Glenn Close has a theory about which of her films changed how the world saw her.
The actress, who made her big-screen debut at 35 starring opposite Robin Williams in The World According to Garp, has become one of Hollywood’s brightest stars across her decades-long career. Close not only has a wide-range of roles to her name, but is one of the Academy’s most-nominated performers of all time, with a whopping eight Oscar nominations.
And if you ask her, 1987’s Fatal Attraction was pivotal in that success story because it truly showcased her range.
“I think it was the first time people realized I could be sexy,” Close told Willie Geist on the Jan. 19 episode of Today‘s Sunday Sitdown. The Adrian Lyne–helmed psychological thriller saw her star opposite Michael Douglas as a woman who begins an affair with a married man — only to become unhinged when he attempts to end it.
The Dangerous Liaisons and Big Chill actress added that to this day she feels like “an outsider” in Hollywood, but appreciates the “roles that demand everything ’cause they’re few and far between.”
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Close told Entertainment Weekly in 2017 that although she couldn’t get the Fatal Attraction script out of her head, she very nearly lost out on the part because producers worried about her ability to lead an erotic thriller.
“Producer Sherry Lansing told me about five years ago that they were so convinced I was wrong for Alex that they didn’t even want to be in the room when I auditioned,” Close explained in an oral history of the film celebrating its 30th anniversary. “They said, ‘Well, can she be sexy?’ And I thought, ‘Well, you know, yes!'”
Close would prove her sex appeal could resonate when Fatal Attraction was a rousing hit. It became the second-highest-grossing film of 1987, behind Three Men and a Baby, and earned six nominations at the 60th Academy Awards, including Close’s first Best Actress nod (and fourth overall nomination). Considered a cultural phenomenon, the movie also played a role in kicking off that era’s erotic thriller boom.
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Douglas, too, has spoken highly of Close’s performance in the film. “Sex in movies is always a delicate line. Glenn was raring to go,” Douglas told EW, reflecting on one of Fatal Attraction‘s key sex scenes. “We got up there on the kitchen table, and she came up with this great idea with the sink, with the water running and making herself wet, which is always good.”
Douglas, looking to add more comic relief, then improvised a moment of tripping while carrying Close to the bed. “It kind of let the audience relax for a second,” he said.
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Close praised the scene as well, saying, “I like it because it’s not terribly romantic. It’s very real and kind of desperate and funny.”
Despite their obvious chemistry, Close recently revealed the actor with whom she shared her best onscreen kiss — and Douglas wasn’t the winner.
“Robert Redford… in The Natural,” she recently told Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen. “I only got to kiss him once… Maybe we did two takes.”
Still, if Redford holds the title when it comes to kisses, it was Douglas who helped her create the hottest-ever make-out scene to take place in a sink.
Watch Close reflect on her career in the Sunday Sitdown interview above.
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