Honors Keep Piling up for Glenn Close
Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 10:43AM by Nathaniel R
One of the sneakily quiet Oscar campaigns that's really been working for maximum January presence is Glenn Close's for The Wife. Close has distracted herself from all the hoopla with an acclaimed performance Off Broadway in Mother of the Maid, but future honors keep lining up so she'll be busy once that plays shutters just before Christmas.
In January she'll be honored at both the Palm Springs and the Santa Barbara film festivals (which are basically elaborate Oscar-courting events because the A-listers and the Academy members come out in droves) and now comes word that the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens New York will have a screening program called "Getting Close: Ten Great Performances by Glenn Close" which runs November 23rd through December 2nd. All six of her Oscar-nominated performances will be screened plus Reversal of Fortune, 101 Dalmatians, Cookie's Fortune (interesting choice) and, of course, The Wife. (If Close is nominated for The Wife, which we fully expect her to be, she'll be tough to beat. Only two performers in Oscar history have ever remained "losers" with a record of 7 or more nominations: Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.)
The movies are affordable but the celebration ends with a "Salute" dinner with cocktails, film clips and speeches from Close's friends and colleagues. You can also attend the glitzy dinner provided you have $1500 to burn on a ticket. It's for a good cause, though, as the proceeds benefit this worthwhile museum's many exhibits, screenings, and community engagement programs.
Reader Comments (40)
GO GLENN GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glenn better win! I also thought the film was great, too, and hope it gets recognition in other categories, especially Best Picture, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, the works.
I still think like you Nat she is winning unless Blunt is spectacularly undeniable in Mary Poppins Returns.
Wish these screenings were occurring in LA. Dangerous Liaisons is the most cinematic of her prestige movies. So grand intense and epic in scope.
YES GLENN! Go get that oscar girl !!!
I didn't care for The Wife, but I hope Glenn wins an Oscar this year!
Ten films seems a little excessive, no? Given the circumstances, I'd choose The Wife, Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction, The Big Chill and maybe 101 Dalmatians, for something OTT.
She's fabulous in the under-seen Heights (2005). I'd have no interest in seeing the other films (Garp, Nobbs, Cookie's Fortune, Reversal of Fortune, The Natural) again.
There's no shame in the fact that much of her best work has happened on stage and television.
At this point, I still suspect it's Close's to lose. McCarthy is the greatest threat but hardly has Close's narrative. Gaga's awards season run, in terms of wins, begins and ends at the Globes and, while she's likely to score a bunch of critics' wins, plus BAFTA, Colman doesn't strike me as an Oscar winner (I keep thinking Brenda Blethyn 2.0).
Is there any other Glenn film performance you guys would like to have seen in this showcase?
For some reason, twitter still denies her frontrunner status. Are they blind or just too young?
This feels like another Julianne Moore style coronation year. Even if it wasn't for her best work, who wasn't beyond thrilled to see her on that stage finally holding her Oscar (it helps that she seemed to be absolutely giddy about it as well). I think Close is in the same situation, unless the critics really rally behind one performance, and even then, that performance seems like it would need to be in the "all time" greats realm. So far, there just seems to enough against everyone else and enough for Close to make a win (even this far out) make sense.
Evagr -- I think they should have programmed either "Heights" (underseen but interesting), "Maxie" (golden globe nomination and an odd role for her) or "Jagged Edge" which was a hit for her pre-Fatal Attraction.
Peggy Sue -- i think it's a combo of "too young" plus the media being click-bait whores and knowing that writing about Lady Gaga constantly gets you clicks. Glenn Close will not.
If Glenn wins it would really be up there with Michael Caine's win in 1999,undeserved or undeserved,it was a joy to see him up there in person being so gracious and humble.
I'm loving this celebration of Glenn Close!
@EvaGr - Personally I'd say The Safety of Objects, but realize that this is not everyone's cuppa as a film (or even as a performance). And you cannot *not* have The World According to Garp; her film career literally begins with it. The Natural we obviously could do without, but Oscar noms are Oscar noms.
