Tilda Swinton 'Always Had a Slight Fantasy of Working' with Julianne Moore: 'Made Up for Lost Time'

"It could not have been anybody else," the actress says of her 'The Room Next Door' costar

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore are a match made in movie heaven.

At the New York Film Festival premiere of The Room Next Door on Friday, Oct. 4, Swinton, 63, spoke about her longtime desire to work with her now costar Moore, 63.

The actress recalled in a talk after the screening that writer-director Pedro Almodóvar emailed her the script for the movie — which follows two close friends as one nears the end of her life — and asked who she wanted to see cast alongside her.

"There was one face, one name," Swinton said in reference to Moore. "I was trepidatious because I thought, 'What if he has another name or a list of names?' And I had the nerve to type out a name, press send. And his email crossed with mine and ding…"

Almodóvar, who was also at the premiere with Moore and John Turturro, commented on the past interaction by adding, "It was the best idea."

Swinton continued, "It was unimaginable. It could not have been anybody else."

She related the characters' journey in the movie to her own relationship with Moore, stating that the movie explores a "beautiful" story of "friends from a long time ago who haven't seen each other for a couple of decades who are exactly the same age."

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The actress said, "Julianne and I are pretty much the same age but we've only met a couple of times, very much in passing in the corridors of film festivals." She added that, during those times, she had "a good hunch that we would likely want to be around each other."

"I had a slight fantasy of working together once, but how could we imagine this?" she added. "We came together, not as old friends [but] we made up for lost time, I would say. Pedro [Almodóvar] said we never stop talking, it's true."

Swinton added that their real-life dynamic added to their performances in the movie. "We've lived long enough to know the value of old friendship and also to have that experience of having an old friend who you don't see for a couple of decades, and then you catch up with them again. The value of that is so intense because your bond is to do with the good stuff. It's not to do with those in-between bits or whatever gets through. It's to do with the real seed bed of your life," she said.

The movie, which marks Almodóvar’s first feature-length English-language film, follows Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) as they reconnect at a later stage in life after being "close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine," according to the official synopsis.

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It continues, "Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation."

Last month, the drama received the one of the longest standing ovations of the 2024 Venice Film Festival following its world premiere — clocking in at 17 minutes.

Back in February, Swinton told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she was happy to work with Moore on the movie. "We've actually met a couple of times over the years. And we've always wanted to hang out more and more. And the best way of hanging out with someone you like is to work with them. And now we're together and we're loving it," she said.

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"We're in Madrid and we've been there for two months, and we're going to be there until the summer and we're really happy to be together," Swinton added.

The Room Next Door is in select theaters Dec. 20, then everywhere Dec. 25.

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