Actress Julianne Moore on Tuesday defended her portrayal of Sarah Palin in HBO's "Game Change," saying the film is based on fact.
"Everything was sourced," Moore said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," saying
she often went back to the original material — speeches, interview
transcripts — seeking "veracity."
"I cannot presume to know her — I don't," Moore said. "[But] when I was
doing my research I spent a lot of time looking at her own material; I
read her book, her speeches.
"As an actor you try to put yourself in someone else's position," she
said. "I wouldn't run for office ... the stresses on her were
enormous."
Both Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee,
and his vice presidential pick, the former Alaska governor, have said
they will not see the film. Both have criticized the book it was based
on, 2010's
Game Change by journalists John Heilemann and Mark
Halperin.
McCain earlier this week called the book "totally unfair and untrue,
especially to Sarah Palin."
Palin warned supporters of the movie's "distortions" in a fundraising
email this week.
But Moore and "Game Change" director Jay Roach called the book
meticulously researched.
"[We] committed to tracking down all the sources, as many as we could
that these guys [the authors] used, and confirming that they weren't
messing around," Roach said. "We don't have to make anything up
because it's so compelling, the predicaments that all of them found
themselves in."
He added that "there are really no heroes or villains in this story."
"Game Change" premieres on HBO March 10.
