Glenn Close Embraces Grandmother Role

“This is one of my treasures,” Glenn Close says proudly, as she gestures to an imposing painting that spans the wall behind her. It’s a reproduction of the Queen Elizabeth I “Ditchley Portrait,” circa 1592, with the monarch decked out in an ornate, lace ruff and bejeweled gown. A prop she snagged after shooting 102 Dalmatians 25 years ago, the artwork decorated the townhouse of her iconic villain, Cruella de Vil.

“She [the queen] obviously was an ancestor of Cruella,” the actress says with a laugh — almost a cackle, à la de Vil — over a recent Zoom call from her home in Bozeman, Montana.

Close, 78, is sentimental about her film costumes and props — so much so that it’s written into her contracts that she can take home the fabulous set stuff she covets.

But there weren’t many ornate items to grab from the set of her latest film, The Summer Book (in theaters Sept. 19), and that’s what she loves about the movie — it’s simple and austere, she says.

“It goes very unsentimental,” Close says of the quiet, tender story, and her white-sneakers-and-cane wardrobe.

Based on the novel by Finnish novelist and painter Tove Jansson, the film follows a family navigating grief during a summer at their tiny island cottage on the Gulf of Finland.

“It’s not a movie about people talking, talking, talking about their feelings,” she assures us. “It’s about the day-to-day, how life goes on and how we can love. It’s about family connection, and about strength from one generation to the next.”

A first-time grandmother herself since the film wrapped (Close’s daughter, Annie, gave birth to her first child, son Rory Westaway Albu, in February), the actor is reveling in the role of real-life grandma all year.

“I now have a little grandson,” Close says, face beaming. “He’s almost 7 months old. And I’m very aware of my role as grandmother. I’m very proud of it, and I love spending time with him.”

The Summer Book’s themes of nature and renewal, she notes, resonate closely with her life in many ways. The actress, her daughter and other family members settled in Montana because of their love of nature, rooted in their upbringing on their grandfather’s farm.