Julianne Moore is up for an Oscar for her role as a college professor afflicted with Alzheimer’s in a widely acclaimed film that opened to limited release on Friday.

Moore, 54, said “Still Alice” is an “unusual project” in that she takes the point of view of a patient suffering from the disease rather than from the perspective of a caretaker, according to a Boston Herald report.

Moore said she spoke to everyone she could to get her role right in each stage of the disease. She talked to the head of the Alzheimer’s Association, the lead clinician at New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital, and she visited a long-term care facility and spoke to women in their 40s who had recently been diagnosed with the condition. One of the women who had been diagnosed five years ago celebrated her 50th birthday on the set of the film.

“Still Alice” is a drama film that is based on a 2007 bestselling novel of the same name. Moore places Alice, a Columbia linguistics professors who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Alec Baldwin plays her husband, and her children are played by Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, and Hunter Parrish.

Her performance won accolades after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama as well as a Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actress. She is also being showered with nominations from BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild, and the big one: the Academy Awards.

It opened to limited release on Jan. 16.