Julianne Moore Says Someone Let Her Watch Their “Live Birth” So She Could Prepare For A Role: “I Was There To Learn, Man!”

Julianne Moore may not be a method actor, but she will definitely do her research before filming a new project.

The May December star explained her process during a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in which she told the late night host about a very “unusual experience” she once had when preparing for a role.

“I did a movie years ago called Nine Months where my character has a baby, it was before I had children,” she told Jimmy Kimmel. “So I actually watched a live birth, someone let me watch her give birth!”

When Kimmel asked if she knew the woman, Moore admitted that she did not know her “well” because production had contacted her first.

She recalled, “She agreed to talk to me. and I talked to her about being pregnant and what it was like… And then when she went into labor they called me, I was there with her husband.”

The 1995 romcom from Chris Columbus starred Moore and Hugh Grant as longterm partners who learn they have a little one on the way. Robin Williams, Jeff Goldblum, and Joan Cusack also star.

She continued, “I learned! I was there to learn!”

Moore added that they “kept in touch” afterwards before they eventually lost contact. “She was really, really lovely,” Moore said. “That was an unusual experience.”

The conversation came up because Moore had mentioned how she prepared for her role in May December, in which she plays a woman named Gracie who strikes up an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old boy (Charles Melton.) Decades later, the life they built together is threatened when an actress (Natalie Portman) comes to observe them for a film about their past.

“My character is a baker, so I had to go to a bakery and talk about baking with someone and watch her bake a cake,” Moore said. “I also arrange flowers so I went to a florist.”

She joked, “So I’m observing someone to play someone who’s being observed by someone who’s going to play me.”

Got it? If you’re confused, tune in to May December when it premieres hits select theaters Nov. 17 and premieres on Netflix Dec. 1.