Why Sharper Is Julianne Moore’s First Gun Use Onscreen in 15 Years  

Julianne Moore is talking about her gun safety stances and Hollywood’s depiction of firearms ahead of the release of her upcoming Apple Original Films movie Sharper.

In the film, Moore appears onscreen using a gun — something audiences will see her do for the first time in more than a decade. In an interview with the Times of London published Sunday, she explains that, even if she’s been in movies with guns, not seeing her pick one up was a conscious decision.

“It’s not something I feel drawn to at all. I don’t find it appealing,” she said, with the magazine noting that in Sharper, the gun in her hand isn’t portrayed as “gung-ho” but instead feels like a “moral tale, given how badly everything goes when it is fired.”

While the Oscar-winning actress has little personal interest in guns, she is aware of how much her own industry has portrayed them onscreen. Despite Hollywood repeatedly featurigf the deadly weapon, Moore dismisses the argument that entertainment is responsible for American gun violence and the country’s limited legislation upholding gun safety and responsibility.

“It’s really important when you talk about gun safety and people blame entertainment to realize that the entire world consumes the same entertainment as the U.S., but the U.S. has easy access to weapons,” she said. “So I am not a big fan of violent movies, but I also don’t blame gun violence on entertainment.”

Moore says she became a more vocal presence in the firearms control conversation following the Sandy Hook massacre, after having already “been very involved in the gun safety movement.”

“I realized I wasn’t keeping my children safe if I didn’t do my part to change the legislation,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m not being the kind of parent I want to be.’ I thought that if something happened to them it would be my fault.”

She also pushes back on the idea that her public stances around gun control are a byproduct of her celebrity or work as an actor.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with being an actor,” Moore said. “I think about it in terms of being a citizen of my country. If there is something you care about you feel you need to take action. So everything I’ve done politically has been about how I feel personally. A job is a job, but as a citizen, you have a responsibility to participate in a community.”