Tina Fey is so funny and self-deprecating but generally bores me to tears on the red carpet. Last night at the Oscars, however, she brought the glamour in a big way in a custom, midnight-blue Carolina Herrera gown with peplum detail and Bulgari jewels. Of her look, Tina said, “I’m just thrilled to be wearing this beatiful dress. At first I feared the peplum and now I love the peplum. Tina was the only star who wore Herrera last night, and she wore it damn well. She also did a variation on big hair with an upswept do that set the dress off perfectly. This is probably my favorite look on Tina ever.

Meanwhile, Milla Jovovich did her usual supermodel thing in a white, beaded Elie Saab gown: “When I saw this dress I just fell in love with it… clean and radiant, and I felt like this color was perfect.” Oddly, the color is the only thing that seems off about this dress, but I do covet the asymmetric look on Milla. She oozes old school Hollywood glamour, but I really feel like she can do this look in her sleep, so it was a little bit underwhelming at the same time. However, Milla’s Jacob & Co jewelry made quite the impact, and her makeup was very dramatic and fitting as well.

Glenn Close, who was nominated for Best Actress for her role in Albert Nobbs, donned a forest-green Zac Posen strapless dress and matching tuxedo jacket. Of course, this look was age appropriate, and she stated that if she won, she’d celebrate by “By staying up later than usual.” Glenn’s Bulgari jewels were gorgeous, but I wish she’d done a little something with her hair.

Missi Pyle (The Artist) wore a a sea-foam green dress by Delfino, which was constructed from recycled materials and silk made from “cruelty free silkworms.” I wasn’t entirely crazy about this dress, but CB liked it. Overall, the hair, makeup, and dress looked a little too sororityish for my tastes, but Missi’s figure looked amazing.

Photos courtesy of WENN

First racism and now ageism. I’m having a terrible morning!! Anyway, we decided to put all of the old(er) broads in one post, because… well, you know. As much as I love Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and Glenn Close, they’re never going to be the most talked-about fashionistas. I was surprised when Meryl won Best Actress – I really thought Viola Davis had this whole thing in the bag, but every now and then, people just like to give Meryl an award, and God bless them. Meryl is pure joy, even when she’s cussing up a storm about her glasses. Though I love Meryl, and I think she’s a fierce bitch in almost all areas, I hated her Alessandra Rich shirtdress. Dear Meryl: do not wear shirtdresses to the Golden Globes. PS… I love you.

Meryl beat out Glenn Close for Best Actress, and the silver lining is that Glenn didn’t have to get on stage in this hideousness. Look, I think Glenn is beautiful. I’m undecided as to whether she’s had work done, but I like that she looks her age, and she looks beautiful for her age, and her talent is extraordinary. But the best thing I can say about this gown was that it was a pretty color and it was age-appropriate. Maybe a little too appropriate, because Glenn looks older than she should.

Dame Helen Mirren was one of my best-dressed of the night, which you probably suspected because you know I’m a whore for jewel tones. Helen wore this stunning Badgley Mischka, which managed to be age-appropriate, yet made her look sexy and young. Yay for Helen! She’s so adorable.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

There’s a new trailer for Albert Nobbs, in which Glenn Close plays the titular character, who grew up as the illegitimate daughter of a maid in 19th century Ireland. As an adult, she disguises herself in male attire to get work as a hotel butler. For her performance, Glenn is already getting some (and possibly overdue) Oscar buzz; of course, she’ll likely face stiff competition from the likes of Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) and Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene). The movie also stars Aaron Johnson and Mia Wasikowska, who replaced Orlando Bloom and Amanda Seyfried. It girl out, it girl in? Well, Mia’s a much better actress than Amanda, so the movie was undoubtedly served well by the cast shuffling.

As mentioned above, Glenn is receiving much praise for her take on the role. As for the movie itself? Not so much:

[I]t doesn’t hurt that Close (a five time nominee in the ’80s) spent nearly 30 years trying to line up a chance to repeat her gender-bending off-Broadway role in a film for which she is credited as co-writer and co-producer. She may be (sadly) a bit too old for the role and there will be considerable debate about whether she actually passes as a man — she looks alarmingly like Conan O’Brien from some angles.

