Glann Close - Interviews

A touch of evil

Playing evil is obviously not a problem for actress Glenn Close.

After all, this is the star who shot to fame playing a knife-wielding bunny-boiling mistress in Fatal Attraction before turning her murderous intentions to puppies in 101 Dalmatians.

Not content with striking fear into the hearts of children everywhere, Close is reprising her Cruella De Vil role for the sequel 102 Dalmatians and she couldn't be happier.

"The real joy about doing Cruella again is she's very forceful and she's larger-than-life," she says. "You rarely get the chance to play characters this big in movies unless you're doing Shakespeare."

In real life, the 53-year-old actress claims she's nowhere near as intimidating as her monstrous screen creations which have included the wicked widow, the Marquis de Mertheuil, in Dangerous Liaisons. Yet her most memorable roles have given her a rather forbidding image.

Close shrugs at the suggestion that for a generation of cinema-goers she has become the embodiment of female evil and says that in all her roles she has found something to like in the character, no matter how unsympathetic the subject.

"It's safe to say that unless I get another exceptional character in my career, people are going to remember me for Fatal Attraction and as Cruella," she says, adding: "Unfortunately it's pretty hard to shake off images of boiled rabbits, society bitch and a dog-hater.

"I don't think my characters are all awful and horrible. There are reasons for their behaviour and I have to find their weaknesses, what makes them human. I believe you have to love the characters you play, even if no-one else does."

Close concedes that Cruella De Vil is a truly frightening figure for children, mainly due to her vampish appearance. True to form, in 102 Dalmatians, Close sports black and white back-combed hair, lacquered red talons and a wardrobe which wouldn't look out of place in a Las Vegas cabaret act.

Once again the plot sees Cruella on the trail of the puppies in the quest to obtain a Dalmatian fur coat. As well as the torturous costumes, Close found herself having to be dunked in dough and turned into a giant cake. Not a pleasant experience for the actress, but she admits to turning down the offer of a stunt double for the scene.

"I wanted kids to know that it's really Cruella going through this punishment for what she was planning to do to the puppies," she says.

Close enjoys playing the fairytale evil character and says children expect her to be just like Cruella in real life.

"She's an icon character. She's like the wicked witch in the great Disney animated classics. I'm incredibly lucky to play her. The key is her sense of glee. You feel she's playing this game in which she's the only one who knows the rules.

"I find it quite amusing that I can frighten children by just saying 'puppies' or laughing. Usually they're disappointed I don't actually have black and white hair," she says.

Oddly enough, at five foot two inches tall, Close is non-intimidating in the flesh and away from the screen is fond of the quiet life.

She grew up in upmarket Greenwich, Connecticut and until she was 22 was involved with evangelical Christians. After making her first film - The World According To Garp at the age of 35, she quickly established herself as a serious actress with no less than five Oscar nominations to her name.

Although usually cast in the femme fatale role, the twice-married actress admits to being happiest when she is at home in New York with her 12-year-old daughter Annie.

"I live my life simply so I can go out and do crazy and daring things with my acting. Emotionally fling myself off the cliff.

"I don't live in Hollywood and I try to live a quiet life. I don't go out to a lot of events and I don't go out buying a lot of clothes, so I don't think the tabloids find me very interesting."

As for terrifying small children and animals, Close says it's all an act and admits she is not the tough female she appears in movies.

"I can make the switch to human any time I want to," she smiles. "People look at me and I know what they're thinking, 'Tough, demanding, bitch'. I suppose I must terrify men, I don't think they feel comfortable asking me for a date," she says.

Mainly she has been linked to men working in the same business. Most recently Steve Beers, head carpenter on her Broadway stage production of Sunset Boulevard.

"I'm of the alien nation of actors. I'm only really comfortable with other aliens," she smiles.