The only role Glenn Close would consider reprising: “It would be interesting”
Glenn Close is one of Hollywood’s most versatile stars, able to do villainous just as well as she can do charming. The actor got her start on the stage, as many actors do, only to make her screen debut in 1975 on the television show Great Performances. The star took a few years to break into Hollywood, but once she was in, there was no turning back.
Since the 1980s, Glenn Close has received eight Oscar nominations, and while she hasn’t taken one home, she can say she earned her first nomination for her first-ever film role. Close made her debut in The World According to Garp in 1982, starring alongside Robin Williams, John Lithgow, and Mary Beth Hurt. Lithgow received a nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, while Close proved she was just as worthy, landing a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ nod despite being new to Hollywood.
Since then, she has appeared in acclaimed and popular movies like Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Mars Attacks!, 101 Dalmatians, and Guardians of the Galaxy, but there is one movie that she wishes he could revisit, which is fitting, considering her pick. “You know, I think it would be interesting if all of us who were in The Big Chill got all back together,” she once told The Talks.
Released in 1983, the film marked Close’s second movie role and followed a group of university friends reuniting more than a decade later after one of them dies by suicide. Starring alongside Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline, William Hurt, and JoBeth Williams, Close delivers a standout performance in Lawrence Kasdan’s film, which explores the weight of friendship, community, and grief.
“We have talked about it with Larry Kasdan and I think everybody would want to,” she said. “But the other side of it is just let it be because it was just a seminal movie and our beautiful Bill Hurt is no longer with us. But that is the only one I’d really consider, because for me that was such an important movie”.
Sadly, it sounds like fans won’t ever get a sequel, although Close can at least look back fondly at the film and reflect on how formative of an experience it was. “It was my second movie and I learned a lot. Larry Kasdan was a wonderful director and we formed this company, we have stayed friends all these years… It doesn’t matter if we don’t see each other, it doesn’t matter, because when we see each other, we go so far back. It’s really wonderful.”
The Big Chill earned a ‘Best Picture’ nomination at the Academy Awards, but more importantly, it earned Close her second Oscar nomination – for her second ever film. That’s a rather impressive feat to achieve, signalling Close’s imminent rise to success. It grossed $56million against its $8m budget, and it remains a classic 1980s ensemble comedy-drama, one that still feels relevant all these years later.
