Using a variable name to address a movie clip

I’m stuck on how to refer to a movieclip’s name through a variable.

If I set root variable “currentMovie = bigRed_mc;”, how can I use that variable name to instruct the movie to address the movie clip name stored in said variable?

for instance “_root.currentMovie.gotoAndPlay(“destroy”);” wouldn’t work because it would simply look for that movie clip name and come up empty.

I thought "_root[currentMovie]gotoAndPlay(“destroy”); would work, with or without parenthesis, but it comes up with syntax errors either way. Can you use a variable to store and refer to a movie clip name and it’s properties? If so, what is the proper syntax?

Thanks in advance for any help!

:m2: