How Glenn Close Lost Her First Big Role and Never Looked Back
Glenn Close nearly missed out on her first major film lead due to clashing schedules, but her choice to join The Natural instead shaped her career in ways she never regretted.
Chances are, you’ve heard someone drop the term ‘bunny boiler’ in conversation, but not everyone knows its origin. It’s not a new way to cook rabbit, but a nod to the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, where Glenn Close’s character takes out her anger on a family pet in a rather memorable way. Some films from the 1980s just couldn’t have come from any other era—think The Secret of My Success or Wall Street. Fatal Attraction, though, is peak 80s: from the poster’s font to the soundtrack, the perms, the shoulder pads, and of course, Michael Douglas. It’s all oversized phones and sprawling houses, and it works a treat. But it’s Close who steals the show, pulling off a performance that’s both unsettling and magnetic, blending charm with a simmering fury as she turns the old saying ‘hell hath no fury’ into a full-blown rampage.
Early Oscar Nods and a Career-Defining Choice
Close’s turn in Fatal Attraction earned her a well-deserved Oscar nomination, one of eight she’s picked up over four decades—though, oddly enough, she’s never taken one home. Her first nomination came from her debut in The World According to Garp, a 1982 film with Robin Williams, based on John Irving’s novel. She followed that up with another nod for The Big Chill, a comedy-drama directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and then made it three in a row with The Natural in 1984, starring alongside Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, and Kim Basinger.
But her path to The Natural wasn’t straightforward. She was originally set for her first leading role in a period piece called The Bostonians, with Christopher Reeve. Close told Vanity Fair that Redford tried to convince her she could manage both projects, saying,
“I had already been cast in The Bostonians when Bob [Redford] asked me to come and see him. It was during the negotiations of trying to make it work for me to do both that [The Bostonians producer] Ismail Merchant said, ‘She’s fired’. So, I did The Natural and loved it.”
What Might Have Been and What Was
Ironically, The Bostonians also picked up two Oscar nominations, including one for Vanessa Redgrave. Still, Close never looked back, happy to have worked with Redford on The Natural. That same year, she also nabbed a Tony for her role in The Real Thing, a play by Tom Stoppard, showing her range wasn’t just limited to the big screen.
Over the years, Close has proven herself as one of the industry’s best, matching Peter O’Toole with eight Oscar nominations, and adding three Emmys, three Tonys, and three Golden Globes to her collection. Most recently, she’s been seen with Kim Kardashian in the much-talked-about Ryan Murphy series All’s Fair, and she’s got a few projects in the pipeline, including a part in the latest Hunger Games film, Sunrise on the Reaping, and whispers of a Sunset Boulevard remake.