. I like that it’s not all spelled out; I like that they seem really human.
Watch Echo Valley on Apple TV+ from 13 June.