Go Glenn! https://youtu.be/2T1TKgXMMYs
Cookies fortune! I love that film - was it Patricia Neal’s last? But what a weird choice!
I absolutely hope she wins.
Watching "The Wife" felt like therapy
Miss Glenn is not going to be IGNORED, honey! I think Colman is her biggest threat but I feel like it's going to happen for her this year, and I'm thrilled (unlike many, I LOVED The Wife). I also think, depending on how VICE goes over, she and Adams can really help each other. I'm not sure the Academy will be able to resist the opportunity to award their two most overdue actresses in one fell swoop.
They could have showcased her TV work too - I love her in Damages and the TV film "In The Gloaming"
Hayden-
Thank you reminding me of HEIGHTS. She was awesome in that. I need to rewatch that!
Yes, I totally would have add at least two episodes from Damages and some clips from the Sunset Boulevard 1993-1994 stage recording. Glenn is a LEGEND because she is an undeniable acting force on screen, stage and television.
She was fabulous in Heights, and even in a small, genius cameo in Mary Reilly. So happy to see Cookie's Fortune and Reversal of Fortune in this retrospective, I think she was nomination worthy in both.
And go to see Mother of the Maid at the Public Theater. She is simply spectacular on stage.
2005 would've been a great Best Actress year if the voters had more imagination.
Top notch performances that year by JOAN ALLEN, Glenn Close, Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, Naomi Watts, Natasha Richardson, Radha Mitchell, Ziyi Zhang, Nicole Kidman...
Get 'em, Glenn! I will most definitely be attending a few of the screenings (can't wait to see Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons on the big screen again). I wish they would have included two of her best television performances, There's Something About Amelia and Serving in Silence.
Curiously, I was fully convinced of her winning until Nathaniel's article about the box office in Actress category. Even as an art house success it does seem remarkably low for a winning performance. Would they re-release it in theatres during awards season?
I read the Hollywood Reporter cover story about "The Favourite" yesterday, and I really started to think that The Favourite will be a huge success and probably the winner of
best picture - directing - original screenplay - costume design - production design
And may be Best Actress. Olivia will be probably the winner of LA / NY / NSFCC (tied with Emma and Rachel?), but...
I watched The Wife one month ago and there's no day that I don't see myself thinking in the last 40 min of the film, especially The Nobel Prize scene. Nathaniel said that Joan was her best performance since Dangerous Liaisons / Reverse of Fortune, and... who knows that he was right? 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I am in love for this carrier achievement for Mrs Close. I really hope she wins the Oscar. it is a Hymalaia's of a performance.
(I love the ten movies selected, but I think that
serving in silence
the shield
lion in winter
damages
her three Broadway wins performances
should be part of the program)
I'm fully hoping Glenn has the undefeated coronation run she so richly deserves after 6 Oscar losses. But I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop and Gaga starts cleaning up with the critics or something. Hope not.
Amy Adams is going to swoop in and pick up her overdue Oscar too.
It is sealed alredy: Glenn Close will be the next Academy Award winner for Best Actress in a leading role
Nat, thank you for reminding me of Heights! I'm gonna re-watch that DVD. She's superb in that. Get the Oscar please!
Glenn Close must win!
Nat: I mean, other than Cookie's Fortune, the other nine are basically locked. The only realistic alternate (in so much as it's A: Good, B: Doesn't have Glenn Close as essentially a background character, C: Is Live-Action and D: Doesn't have Streep in it, distracting people) would be The Paper.
If Glenn doesn't win, it won't take anything away from her legacy. Burton and O'Toole are still legends. Full disclosure...I love Glenn in The Wife, but Gaga's is my favorite performance this year.
Love the love for Glenn Close!
Count me in as one of the few admirers of The Wife. There is something silent movie-ish about her performance as Joan Castleman. Now that I think of it, maybe a blurred pre-Code silent The Wife can be done. Affect as expressed on the face.
