Directed by Peter Sollett and written by Philadelphia screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, Freeheld follows the true story of Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), a New Jersey police officer diagnosed with cancer, who’s blocked by county officials from passing on her pension benefits to her partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). Aiding the couple in their battle against the county is Hester’s longtime NJPD partner, Dane Wells (Michael Shannon) and a group of vocal gay rights activists. Following in the footsteps of Cynthia Wade’s 2007 documentary of the same name, Freeheld tells Laurel and Stacie’s story not as one of activism, but of love.

In a roundtable interview, I spoke to Moore and Page during their visit to San Francisco to promote the film. Freeheld is out in wide release tomorrow, October 16th.

The script has been around for a while and the film’s finally been made. What sort of changes did it undergo over that period of time?

Julianne: This time last fall, we were shooting it. There wasn’t a whole lot of time between when I received the script and when we started shooting it. For me it was all fairly recent. That being said, it came to Ellen considerably earlier. She was attached right after the documentary won the Academy Award in 2008.

Ellen, you were attached from the beginning as a producer. Did you always see yourself playing Stacie?

Ellen: Oh, yeah. My first entrance to this was to play Stacie. Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher sent me the documentary and I wept. It’s amazing. I was moved by [Laurel and Stacie’s] story. I was moved by their love, their dedication to one another. I thought what they went through was just cruel. I just feel honored to be a part of telling their story.

Julianne, you said in an interview that movies aren’t necessarily meant to change things, but to reflect changes.

Julianne: What I said was that movies don’t necessarily change culture. I don’t know if we know for sure if movies change culture but we know for sure that they reflect culture. People will sometimes say, “This movie broke totally new ground.” You know what? The ground was actually already broken, and we made a movie about it. Sometimes something will be happening in pop culture and a movie will be right there, so you’ll have this perception that maybe the movie got there first. But in reality, culture gets there first. It’s like the Supreme Court. I feel like the Supreme Court usually makes a decision on something once popular opinion has actually swung. They very rarely lead with an opinion—they’re usually following the opinion of the American people. I feel like movies are like that, too.

The Kids Are All Right came out in a time when a lot of people wanted gay marriage to be passed. It showed a relationship that was very much a marriage to many people who hadn’t seen something like that. What do you want Freeheld to reflect back?

Julianne: One of the things that’s interesting about The Kids Are All Right is that they were living in a different place, a major American urban center, living in Los Angeles. They were wealthy. One of the partners was a doctor. They didn’t have a whole lot of political strife within the world they were living in due to their socioeconomic status. That story is also fiction. Freeheld‘s story is true, so when you see Laurel and Stacie, they’re living in a much different world, the most politically conservative county in New Jersey. They’re living in a time before domestic partnership was even passed, and when it was passed, it came with this loophole that allowed the county officials to determine the benefits package. You see a personal story being told within a very different political world and the ramifications of those political decisions on that relationship. It’s ultimately about how the personal is political. What does inequality mean? It means you can’t keep your house. It means you’re not recognized as a partner.

You’ve both expressed how deeply moved you were by this story, as is anyone who’s familiar with it. Were there times during filming when you actually had to stop yourself from crying in scenes when you weren’t supposed to?

Ellen: I had those experiences, more when we finished takes. I felt like it could keep going, like the stuff at the hospital and when Stacie gets the notice that they’re no longer looking to cure Laurel. Obviously, I cannot even begin to understand or have any concept of what that experience is like, but out of care for these people and what they went through there were those moments. I hadn’t had that experience shooting a film before.

Julianne: I think a lot of people on set [had that experience] too. We’d look around and our first AD would be crying, our wardrobe supervisor. People were invested very personally in the story and moved by it, even when they were making it.

Ellen: I think too for gay people in particular, even the smaller things that other people might not notice, like the nuances of being in a closeted relationship, are emotional.

What sorts of things did you do for levity on-set?

Julianne: What didn’t we do? [laughs]

Ellen: She is always singing and dancing. It’ll blow your mind, honestly. She’s literally, up until action, singing and dancing. And then it’s like, “Action!” JULIANNE MOORE. “Action!” OSCAR-WINNING PERFORMANCE. We had instant chemistry.

Julianne: It’s hard to say it because it’s a true story and it’s obviously devastating, but we just got along so well and had a special time together. It was great to have somebody who was my partner on-screen and my partner off-screen. We both had the same goals, the same desires, and the same relationship to the story. [We wanted] to make it feel alive and illuminate Laurel and Stacie’s partnership. That was exciting for me because you don’t always know if you’re going to have the same goals with the actor you’re working with, and we certainly did.

Michael Shannon’s also a notorious prankster on-set.

Julianne: He would turn over Ellen’s chair! [laughs]

Ellen: There was a scene where every time I’d come back my chair was turned over. We call him “Shanny.” We never call him Michael.