But she sure gives a powerhouse performance as an emotionally repressed woman who is forced to work as a hotel butler to survive in 19th century Ireland — and is undone when she falls in love with another woman.

I was even more impressed, though, by Janet McTeer as another faux man whose path Albert passes — a much more flamboyant and swaggering character who doesn’t suffer from Albert’s inner torment and is comfortable enough in her role to have married another woman.

“Albert Nobbs” has a rather claustrophic feel that, to a point, suits the story. The director, Rodrigo Garcia, is far better with actors (he’s done his best work for TV shows like “Six Feet Under” and “In Treatment”) than as a big-screen visual stylist.

Though sure to be embraced by the GLBT community and some feminists, it’s hardly a crowd pleaser.

[From NY Post]

Since this movie was literally decades in the making for Glenn Close, it truly sounds like a labor of love for her. Does she pull off playing a man in the trailer? Well, there’s truly something “off” from the moment one spots Drag Glenn in motion, but that’s sort of the point. While this movie won’t be a blockbuster by any stretch, it will certainly receive a lot of love from critics and on the indie circult, and I definitely plan on watching it too.

Photos courtesy of AllMoviePhoto and WENN

Here’s what just happened – I was looking through the new photos, seeing if there was anyone important that I needed to write about from the Emmys, when I came upon these photos of Glenn Close receiving a lifetime achievement award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Now… I love Glenn Close. I think she’s gorgeous and epically talented and just a really cool lady. I love her hair right now and I love how she seems very comfortable in her own skin. BUT THIS DRESS.

It’s not even a dress. It’s a sack with a fur trim. If the fur is fake, you can bet that Angelina Jolie is lusting after this shapeless sack as we speak. Dear God, why did Glenn do this to herself? She has a great figure. She has the kind of coloring where she pull off almost anything – why a hideous brown sack? Why the fur trim??!

Maybe Glenn just doesn’t care. If I was Glenn Close, I probably wouldn’t care either. But she had just worn a nice suit the day before (I’ve included a photo), so… it’s not like Glenn doesn’t know how to dress for these events.

The Hollywood Reporter had a great interview with Glenn at the film festival – she not only picked up the lifetime achievement award, she was also promoting Albert Nobbs, that film where she plays a dude:

“This is the first lifetime achievement award I’ver received. And what I am thinking of is the army of people I have collaborated with over the course of my career. They have inspired me. Challenged me,” Glenn Close says.

Calling actors the “alien nation,” Close said that actors make people believe. “Everyone wants to believe something. And we can remind people how connected we are. That, to me, is a privilege. I pledge to continue to find stories that I hope you will love and characters that you can find a common thread of humanity with.”

Earlier in the day, Close talked to reporters about her work in Rodrigo Garcia’s gender-bending Albert Nobbs, how difficult it is to find work as an over-35 woman in Hollywood and her possibilities for an Oscar.

“I think it’s a story that carries a lot of resonance today,” Close said about the film she wrote, produced and starred in after waging a 15 year campaign to see it to fruition. “Albert Nobbs is about everyone’s wanting to feel safe and connected.”

Close even burst into song on demand at the press conference, blushing afterwards, and explaining how she sang a song from Sunset Boulevard while courting financing for the film at a dinner in Texas. She said she was delighted that not one penny of the financing had come from Hollywood and that the project had brought financing from people entirely removed from filmmaking to the table.

But questions about the ever elusive Oscar award were most persistent.

“It would be wonderful to be nominated for an Oscar. It’s been a few years. But when I started in this career, I decided not to be motivated by money or awards, only to choose well-written scripts and stories I wanted to tell,” Close said.

However, referencing the Donostia Awards ceremony that would take place in a few hours, it was clear how much the award meant to her.

“I’m incredibly moved. When you start in this career, you never know where your next job will come. You make choices for personal reasons and then you get to a stage where you have a body of work and you had only hoped to not compromise yourself. It is very special to be honored for something as fragile as the life of an actor.”