Still on the subject of The Wife, I think Jocelyn Pook's score is one of the loveliest I've heard in a long time. Ethereal, mournful, Barber-like.
Excited for Close's recent accolades. I hope it translates to a few critic groups' win as well as the televised ones. But was pleasantly surprised she will be showcased at the Museum of Moving Image. I think Cookie's Fortune is a brilliant choice for the programming of her cinematic works. It cast her in a different light in that underrated Altman film. Plus, I agree that Heights should have been there too. Or her role as Ferula in the much-maligned The House of the Spirits and that campy turn in The Stepford Wives. Also playing dual roles in Maxie -- I know people didn't like that but I do and her "Bye Bye Blackbird" number made me think she can have a second act as a cabaret singer. Yes, to Damages particularly Season 5's deathbed confrontation with her dad -- that was heartbreaking and unforgettable.
Even her cameos in movies are always delightful: Hook, In & Out and Guardians of the Galaxy (not sure if it counts as a cameo though). I know Amazon yanked that pilot episode, but if you get a chance to find Sea Oak with Close as Aunt Bernie, that would have been an amazing series had it been green-lighted.
Happy to get tickets for Mother of the Maid at the Public in December. My wife and I are huge supporters of Joe Papp's theater.
Close has clinched it y'all. Quit the delusions and smell the roses.
Air Force One!
This also makes me want to pull my hair out for Annette Bening.
20th Century Women was released DECEMBER 28. Imagine the momentum she might've built if people had been able to see the movie before, say, Thanksgiving.
The Wife is not a perfect film or a monster hit. But at least it's out there!
"If Close is nominated for The Wife, which we fully expect her to be, she'll be tough to beat."
LET THIS BE TRUE!
Gustavo - It is.
@ Owl, once again I agree whole-heartedly with your choices. And the climax of Sea Oak was delicious!
Close was just nominated for a Spirit Award, along with Collette and Mulligan. That helps her even more. I actually think the critics will be with her as they applauded her performance AND said it was Oscar-worthy. She'll definitely pick up some accolades as critics don't necessarily translate to public opinion. Movie goers tend to be overly subjective. We're in the era of hype over actuality. It's unfortunate, but it's the way things work with social media. Hopefully, objectivity in a performance will favor actresses like Close and Collette.
@Mike -- the good thing about Sea Oak was that I watched it maybe 4 times before it vanished in the ether of the Amazonworld. That scene when she was listening to the boss who hired a new girl over her was quietly amazing work: no grand gesture - just her unmoving and expressionless face barely registering her thoroughly wounded heart.
I too am glad for the nominations of Close, Collette and also for Mulligan from the Spirit Awards. I'm hoping that Close will get most of the critics' citations and a few televised awards to propel her to the big stage. I heard a recent podcast interview where she said Sunset Boulevard is definitely pushing through next year, and that she wants to go back to writing (for the screen). I always admire her versatility and for doing well in them.
@ Owl - I have a hunch about Sunset Blvd. I think Close KNOWS the movie is all set and has been so for a while now. It was only in need of a director when The Wife hit the TIFF last year. Close already had a director in mind who agreed. Then suddenly, Close's performance was lauded at the festival. So what did the studio AND Close decide (especially if it is with Sony Pictures)? I think they probably put Sunset Blvd under secret lock and key until the conclusion of the Oscars 2019. They may have already shot the movie as well.
I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but Close has been around a long time, especially if we consider her days with Up with the People. Remember, they performed on national stages. She had a song she wrote, sang, and performed in 1966 with the group. No, it wasn't a 'professional' gig as sorts, but it was still performing to big audiences. That was over 50 years ago! Close is a survivor, wants that Oscar, and has a backup plan if The Wife eludes her chance of winning. She has enough clout to orchestrate something like this. It wouldn't be the first time studios pull this kind of maneuver.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but my intuition tends to be pretty strong when it comes to certain things.