Julianne, you’re coming off of a lengthy awards season where you were called upon to speak about Alzheimer’s quite frequently. Now you’re on a press tour talking about marriage equality and struggles for LGBT people. Is that daunting to be a spokesperson for these major issues?

Julianne: Hell yeah. It is daunting, and one of the things I keep saying to people is that I’m not an expert on either one of these subjects. I’m speaking as an actor and a person. You learn as much as you can. The great thing about being an actor is that it does expose you to things that you maybe wouldn’t have been exposed to. You have the opportunity to learn and do research to really figure it out and speak to what it means to you as a person. I always stress that neither one of these situations has been my experience. Like Ellen was saying earlier, you can’t presume to have been through something like this personally. But you do try to give voice to something that you have an opportunity to learn about.

You’re an icon to lesbian women worldwide.

Julianne: Right on. [To Ellen] See? I told you! [laughs]

You said you’d spoken to Ellen about playing a closeted gay woman. What have you learned about lesbian women and yourself in playing these roles?

Julianne: When Ellen was talking to me about her experience as a young woman coming out in Hollywood I was really flabbergasted, really stunned. This guy was like, “Come on. You know all these gay people.” But I said, “They’re old!” They all came out a long time ago. To talk to someone who had recently gone through it [was different]. When Ellen told me that she felt uncomfortable having to dress a certain way, I was like, “Really?” There’s always something else to learn. It’s worth it to hear about someone’s personal experience being discriminated against. You learn more by being told.

What was it like watching the movie with Stacie?

Ellen: I felt kind of concerned for her. I have an emotional experience watching the film. Usually, when you’re in a movie, you’re disconnected from it. You’re never going to feel what you felt when you made it. This movie totally effects me emotionally. It was special to have made it and after all these years be at the Toronto International Film Festival showing it. It’s really special to share the story. But my main thing was concern. I think we all feel concern and care for Stacie and just want her to be protected.

Julianne: She’s super sensitive too. One of the things that’s so interesting about Dane is that he still protects Stacie. In the beginning stages of our research he’d be on the phone saying, “Listen—she’s a very special girl. I love this girl very much and I want to make sure that she’ll be okay through all of this.” I was so touched that, here was this guy, standing sentry over Stacie still.

The Kids Are All Right is a film about an unconventional family dealing with the struggles of marriage and raising children that any family can relate to. For better or worse the storyline is straightforward and safe, making it relatable but ultimately very predictable. The cast and screenwriting make it interesting enough to watch even though at times it feels like more could have been done.

Life is neither perfect nor easy but more specifically neither is marriage. That is the message The Kids Are All Right delivers. Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a happily married lesbian couple who both have teenage children, Joni and Laser, from the same anonymous sperm donor. Nic is a doctor and Jules is currently trying to start up her own landscape design business.

Joni recently turned 18 years old and is spending her final summer at home before leaving for college. Joni and Laser are aware that they are half-siblings from the same father but different mothers and now that Joni is of age to request to get in touch with their biological father, she does so.

Their father is an easy-going hippie named Paul (Mark Ruffalo) who is in charge of an organic restaurant and garden. He receives a call out of the blue informing him that his two children would like to meet up with him. Even caught off-guard with this news he, as he normally does, has a nonchalant cool-guy attitude about the situation and eagerly accepts the children’s request.

Paul meets up and eventually bonds with the two children. Joni seemed to drawn closer to him than Laser did but I think it would be pretty typical for a 15 year old boy to be hesitant to open up to his father after just meeting him. Nic and Jules soon learn about the children bonding with Paul and are accepting of it although perhaps feel a little uneasy.

After meeting with the whole family, Paul learns that Jules is looking for landscape design work and hires her to do some work. Because Nic is territorial she becomes concerned that Paul is intruding her life. It turns out her instincts were not wrong when she finds out that Paul and Jules have moved on from just hanging out in the garden to hanging out in the bedroom.

The acting performances were solid and earned nominations at the Oscars and Independent Spirit Awards for both Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. While I understand Ruffalo’s nomination as he does a good job of playing the cool-guy father figure while giving some comedic relief, I do not understand Bening getting nominated for Best Female Lead over Julianne Moore. Moore deserves just as much recognition as Bening if not more for her roles as the heart and soul of the relationship who has her faults.

Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right is a very realistic and honest film, but I felt there could have been more done with the plot. I respect a film that contains as much honesty as this did and I do enjoy loose endings to a film but the emotional connection needs to be strong and deep to really be effective, which is where the film faltered a bit for me.

The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning with The King’s Speech leading the way for the 83rd Academy Awards. The film, which also led the Golden Globes nominations (but only took home 1 award), took 12 nominations which include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Surprisingly, The Social Network only took 8 which tied Christopher Nolan’s Inception and behind Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit which had 10 nominations.

Another surprise was Christopher Nolan’s absence from the Best Director’s category. But another person’s snub is another person’s gain as Darren Aronofsky earns his first ever Oscar nomination for Black Swan in the Best Director category. Some say he was snubbed two years ago in that category for The Wrestler.

