The role written specifically for Glenn Close that she turned down: “Well, who’s next?”
Whether you know her as Robin Williams’ mother in The World According to Garp, the voice of Kala in Tarzan, or as the live-action Cruella de Vil, Glenn Close has almost certainly featured in your life at some point. She’s been nominated for a whopping eight Academy Awards and is still going strong, as she’s set to make an appearance in Wake Up Dead Man, the next instalment in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series, in 2025.
Close is such a prestigious actor that people will write parts into their scripts to cast her in them. This is precisely what Lawrence Kasdan did when he wrote the character of Sarah Cooper in The Big Chill. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t always work. Just ask Paul Schrader, who wanted Close for his 2022 movie, Master Gardener.
“Glenn Close is a close family friend and Glenn would always say, ‘When are you going to write a role for me?’ So, I did, I wrote a role for Glenn,” Schrader told Film Ink. “And then she turned me down! Once she turned me down, I said, ‘Well, who’s next?’” The ‘who’s next’ in question turned out to be Sigourney Weaver. “There aren’t that many actors in that age range that are still sharp,” Schrader explained when describing why he cast Weaver. “There’s not that many roles. So, you come down to around ten people, and I had known Sigourney.”
Master Gardener stars Joel Edgerton as Narvel Roth, a horticulturist with a dark past. He is working on an estate belonging to a wealthy widow named Mrs Haverhill (Weaver), and his world is shaken when she asks him to take on her grandniece (Quintessa Swindell) as his student. Roth is hesitant at first, as he believes this will cut him out of any future inheritance, but comes to his senses once he realises Maya is in trouble.
This wasn’t the first time Close turned down what could have been a major role for her. She was offered a part in James Ivory’s The Bostonians but rejected it allegedly so she could work alongside Robert Redford in The Natural. Vanessa Redgrave took the part instead and ended up scoring an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actress’. There has been much speculation that this could have been the role that delivered Close the statuette, although Redgrave herself ended up losing out to Sally Field for Places in the Heart.
Schrader and Close go way back. The actor auditioned for a part in American Gigolo, reading for a scene when John Travolta was still attached to star in the project. However, she didn’t have a great time, as the scene took place in bed, which she found humiliating. Close also paid a visit to Schrader’s house for Christmas in 2019, which resulted in pictures of her dressed as a sheep circulating the internet. In the end, Schrader wasn’t too upset that his friend rejected him, saying, “I am actually glad it worked out this way because I got to know Sigourney, who’s very funny and witty and smart.”
Weaver does a fantastic job in Master Gardener, so it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. It certainly would have been interesting to see what Close would have done with it, though, especially given her close relationship with the director. Maybe she’ll take Schrader up on his offer one of these days.