So what’s next for Close?

“I would like to start writing again, but starting with a blank page. I’ve never done that and it might be my next challenge. I already have an idea and I think I’d like to do something from scratch.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

It’s so odd that Glenn has never won an Oscar. She’s just one of those ladies who never got recognized for her best performances – like Julianne Moore, or Patricia Clarkson. Meanwhile, Hilary Swank has two Best Actress Oscars. Ugh.

Here’s a clip from Albert Nobbs:

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These are photos from last night’s season premiere party for Damages. I don’t think I saw the last season, right? I only watched it when it was on FX, so the last season I saw featured Lily Tomlin and Campbell Scott. The strength of Damages’ writing and acting is what made me love Rose Byrne, the little Aussie actress who is everywhere these days – you might recognize her from her recent work as a comedic actress in Bridesmaids and Get Him To the Greek, and she also had a supporting part in X-Men: First Class (where she tried to shoot my Fassbender!!!). Basically, I just like her and I think she’s a very underrated actress. I also think she’s very, very pretty, although you wouldn’t be able to tell from her appearance last night.

So… does her makeup artist hate her? I get that the “in” thing these days is to wear fall and winter clothes and have darker, more “wintery” makeup in the middle of the summer, but this goes beyond a quirky seasonal lipstick. Rose is over-rouged and harsh-looking. Her makeup doesn’t work with her beigey dress, nor her underwhelming bangs-y hair. Who does this to a pretty young actress?

Meanwhile, though – Glenn Close looks like a million bucks. Check out her legs! Check out her un-Botoxed face! I love when a woman looks great for her age and her face still moves. Glenn is so awesome.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Maybe I’m alone here, but I absolutely adore Glenn Close, and I’m STILL bummed that Damages was cancelled. I think Glenn is one of the most talented actresses working today, and I love that she’s not afraid of playing multifaceted bitches and villains – I mean, yes, Meryl Streep is a goddess and one of the best actresses around, but Glenn Close brings out the campy drag queen love for her balls-out villainesses. Speaking of drag queens (or kings, in this case), Glenn has a new role – she’s playing “Albert Nobbs” – a 19th century heroine who disguised herself as a man to go into service. There have been photos of Glenn in male drag floating around for a week or so – this is just the first time we’ve had access to them!

Glenn Close walks like a man, talks like a man and looks like a man on the set of her latest film, “Albert Nobbs.” Photos from the Dublin set of the 63-year-old actress’s latest movie show Close in a somber 19th century suit and sporting a side-swept hairstyle favored by men of the time.

Close transformed herself for the part of a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to join the workforce in Ireland in the 1800s in the big screen adaptation of George Moore’s short story, “The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs.”

Though the transformation is startling, this isn’t the first time the Oscar winner has gone in drag for this particular role. Close took on the role at the age of 35 in an off-Broady play that ran at the Manhattan Theater Club to wide-spread praise from the critics.

“Miss Close… is almost unrecognizable,” the “New York Times” said at the time. “It is not simply a matter of her boyish hairdo… but of her manner, movement, and sensibility. The play is a curio, but the performance is transforming.”

Since appearing in the stage version of “Albert Nobbs” in 1982, Close has been working tirelessly to bring the gender-bending tale of “Albert Nobbs” to the silver screen.

“I believe in this story and its potential to take everyone on a sensuous, funny, heart-breaking, wildly unexpected ride,” the actress has reportedly said.

“Albert Nobbs” is currently filming in Dublin; the movie is set for release in 2011.

[From The NY Daily News]

I think she pulls the look off, honestly. Though I find Glenn attractive (in an unconventional way), she’s got the kind of looks that can easily transform into “masculine”. Plus, she’s a terrific actress, so she should be able to do this, hands down and balls out.

