Tilda Swinton portrays the end of life in “The Room Next Door.”

“I’ve spent a huge part of my life over the last 15 years in the really honored, privileged position of being close to people who are nearing the end of their lives,” said actress Tilda Swinton. “And then to make a movie about it is really a blessing upon a blessing.”

Reflecting on those experiences helped Swinton earn an acting nomination for Sunday’s Golden Globes. In “The Room Next Door”, she portrayed a woman diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her character, Martha, is faced with questions about how to live. “My first ‘Martha,’ if you will, was Derek Jarman,” she said. The director, artist and gay activist (who cast Swinton in his first film, “Caravaggio”), was diagnosed with HIV in 1986.

The Oscar winner credits Germaine with finding a home in cinema, and showing her how collaborative filmmaking can be. They made seven feature films together before his death in 1994.

“She created a kind of attitude to her ups and downs that I drew for myself, like, at my core, and I actually reflected that in the image of Martha,” she said.

I asked, “Do you think of specific people as you’re acting?”

“Well, an attitude, yes, that I’ve seen played out, that I’ve witnessed — my parents, my children’s beloved father, John Byrne, who passed away last year,” he replied. . “It’s been an honor to be in that hot seat with them and watch them face the inevitable with such dignity and humor and wit and just strength.”

“The Room Next Door” is Spanish director Pedro Almodor’s first English-language feature film. Swinton’s co-star, Julianne Moore, is another Academy Award winner. “He asked me who I wanted,” Swinton said. “It was her face I saw at the end of the bed. It was her listening face that I realized was the right face.”

Click the video player below to watch the trailer for “The Room Next Door”:

Swinton has made more than 80 films, winning an Oscar in 2007 for “Michael Clayton.” Still, she says big studio productions are an exception. She leans towards independent films, developing experimentally.

When asked about her eye expressions, and how much she can “say” without saying anything, Swinton said, “I think I started out in silent cinema with Derek Jarman. I actually did silent cinema. I prefer.”

Why? “I liked it at first,” she said. “And then when I started working with Derek, I found my comfort zone in front of a silent camera. I think it’s a very rare screenplay that’s worth something that I’m really interested in, Which is unclear. Still, I know what I want to say to you, but I can’t get the words out of my ear, and they’re coming out a little wrong.”

I asked, can you tell with your eyes?

“That’s what I’m really interested in!” He laughed.

She plays a tormented mother in “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” and she’s not exactly cute in the Almodór film. But just before our interview, we got to see another side of Swinton, mocking some of the fabulous shoes she was wearing.

I asked, “You’ve done so many films, but you can seem so serious… like this? No way, there’s a curiosity and a warmth, and you jump out.”

“Jumping, I understand. Seriously, I’m a little confused.”

“What do you mean?”

She said that I always do comedy. “I think everything I do is funny. But I think maybe because I’m a shy person and I don’t tend to smile with my teeth everywhere, there’s been an assumption that There was more seriousness than nonsense, but there is a lot of nonsense.”

“Are you a shy person?”

“Yes.”

“You chose a difficult career for him!”

“I know! It’s weird, isn’t it? But I think that’s what I’m most ashamed of.”

So, when she’s single on the red carpet, she looks the ensemble through fashion. “It’s very playful. My relationship with fashion is completely dependent on my relationship with some people who are my friends, some of the greatest designers in the world, who give me clothes. When you’re someone who For someone who isn’t an extrovert, it’s not only very easy, but actually possible.”

When we met in Paris. Swinton had just returned from a tour of China for Chanel. He was wearing a military coat: “I first fell in love with my father’s uniform. My mother was always in some nice silk dress, but I was really interested in my father’s uniform.”

Swinton grew up in a respectable family in Scotland, the daughter of an army officer. When we met, Swinton was looking forward to going home to her remote seaside town in Scotland, where she has raised twins, an artist partner, Sandro Cope, and several springer spaniels.

I asked about her description as “an icon of androgynous beauty”, and naturally exudes “a certain otherworldliness”.

She said, “The otherworldliness makes me laugh a little bit, because the truth is, I look like my family. I think the otherworldliness might have something to do with the fact that I’m mascara.” I don’t wear and, as my grandmother used to say, it would be a dull world if everyone didn’t feel like I existed a lot.”

Swinton is very present, whether in interviews or as an actor. And in navigating Hollywood, those roots in Scotland help him find balance.

“Maybe it made me braver,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t be able to pack that little bag and engage in the worlds I came from if I didn’t know I was going home to something that felt so real to me.”

WebExtra: Watch an extended conversation with Tilda Swinton:

For more information:

• By Pedro Almodovar “The Room Next Door” Released by Sony Pictures Classics, now playing in select theaters.

Story by Justin Redman and Aria Shelson. Editor: Ed Gwinish.