Some friendships are precious and can stand the test of time. In director Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and the circumstances of life separated them. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.
We enjoyed speaking with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore about their roles and how real life informed their performances. The Room Next Door’s story goes to intimate and powerful places, asking audiences to contemplate death and how they’ll meet it. Who will hold your hand when the lights dim? What will you say before your last breath?
Produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo, The Room Next Door is a highly anticipated title going into this year’s fall festival season, with the film set to screen at Venice, Toronto, and as the Centerpiece selection at the 62nd New York Film Festival. This release marks Almodóvar’s 15th New York Film Festival selection and 9th gala presentation, having premiered numerous Sony Pictures Classics titles there since 1988, including Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Bad Education, Volver, Talk to Her, Pain and Glory and Parallel Mothers, among others.