Even though there were a few surprises, most of the nominations were fairly predictable, especially if you paid attention to the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Most of the leading nominations were mostly expected.

See who I predict will win Oscars

It was a very solid year for cinema making the award shows very interesting to watch as there was a lot of strong competition all around. The 2011 Oscar winners will be announced on February 27th (a day after the Independent Spirit Awards).

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coens, True Grit

Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Mike Leigh, Another Year
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
The Coens, True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Biutiful
Dogtooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outside The Law

How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See the Light”, Tangled
“If I Rise”, 127 Hours
“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Ricky Gervais hosted the 68th Golden Globe Awards this year. Even though The King’s Speech had the most nominations with seven, it was rather unsurprising that The Social Network ended up with the most of the film awards that included; Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Original Score. I was very happy to see Natalie Portman won Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama, it was very well deserved. Glee had the most awards for TV with three total wins. I was happy to see Jim Parsons win Best Actor in a TV comedy or musical. Not only do I enjoy The Big Bang Theory but it was nice to see someone in a comedy or musical get some respect other than Glee. Here is the full list of winners:

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama:
The Social Network

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical:
The Kids Are All Right

Best Director:
David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actress – Drama:
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Actor – Drama:
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

Best Supporting Actress:
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Foreign Language Film:
In A Better World

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture:
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Best Animated Feature Film:
Toy Story 3

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
“You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me”, Burlesque

Cecil B. DeMille Award:
Robert De Niro

TV

Best Drama Series:
Boardwalk Empire

Best Comedy Or Musical:
Glee

Best TV Movie/Miniseries:
Carlos

Best Actress – Drama:
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy

Best Actor – Drama:
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Laura Linney, The Big C

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Actress – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin

Best Actor – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack

Best Supporting Actress – TV Series:
Jane Lynch, Glee

Best Supporting Actor – TV Series:
Chris Colfer, Glee

The 2011 Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today with Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone being the front runner. Winter’s Bone could be this year’s Precious as it has the most nominations this year with seven which include; Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and acting nominations for Jennifer Lawrence, Dave Dickey, and John Hawkes. Some of the other major nominees include The Kids Are All Right which received 5 nominations, Black Swan and Rabbit Hole which received 4. All four of those films have a good chance at Oscar nominations as well.

Although, I have not seen the Duplass brother’s Cyrus or Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s Jack Goes Boating, I am a little surprised that they were not one of the major contenders. I suppose Jack Goes Boating did haul in 3 nominations and Cyrus did receive 1 for Best Male Lead. I would have thought they would have had some more praise considering the people behind the films. Also Best Worst Movie did not make an appearance for Best Documentary, bummer.

Joel McHale will host the 26th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 26 which will air that night on IFC at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

127 Hours, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, John Smithson
Black Swan, Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver
Greenberg, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Scott Rudin
The Kids Are All Right, Gary Gilbert, Philippe Hellmann, Jordan Horowitz, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Daniela Taplin Lundberg
Winter’s Bone, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Anne Rosellini

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Everything Strange and New, directed by Frazer Bradshaw; Producers: A.D. Liano, Laura Techera Francia
Get Low, directed by Aaron Schneider; Producers: David Gundlach, Dean Zanuck
The Last Exorcism, directed by Daniel Stamm; Producers: Marc Abraham, Tom Bliss, Eric Newman, Eli Roth
Night Catches Us, directed by Tanya Hamilton; Producers: Sean Costello, Jason Orans, Ronald Simons
Tiny Furniture, directed by Lena Dunham; Producers: Kyle Martin, Alicia Van Couvering

Daddy Longlegs, written and directed by Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie; Producers: Casey Neistat, Tom Scott
The Exploding Girl, written and directed by Bardley Rust Gray; Producers: Karen Chien, Ben Howe, So Yong Kim
Lbs., directed by Matthew Bonifacio, written by Matthew Bonifacio and Carmine Famiglietti; Producers: Matthew Bonifacio, Carmine Famiglietti
Lovers of Hate, written and directed by Bryan Poyser; Producer: Megan Gilbride
Obsedila, written and directed by Diane Bell; Producers: Chris Byrne, Mathew Medlin

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

Exit Through The Gift Shop, Banksy
Marwencol, Jeff Malmberg
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington, Sebastien Junger
Sweetgrass, Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Thunder Soul, Mark Landsman

Kisses, Lance Daly
Mademoiselle Chambon, Stéphane Brizé
Of Gods and Men, Xavier Beauvois
The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sara Steele

In-Ah Lee, Au Revoir Taipei
Adele Romanski, The Myth of the American Sleepover
Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

Hossein Keshavarz, Dog Sweat
Laurel Nakadate, The Wolf Knife
Mike Ott, Littlerock

Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Sweetgrass
Jeff Malmberg , Marwencol
Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Summer Pasture