Julianne Moore Joins Tilda Swinton In Pedro Almodóvar’s English Language Debut ‘The Room Next Door’ 

Julianne Moore will star alongside Tilda Swinton in The Room Next Door, the first English language film from Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. 

The dual casting was confirmed by Almodóvar’s production company, El Deseo, this morning with a re-post on their Instagram story following months of speculation and online rumors. 

“The actresses are placed under the command of the director from La Mancha in a drama between mother and daughter that will be filmed in the spring in New York and Madrid and will be his first film shot in English,” the post said. 

The Room Next Door will be Almodóvar’s first feature-length project since 2021’s Parallel Mothers, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival. The film starred Penelope Cruz — who won the Best Actress prize at Venice — and Milena Smit as single mothers who became pregnant by accident and meet in a hospital room as they are about to give birth. 

The upcoming feature will also mark the filmmaker’s second recent attempt at English language filmmaking. In 2022, we reported that Almodóvar had dropped out of directing A Manual for Cleaning Women, which had Cate Blanchett set to star and produce under her Dirty Films label. The feature project was first announced back in January 2022 and was based on Lucia Berlin’s 43-part collection of short stories, examining the lives of women working a wide variety of demanding jobs.

“It has been a very painful decision for me,” Almodóvar told Deadline at the time. “I have dreamt of working with Cate for such a long time. Dirty Films has been so generous with me this whole time and I was blinded by excitement, but unfortunately, I no longer feel able to fully realize this film.”

El Deseo is yet to share any details about plot for The Room Next Door.