This month, the actress is the star of the emotional trauma Hillbilly Elegy, a film signed by Ron Howard for Netflix. An avid reader, Close fell in love with Spain in her many trips to the San Sebastian Film Festival and since then has been trying to learn Spanish.

In COVID times, Close dedicates her time to read and sometimes she is reading 5 books simultaneously.

Q: When did you develop your passion for reading?

A: My mother had an incredible library in our little house and encouraged me to read, read, read. I can’t stop reading, as is one of my biggest passions since I was a kid

Q: What you are reading now?

A: There's this wonderful book written in 1930 about a Marine named John W. Thomason stationed in China in the 1930s and these are short stories about real people. There's another book by Captain Bartlett called Sails Over Ice about his explorations. He went to Greenland in the 1920s, Alaska, Northeast Greenland, all over the place, but mostly the Arctic. My grandfather also went on Arctic explorations and he knew Captain Bob.

Q: Have you read any Spanish authors?

A: Yes I have read: Bolaño, Borges and Garcia Marquez.  Gabriel Garcia Marquez is my absolute favorite.

Q: Do you read many books simultaneously?

A: Yes, depends on my mood. My mom was the same way, she used to have a book on every chair in the house. I do the same. The books that I like are slowly savored. Garcia Marquez is the kind of author that you can read in increments because it's kind of a pleasure. You can get in and out. It's wonderful.

Q: Do you speak Spanish?

A: I received an award in San Sebastian a few years ago and I fell in love with Spain, since then I’ve tried to learn Spanish but I can’t say that I’m fluent.

Q: What do you remember from Spain

A: Oh my God, everything but mostly the food. The little town of San Sebastian is a gem on the coast. The taste of the vegetables, the sophistication … I loved it and I came back everytime they invite me 

Q: You have more than 45 years working in movies. What keeps you going relentlessly?

A:  It really comes down to not wanting to bore myself. When I do a character, each character has a certain emotional and psychological territory that you explore. To repeat that wouldn’t be interesting, so I’ve always been up for different things.

Q: You have a new movie with Amy Adams. How was it working with her?

A: The thing I adored about working with Amy is that it's counterintuitive to an actor because we all want to be loved, but she risked not being liked in Bev’s anger, confusion, and addiction, and in the end she created an incredibly moving character.

Q: It’s always shocking your capacity to change, the element of transformation with every character

A: I loved it. I need to know that the audience would not be distracted seeing my face, as Glenn Close. I asked Ron (Howard) if I could approach makeup artist Matthew W. Mungle and hairstylist Martial Corneville, who were my collaborators on Albert Nobbs, to help me create this character.  when I walked on the set, I knew that we’d done our job because nobody knew who I was. They thought some strange woman had somehow wandered to the set with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth!

Q: For a movie star like you, is there much difference between the big screen and the small screen? Do you like Netflix?

A: I think there is something wonderful about the revolution that we are having in the media with platforms and TV being the star of content as they can enter directly into the homes of millions of people around the world, not only that but you also travel on the ipods of your fans. I like television, it is a medium that although it is very tiring to shoot is growing and improving and today the best scripts are written for the small screen

Q:  You are one of the most admired actors in Hollywood, who inspires Glenn Close?

A: A job well done inspires me, whoever it may come from a Broadway actress or a television movie, all my colleagues  inspire me. I have great respect for my profession and my work. I am inspired by stories that are well written, I have always tried to be rigorous in everything I do and I like to find that rigor in others.

Glenn Close, absolutely fabulous 

Los Angeles, Maria Estevez

Correspomdent writer