Speaking of, do you think she’s stuffing? I bet she is. Method acting!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Actress Glenn Close is speaking out about mental illness on behalf of her nonprofit organization, BringChange2Mind, which aims to decrease the social stigma associated with mental illness. Glenn’s sister Jessie has bipolar disorder but wasn’t diagnosed until she was 27, and Jessie’s son Calen has schizo-affective disorder. While Glenn is famous for having played some crazy characters, she says she never recognized the mental illness in her own family because they didn’t really have the vocabulary to even talk about it.

For more than 25 years, actress Glenn Close has wowed audiences with memorable performances. But her latest role in a public service announcement addressing the stigma of mental illness hits particularly close to home.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in four adults in the United States have a diagnosable mental disorder. Close is speaking out for the first time on television about the legacy of mental illness in her own family. Her sister, Jessie Close, has bipolar disorder, and Jessie’s son Calen Pick, 28, has schizo-affective disorder.

“Mental illness is just part of the human condition,” the actress said today on “Good Morning America,” adding that her family hopes that the sisters’ campaign will help foster a dialogue about a condition that we should “talk about as openly as cancer or diabetes.”

Glenn Close, an Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony award winner and Oscar nominee currently starring in the series “Damages,” is also the creator of a nonprofit organization called BringChange2Mind, which she founded to raise awareness about mental illness and to provide support and information to the mentally ill and their families.

[From ABC News]

The interview with George Stephanopoulos is really interesting, and you can watch it in its entirety on ABC’s website. It’s so touching to watch Glenn interact with Jessie and see the compassion and empathy she has for her sister, instead of the judgment and ridicule people with mental illness often face. They also show the PSA, which has Glenn and Jessie wearing shirts that say “Sister” and “Bipolar” in the middle of Grand Central Station, along with other people and their family members wearing shirts that say the name of their illness. It helps us see their humanity, and remind us that they’re regular people deserving of respect, just like everyone else.

Stephanopoulos also talks a bit about the link between bipolar disorder (and mental illness in general) and creativity. Jessie, who’s a writer, admitted she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to work and would lose that part of herself, and her son felt the same. But she said she’s working better than ever now, and they showed an amazing self-portrait that Calen had recently completed.

It’s wonderful that Glenn and Jessie have joined forces on this, and hopefully they’ll bring some much needed attention to the truly important issues affecting not just those with mental illness but their families as well.

Here’s Glenn at the Emmys on September 20th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Last year, several film and television critics pointed out that the best parts for actresses over the age of forty were on television. There’s Kyra Sedgwick on The Closer, Edie Falco on The Sopranos, Holly Hunter on Saving Grace, and Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU. Actresses of a certain age are in demand on the small screen, playing fully-realized characters that don’t rely on twenty-something naiveté.

Glenn Close has joined this grand tradition of great “older” actresses enjoying a career Renaissance in television. Last year, the first season of FX’s Damages premiered to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The show found a considerable niche audience of adults with attention spans who wanted to watch good acting and good stories – the numbers were good for cable, anyway.

For those of you not watching, it’s a difficult show to explain. Calling it a “legal drama” makes it sound like yet another Law & Order spin-off, which couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s sort of like Lost, only set in New York, not a mysterious island. There’s coincidences and conspiracies, the timeline goes back and forth, jumping all over the place. You don’t know who to trust, which character is supposed to be “good”, which one you’re supposed to have sympathy for. The motto of the show could be:
“There is no sympathy.” Glenn Close sat down for an interview with Newsday to talk Damages, fragility and backgammon.

“Damages” is about world-famous, stop-at-nothing litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), who wrapped a big victory last year that gave new shades of meaning to the word pyrrhic. In battle with evil, Enron-styled dark lord Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), Patty found it necessary to snuff a dog, torment witnesses (leading to their ruination or death) and finally blackmail Frobisher into chucking his whole fortune (only to double-cross him in the last episode). Did we mention: She also tried to kill her colleague Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), the daughter she never had (not counting the one, Julia, who died at birth).

