Julianne Moore: Dogs helped me with Alice

Julianne Moore felt grateful to have her family and her "silly dogs" while filming Still Alice.

The 54-year-old actress has taken this year's award ceremonies by storm thanks to her lead role in the drama, which follows university professor Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Speaking about the effect the feature had on her, Julianne recalled how thankful she felt to have support from loved ones.

"You know, it's interesting... So many people have said to me, 'Was this a difficult movie to make and were you very, very sad' And, 'How did you get through the day' I mean it was kind of the reverse of that," she explained to theguardian.co.uk. "I would go home every night and think how grateful I was to have my family and my husband and my silly dogs and to be able to do the work that I do. It kind of makes you appreciate what you really have. I think that that's what the movie is about too."

Julianne's eyes were opened to the degenerative disease as she did research for the part. Addressing people's assumptions that Alzheimer's is a condition which comes with ageing, the star insisted that isn't the case and it can strike at any time.

She also shared her experience of getting to know those suffering from the illness.

"There's this notion that you're diagnosed with a disease and then, that's done, and that's not true. You're diagnosed, then there's a long period of time you are living with this disease - you're not dying from the disease and I think many of the people that I met... were actually quite emphatic about that, about that idea that they are living, they're living as presentably as possible," she added, noting that the film's title suggests that notion.