Julianne Moore is the picture of anguish as Margaret White in the new "Carrie."
Within the first few minutes of “Carrie,” Julianne Moore’s wild-haired Margaret White anguishes over whether to stab her just-born daughter with scissors. And it’s immediately clear from the gory birthing scene that this isn’t your father’s version of classic horror.
In the remake out Friday, Moore stars as the ultrareligious mom whose domineering of daughter Carrie (Chloe Grace Moretz) helps unleash the teenager’s mental powers with tragic results.
In the scissors scene, Margaret delivers her child all alone in her bedroom.
“That was a long day,” Moore tells the Daily News of filming that piercing scream-heavy scene. “You know that your voice is going to be shot at the end. The funny thing is that I have two children and that’s just not a realistic kind of scream. The births that I’ve been present for and the births that I’ve experienced, no one has the energy to scream quite like that.
“I think it’s definitely a horror film trope. But to begin with that birth scene — where she’s living alone, giving birth alone and thinking that she’s delivering the Devil but choosing to keep it — that was profound to me.”
Besides starring in this latest film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1974 debut novel, Moore has recently been landing a lot of roles that are profound to her.
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At an age when many actresses fade into character roles, the 52-year-old is deep into one of the most prolific stretches of her career. In the past few months, she has grappled with a bitter custody battle in “What Maisie Knew” and starred as the titular rigid instructor in “The English Teacher.”
Most recently, Moore turned heads as a sexual Yoda of sorts to the confused Lothario “Don Jon” in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s acclaimed directorial debut.
And somewhere in the Manhattan apartment she shares with husband Bart Freundlich, son Caleb, 16, and daughter Liv, 10, are Moore’s Emmy and Golden Globe for her turn as Sarah Palin in HBO’s 2012 “Game Change.”
The streak continues with the two-part “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay,” which she’ll start filming this month. Playing Alma Coin, the charismatic leader of the rebellion against the capital, in the final two movies in the blockbuster franchise will cement Moore’s stature with a whole new generation of movie fans — most importantly her own children.
“My kids love the books, I love the books,” she says. “I picked up my daughter’s paperback on vacation when she was playing ping-pong and sped through it, and immediately downloaded the other two and loved them.
“I’m also glad to be in movies that my kids want to see.”
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“Carrie,” though, was a special role for Moore — and not just for the chance to work with director Kimberly Peirce, whose movie “Boys Don’t Cry” she long admired.
Moore was around her son’s age when she first saw the original 1976 Brian De Palma film adaptation of “Carrie,” starring Oscar-nominated Sissy Spacek, in a strip mall in Virginia.
“I remember the theater was packed and we were waiting for the next show in a huge line of kids that curled around the block,” says Moore. “And they wouldn’t let us into the theater until all the kids from the last show filed out. As we were walking in, we passed the kids walking out and they were ashen.
“They were absolutely terrified and we were scared, too, thinking, ‘What could this be?’ ”
Moore was particularly impressed with Piper Laurie, who played the same part she does in the original, and was nominated for an Academy Award for it.
“Piper Laurie’s performance was iconic and untouchable,” says Moore.
But she’s hoping there will be a 16-year-old girl filing into a multiplex this coming weekend who will feel the same way about her version.
esacks@nydailynews.com
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