Tilda Swinton Hopes She Never Stops Working with Pedro Almodóvar

From the moment Tilda Swinton crossed paths with Pedro Almodóvar at a party in Los Angeles, a creative kinship was born. That connection blossomed into their collaboration on The Human Voice in 2020 and now Almodóvar’s English-language feature debut, The Room Next Door. In it, Swinton plays a woman grappling with terminal cancer who enlists an old friend (played by Julianne Moore) to assist her in dying with dignity. True to Almodóvar’s acclaimed body of work, the film offers a profound meditation on the human experience, the intimate bonds we forge, and the ways we confront mortality. Following its Golden Lion award for Best Picture at this year’s Venice Film Festival, the poignant drama earned a Golden Globe nomination for Swinton. With one Oscar win for her turn in 2007’s Michael Clayton, the 64-year-old could very well be on her way to another.

What was your first interaction with Pedro Almodóvar like?

We first met at what can only be described as on the fringes of a high Hollywood party. We didn't speak, but we both looked up and realized that we were standing in the same alien mode. It was like a South Park dream, with Liza Minnelli over there and Angelina Jolie over there, and we were both watching the party as a performance, marveling that we found our way there—that we were allowed to be there. We caught each other's eye for an instant, and it was such complicity. We felt so familiar to each other.

And then you started working together.

Yes, and I hope it never ends, frankly.

Almodóvar has said that part of what he admires about you is how you can so fully give yourself over to the artist and still retain a strong personality of your own.

In Caravaggio, the very first film I made with Derek Jarman, I played an artist’s model, and, in many ways, that’s how I think of myself. I acknowledge that I’m also an artist, but I feel very much in league with the project and with my comrades and in service to my fellows. I’m never alone—I’m always drumming it up with my mates.

You’ve also had some really character-defining costumes. I think of Michael Clayton and those stockings.

The most exotic task I ever took on was playing a corporate lawyer in Michael Clayton. Playing a 400-year-old immortal was easy, but a New York lawyer—that was a stretch.

Are you more like a cat or a dog?

I am happy to say I live surrounded by dogs, but maybe I’m quite catlike. I was thinking recently that when I'm alone—and my children are now 27, so I'm alone more often than I used to be—I'm in a tidier house than I once was. I thought maybe I'm more catlike than doglike. I am resilient: I can lick my paws and look after myself. And looking after myself is very important to me. But I am a cat who likes being surrounded by dogs.

You are the greatest traveler.

Oh, god—I love it. I often don’t know what planet I’m on. But it’s not so bad waking up and not knowing where you are! What day is it? What country? What language? It’s a great luxury, and I’m very grateful for it.

Are you superstitious?

In a way. I like counting things in sevens. If I need something, it’s going to be seven. I probably won’t need seven, but it’s where I naturally go. I don’t know if seven is my lucky number. It’s just my setting.

What movie makes you cry?

A Matter of Life and Death, with David Niven and Kim Hunter. It’s the one where she talks to him over the radio when he’s crash-landing in the first scene. Also, Ring of Bright Water. It’s based on this classic book by the great Gavin Maxwell, a travel writer who went to a very remote cottage on the west coast of Scotland, [in a place called] Sandaig, and lived with wild otters. Disney made a film of it in the ’60s. They Disney-fied it a bit. It's sublime and unbelievably, tragically sad. If you are going to make a children's film and make people fall in love with an otter, you can imagine what happens at the end. You weep uncontrollably, as you should.

Style Director: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Hair for portfolio by Paul Hanlon at Dawes & Co.; makeup for portfolio by Sam Visser at Art Partner; manicures for portfolio by Michelle Saunders James. Set design by Gerard Santos at Lalaland.

Creative producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Leonard Cuinet-Petit at January Productions; producer to Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott: Kevin Isabelle; produced by AP Studio, Inc.; executive producer: Alexis Piqueras; producer: Anneliese Kristedja; associate producer: Kimmy D’Ancona; production manager: Hayley Stephon; production coordinators: Miranda Dos Santos, Susan Lucas; photography assistants: John Neate, Jed Barnes, Chris Whitaker, Kendall Peck; digital technician: Niccolo Pacilli; digital assistant: Cassian Gray; postproduction by Dreamer Post Production; fashion assistants: Tyler VanVranken, Molly Cody, Celeste Roh, Raea Palmieri, Tatiana Isshac, Haleigh Nickerson, Lauren Marron, Savannah Steilner, Sage McKee, Frankie Benkovic, Kaley Azambuja, Tatum Sanchez; production assistants: Gigi Rosenfield, Lily Cordingley, Eli Cash, Lex Vaughn, Anderson Renno, Kat Saravia, Kyle Dekker, Wyatt Noble, Brandon Martin, Moose Krupski, Josh Muwwakkil, Bradley Gonsalves, Drew Carter, Thomas Lynch, Alex Kofman, Jackson Schrader, Anatalia Zavaleta, Joseph Wride, Matt Flynn; first AD: Steve Kemp; location manager: Kyle Hollinger; hair assistants: Kim Garduno, Ben Gregory, Marco Iafrate, Hyacinthia Faustino, Chris Foster; makeup assistants: Shimu Takanori, Laura Dudley, Brian Dean, Beatrice Sandoval; manicure assistant: Cheyenne Vander Schuur; set design assistants: Seth Powsner, Denver Stoddard, Ryan Johnson; tailors: Irina Tshartaryan, Ripsime Vartanyan, Jackie Martirosyan at Susie’s Custom Designs, Inc.