In the first season, Wall Street villain Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) survived a gunshot from an embittered former colleague, only to realize that he is the most hated man on Earth. Hewes’ junior partner, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), lives with the knowledge that her boss tried to kill her. She’s also working with the FBI to bring Hewes down. Then, there is Lady Macbeth herself. She has blood on her hands, which nothing can ever wash away. Her guilt is towering, but then so is her ambition and idealism. Patty Hewes is a very good woman. She is also a very bad one. There was the scene that found her sitting in a lawn chair. Informed by her Uncle Pete (Tom Aldredge) that Ellen had been killed, Patty showed remorse that seemed to spread from her legs, to her torso, and then to her head. Finally, she burst into a full-body volcanic eruption of horror and regret. Patty got over that. But then Frobisher’s lawyer, Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek, who won an Emmy for best supporting actor), put a gun in his mouth and blew off the back of his head in front of her. That unspeakable memory has been harder to shake.

Simply put, Close’s Hewes is the most extraordinarily complicated, maddeningly obtuse character – male or female – on television at the moment. So, yeah. That’s why Close sounds pooped.

“At the end of last season when Fiske shot himself in front of me, that spun Patty to a place she’s never been before, in a place of not being totally in control,” said Close by phone from the “Damages” set in Queens, where cast and crew were nearing completion on the 13th and final episode for this season. (FX has already ordered a third.) “She’s still in that place of being highly traumatized … still a little fragile.”

Hewes, fragile? And there are other unexpected surprises in store this season. But first there’s a character to be revealed, and that is part of what you’ll be seeing as well. “You get to see a little bit more of the private side of Patty Hewes,” Close says.

After the Frobisher victory, Hewes is nursing her psyche back to health while trying to figure out what to do next. Funding a huge charity? Seems like a good idea, though she has to convince a major benefactor, Sam Arsenault (Broadway’s James Naughton, who will sing in a future episode), to kick in some dough.

Meanwhile, out of the dark, quite literally, appears an old acquaintance, Daniel Purcell, played by William Hurt. The last time Hurt and Close appeared together on-screen was in 1983′s “The Big Chill.” Of the reunion, Close says, “It was just a wonderful time with him [and] we have these competitive backgammon games in between [takes].”

The Purcell-Hewes relationship has a history, too. He’s an energy consultant who has the goods on a major energy company’s dirty tricks. He wants and demands Patty’s help as part of an old debt. She’s reluctant to give it.

“He’s very much a character who’s going to allow us to explore a substantial part of … Hewes’ history,” says Todd A. Kessler, one of “Damages’” three show-runners – the others are his brother, Glenn, who also plays FBI agent L.J. Werner, and Daniel Zelman. That history will include “a huge surprise for the audience, but just like Glenn Close and William Hurt, they have an equally rich history together and a lot of juicy stuff to discover about each other.”

From Newsday

I have to admit that when the first season aired, I missed it. Then one weekend a few months ago, FX ran an all-day marathon, and I got hooked. It really is the kind of show to buy on DVD, so you can watch the whole season all at once. For the second season, which airs Wednesday at 10 p.m., Academy Award-winners William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden join the cast, and it looks *so good*.

Glenn Close and the cast of Damages are shown at the second season premiere celebration in New York on 12/13/08. Also shown are William Hurt, Tate Donovan, Rose Bryne, Anastasia Griffith and Timothy Olyphant. Credit: WENN

The stars were out to support Meryl Street at the Film Society’s Tribute to the two-time Oscar-winning actress at Avery Fisher Hall in NY last night. The Film Society’s website says that the evening honored Streep’s “remarkable career with selected film highlights, onstage salutes by friends and colleagues and personal remarks by Meryl Streep.”

The night featured a “Cocktail Buffet” and “Supper Dance” along with the tribute to Streep. Proceeds went to the Film Society.

I love Amy Adams and think she looks gorgeous here. She really was lovely at the Oscars and her look is both classy and playful.

Other luminaries at the event included Uma Thurman in a black wrap dress with a subtle silver chain belt, and Glenn Close in a floor length navy gown with an elegant button down jacket. I’m not too fond of Streep’s dress and think the cut is not flattering for her, but the night was all about her so she gets a pass.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.