Costume drama plays with gender
GLENN CLOSE first played Albert Nobbs on stage 29 years ago and since then wanted to turn the play into a movie. After a failed attempt with Istvan Szabo as director in 2000, five years ago she became co-producer and co-wrote the script with Irish author John Banville. She then hired director Rodrigo Garcia, with whom she collaborated on Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) and Nine Lives (2005).
The character of Nobbs has changed. “Yes, I was a young Albert on stage,” the trim 64-year-old says. Her portrayal of an early 20th century woman who dresses as a man to work as a butler in a Dublin hotel looks set to garner her a sixth Oscar nomination.
