‘There’s shame and secrets...’
Amy Adams and Julianne Moore on how nothing is as it seems in their new psychological thriller THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
Available: Friday 14 May Run time: 101 mins
What would you do if you thought you’d inadvertently witnessed your neighbour committing a brutal crime – but nobody believed you? That’s the question at the heart of Netflix’s star-spangled new thriller,
The Woman in the Window.
Based on AJ Finn’s bestselling 2018 novel of the same name, the film sees Hollywood star Amy Adams (The Muppets, Enchanted, American Hustle) play agoraphobic child psychologist Anna Fox, who is unable to step beyond her front door and spends a lot of time at the window of her New York townhouse, obsessively watching her neighbours come and go.
Anna becomes intrigued by the Russells, a picture-perfect family who move in across the street, and strikes up a friendship with the 15-year-old Ethan (News of the
World’s Fred Hechinger) as well as the woman she believes to be his mother, Jane (Oscar-winning actor Julianne Moore).
One night, Anna hears screaming and is horrified to see Jane being stabbed. But after she calls the police, Ethan’s father, Alistair (Mank’s Gary Oldman), insists she is mistaken and tells them that Anna has never met Jane.
Anna is left reeling when Alistair introduces her to his wife (The
Hateful Eight’s Jennifer Jason Leigh), who isn’t the woman she met. Is Alistair covering up a terrible crime? Or is Anna’s mind playing tricks on her?
TV Times joined Amy, 46, and Julianne, 60, for a video chat to find out more…
What was it about Anna that appealed to you when you read the script, Amy? AMY
I’m a fan of psychological thrillers, especially the ones from the 1950s and 1960s, and when I spoke to [director] Joe Wright about the way he wanted to film this and the tension he wanted to build, I was so attracted to that. But I also really loved how we looked at Anna. She is someone who is struggling with so much darkness, there’s a lot of shame and a lot of secrets. I hadn’t done anything like it before, so I was really excited.
How did you find working with Gary Oldman?
AMY
Absolutely amazing – no surprise there! He’s just so unbelievable in the way that he dove into this role and was absolutely terrifying, and yet as a human being, he was such a beautiful presence to have on set.
You shot the film before the pandemic struck – did it take on a new dimension when you watched it back after everything that has happened?
JULIANNE
I loved how important Anna’s relationships were with the people who came in and out of that house, because during the pandemic, all of my communications were with people over Zoom, or somebody coming to the end of your yard and talking over a fence. I love how that resonated in the film – you see