MANILA, Philippines—When Glenn Close walks into the room, you don’t know whether to shake her hand or to cower in fear.The very human feeling of terror of another person, I had come to realize at that very moment, had about the same effect of a stun gun. But then the woman who’s best served chilled in Hollywood introduces herself along with the biggest, warmest smile, and you’re almost taken aback. Why, this can’t be the same woman who raised stalking to nightmarish levels in “Fatal Attraction,” or the scheming Marquise de Merteuil in “Dangerous Liaisons,” or even PETA’s Most Wanted, Cruella de Vil of “101 Dalmatians.” A few minutes into the conversation, you almost feel like hugging this sweet-voiced, charming lady who gives in easily to bellyfuls of laughter. “Are you disappointed that I wasn’t more horrible?” she teases. Yet the jibes and anecdotes turn serious when the multi-awarded actress talks about her latest television role as the brilliant, conniving high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes in the courtroom drama, “Damages,” which garnered her another Golden Globe Award. There is a palpable compassion for her manipulative lead character, in fact, she shies away from categorizing Patty, or even her other tough alpha female roles as “villainesses,” as she considers them more of complex characters trying to live in a man’s world. In this exclusive interview in Tokyo, Glenn Close reassures all that she is not one be feared. How did you celebrate your birthday?
I had the best birthday! We have an apartment in New York, and we share a terrace with my neighbor who’s a 75-year-old woman who shares the same birthday. She had a party and invited me over and sang “Broadway Babies” only it was “Birthday Buddies.” When I told people I was going to interview you, many people said, “Oh my god, are you afraid?” (Laughs) Are you disappointed that I wasn’t more horrible? Maybe I let you down. I have much more power than I think I have! A lot of people are intimidated by the idea of you, does it cross over to when you meet new actors, or in your everyday life? Yes, it does happen. It’s not always the first thing in my mind because I don’t think I’m intimidating. But now I’m more aware that someone might think I am so I try to go out of my way to make them feel okay. Especially when you meet a new actor or you’re having your hair done for the first time. You’ve played a lot of sinister women, from Alex Forrest to Madame de Merteuil, and now Patty Hewes. What do you think makes a good villainess? I don’t think of them as villainesses. Alex Forrest is not like the Marquise de Merteuil or Patty Hewes. Alex is somebody who needed help. I always thought of her as ultimately a victim. I did a lot of research with psychiatrists about that part. In the original movie she kills herself, then they changed it and turned her into a psychopath. Cruella is definitely bad. But these other women—the Marquise de Merteuil, were cases of women who were trying to live in a man’s world. After “Fatal Attraction,” you became a symbol of that kind of tough woman at that time. Do people still talk about that character with you up to now? People talk about that a lot. (Laughs) It was shocking to me that she was so hated. She became a symbol when I wasn’t playing a symbol, I was playing a very specific kind of person. The feminists didn’t like her because she gave single, working women a bad name. In cinemas, people were shouting and cursing her! Yes, it’s funny because I went to the Oscars that year, and I was very pregnant. When Michael Douglas and I gave an award and I walked out with him—pregnant—and the whole audience was laughing and clapping! Going down the red carpet, I saw there was a whole section of women with hair like Alex Forrest. There’s a woman’s prison in my hometown, and I went in there to visit and I heard, “Ey Glenn Close! I will not be ignored!” (laughs) So to some people she was a hero! Would you consider Patty Hewes a villain? I think of her as brilliant and competitive. If she were a man, I don’t think she’d be called a villain. I think in so many ways there’s still a double standard. She is highly manipulative though, and she does things that are morally questionable. That’s what makes her complex, but I would not consider her evil. I think the interesting thing is how power changes somebody. Whose path would you be most afraid to cross? Alex Forrest, Cruella, the Marquis or Patty? That’s a really interesting question! I think Patty Hewes would be the scariest. I certainly don’t want to be her opponent! Being a mother yourself, could you comment on Patty Hewes’ role as a mother struggling with her son on “Damages”? In the pilot episode, she tells Ellen that you shouldn’t have children because it will ruin your ambition. And there’s one line she says that “children want all of you all of the time.” My daughter told me that, she must have been about 7, she said “I want all of you. All of the time.” And I was a single working parent so it just broke my heart because I knew she couldn’t have all of me all of the time! Even if you want to be a good mother, you always have to be split in half if you’re a working mother. So you introduced that dialogue into the script? That particular line, yes. I collaborate very closely with the writers. I also like it that Patty is so bright, so language is very important. The writers and I get into great conversations about that. Do you think playing all these tough female roles reflects your personality? I think in some ways I’m very tough, because it’s a tough profession, but you can’t get too tough or it’ll affect your work. You have to be very objective about where you are, but not lose your subjectivity about how you choose things. Choose things for very personal reasons rather than if it would bring lots of money or a big award. I think once you go in that direction, you go away from where you’re strong. Acting is tough but I go back to the belief that acting is playing. There’s a wonderful director, Richard Eyre, he was director of the National Theatre in London for ten years, he wrote a beautiful book, “Utopia and Other Places” that talks about actors a lot. He thought if you scratched an actor you’d find a child. It’s not about immaturity, it’s about the ability to play, and to mimic. What do you enjoy most? Acting on film, TV or stage? My great joy I’ve always felt was stage. But it’s getting a little more difficult because of the schedule, you have six, eight performances a week, which means you’re not home for six nights a week. And I don’t want to not have dinner with my husband six nights a week for a year. I hope in the future if we ever get a nice, normal schedule, I’d be able to do some limited run theater.
What is it about theater then? I think the immediacy of it and the fact that you’re actually creating an energy communication between a live audience. You don’t know when you get on in the beginning if you’d be able to create something fantastic. It’s like jumping off a cliff every night. Where were you when you won the Golden Globe this last time? The great thing was that I was able to watch the show in a bar down in the Meat Packing District of New York with all the cast and crew. We were all in the back and I had a nice drink in hand, in my blue jeans … so it was really fun! What are your advocacies? When I became a mother, I became very political for the first time in my life because suddenly it was very important to me what world my daughter would inherit. It’s still important, but I’m a little less comfortable being on a political grandstand. I’ve pulled back from it. My interests now are Sundance Institute, and “Teach for America,” it takes top graduates from all over the country and places them in schools for two years to teach. My husband and I support two teachers every year in New York. I’m also going to be the face and voice to raise money for mental illness. So many people are affected by that and there’s still a big stigma for people who live with mental illness. Why mental illness in particular? I had mental illness in my family. My younger sister is bi-polar, and her son also. I’ve seen how much they suffer, so it’s very personal for me.
I read somewhere that you get mistaken for Meryl Streep often. Is this true? It happened just the other day! A lot of people say, “Are you who I think you are?” Sometimes I say, I’m not Meryl Streep. But I found out it happens to her too. I thought, oh that’s good, I’d be really pissed off if it only happened to me! (Laughs) Some people say, “you really look like Glenn Close!” and sometimes I say, “I am Glenn Close” and then (starts mimicking people freaking out). So I don’t do that too much, because I don’t want to scare people. | 
