Someone at Variety has either spun an oversize wheel or fed a list of names to one of those AIs that writes funny spec scripts, because for their latest “Actors on Actors†interview series they landed on Pete Davidson in conversation with Glenn Close. The famous young and the famous old spoke about their respective work in The King of Staten Island and Hillbilly Elegy, with Davidson letting Close know that “Mamaw is actually a fashion icon.†Affirming her status as a fashion icon, Close also told Davidson that she had it written into her 101 and 102 Dalmatians contracts that she could keep her Cruella de Vil costumes, which seemed to blow the young millennial’s mind. The real meat of the interview comes at the end, when Davidson asks Close the thing we always want to ask Close but never do in polite conversation: “You’ve been nominated for seven Oscars, which is insane and ridiculous. What can we do to get you an Oscar?†Close seems to have accepted that she’ll have to wait until she’s twice Mamaw’s age to see an Academy Award, and even then it’ll be some sort of Lifetime Achievement thing:
Is it better to be wheeled out in a wheelchair and get the Lifetime Achievement Award? You don’t have to make a speech.
It’s beyond me. I don’t know what to say about that. I just have to keep doing what’s good. You’re fulfilled by your work, and that’s the process to me. It’s what feeds my soul, but it really is nice when other people like it. It might be cool to never get one. I wouldn’t mind being wheeled out when I’m old and drooling, and I have a gray wig to cover my bald head.
Yes, regarding Oscars, Close says, “It might be cool to never get one.†We refuse to believe that the person who made Albert Nobbs happens to believe this in her heart, but her commitment to the lie is what makes her such a good actress (but not, you know, an Oscar-winning one).