Julianne Moore: Feet On The Ground

(CBS)  Julianne Moore is on the big screen as we've never seen her before. In the intense new "Freedomland," she plays a mother looking for her missing son while under the shadow of suspicion herself.

Moore described what made her character so compelling in an interview with The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

"Her character is very marginalized," she said. "She's a single mother, recovering drug addict, estranged from her family and is very involved in the projects and this thing happens."

And Moore found a potent message in the movie's plot, which she applies to what she sees around her today.

"I think, at the end of the day, you realize this movie is about poverty, what happens to people when they don't have anything. White people, black people, everybody," she said.

The scenario made her think of the schisms exposed after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

"Hollywood never leads," she told Smith. "Hollywood always follows. You first start seeing things in movies that reflect what happens in our lives."

Part of what made this project such a good experience for Moore was her excellent working relationship with her co-star, Samuel L. Jackson.

"I love him," she said. "We're crazy about each other. It's maybe the best working experience I've had with an actor. We're very, very similar, kind of on the same page. We enjoy each other a lot."

To create her "Freedomland" character, Moore had to strip away her movie star looks, and that made for a somewhat excruciating experience.

"It was pretty horrible at the premiere to look at yourself with no makeup, huge, with literally everything on your face moving so you could see every line," she said.

Moore is not only a four-time Oscar nominee, but also the mother of two young children. Smith asked how she has managed to play into her movie star image while, at the same time, keeping a healthy distance from it.

"It is about illusion," she told him. "It's about a pretty magazine cover and the so-called glamour of the movies. But, to be honest with you, I think for most of us, that's not what attracted us. What attracted us was acting, the kind of acting you did in your high school plays."