Hildy's Happy Hour | Glenn Close

Summary

Podcast Episode Summary: Hildy's Happy Hour | Glenn Close

Episode Details:

• Title: Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire
• Episode: Hildy's Happy Hour | Glenn Close
• Hosts: Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy
• Guest: Glenn Close
• Release Date: March 28, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Hildy's Happy Hour, hosts Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy welcome the renowned actress Glenn Close as their special guest. Despite the absence of co-host Steve Mallory, who was attending a speaking engagement in Seattle, the dynamic duo sets the stage for an engaging and heartfelt conversation with Glenn Close.

Meeting Glenn Close

The episode kicks off with playful banter between Ben and Melissa about Glenn's BLT order and her choice of shoes, showcasing their friendly rapport. Ben reminisces about first meeting Glenn at the Palmer Hotel in Palm Springs:

Ben Falcone [02:08]: "The first time that I remember you, Glenn, was at the Palmer Hotel... I remember thinking like, melissa is talking to Glenn fucking Close. This is so cool."

Melissa echoes this sentiment, recalling her own awe:

Melissa McCarthy [04:27]: "I was talking to Glenn Close. Holy shit, I'm talking to Glenn fucking Close."

Early Acting Aspirations

The conversation shifts to Glenn's early interest in acting. She shares that her passion for the craft began long before her teenage years, inspired by Disney fairy tales and imaginative play during her childhood in rural Connecticut.

Glenn Close [05:50]: "As a kid, I loved the Disney movies, the great, you know, Snow White and Cinderella... I always lived very much in my head."

Melissa and Ben discuss how these early experiences fostered Glenn's creativity and shaped her into the meticulous actress she is today.

First Professional Role as an Understudy

Glenn delves into her first professional acting job as an understudy for Mary Yore in Congreve's Love for Love. She recounts the intense experience of being thrust into a leading role unexpectedly during rehearsals:

Glenn Close [12:38]: "I was hired as an understudy for all three shows on Broadway... My first job was understudying Mary Yore."

A pivotal moment unfolds when director Hal Prince informs her that she may need to perform if the lead actress cannot continue. Without prior rehearsals with the cast, Glenn must ready herself on the spot:

Glenn Close [17:14]: "I went in on a Saturday afternoon to get ready for the matinee... I want you to do the show tonight."

She describes the rush of stepping onto the stage:

Glenn Close [19:02]: "To have never rehearsed it with fellow actors... it's like making me sweaty."

Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Resilience

The discussion highlights the immense pressure and resilience required in Glenn's early career. She reflects on watching seasoned actors navigate their roles, learning the importance of adaptability and perseverance:

Glenn Close [22:18]: "Overcoming rejection, overcoming reviews... you have to be incredibly resilient."

Melissa adds her perspective on learning through failure, emphasizing the value of falling down and getting back up:

Melissa McCarthy [23:03]: "There's so much to learn when you fall down a lot."

Acting Techniques and Preparation

Glenn shares her meticulous approach to preparing for roles, emphasizing the importance of understanding a character's history and motivations:

Glenn Close [27:54]: "I write their history... I make up the backstory to understand where they've been."

Melissa compares this to her own method of writing and repeatedly reviewing lines to internalize them fully:

Melissa McCarthy [29:15]: "I write everything and I write them and I write them... It looks like I've gone crazy."

They discuss the mental challenges of acting, particularly for stage actors who must balance multiple layers of performance simultaneously:

Glenn Close [32:28]: "Be an actor, certainly a stage actor is the closest you get to insanity..."

Personal Life and Balance in Montana

Shifting gears, Glenn talks about her life in Montana, describing it as a blend of serene nature and vibrant community life in a college town. She enjoys simple pleasures like rocking on her porch, reading, and spending time with family:

Glenn Close [42:00]: "I love sitting on my porch and watching people... I have rocking chairs on my little porch."

Ben and Melissa express admiration for her peaceful lifestyle, contrasting it with the bustling environments of New York and Los Angeles. Glenn emphasizes the importance of having an organized home to maintain mental balance:

Glenn Close [49:01]: "I like to have an ordered life so you can go nuts in your work."

Current Projects and Future Endeavors

Glenn excitedly shares her upcoming projects, including a series for Ryan Murphy titled All's Fair. She describes her role as the matriarch of a firm of divorce lawyers, featuring stars like Kim Kardashian and Naomi Watts:

Glenn Close [49:19]: "I'm working on a series for Ryan Murphy called All's Fair... Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash."

She also mentions her participation in the latest Knives Out movie, highlighting her collaboration with director Ryan Johnson:

Glenn Close [50:10]: "I was in the last Knives Out movie... It was so much fun."

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with heartfelt thanks from Ben and Melissa to Glenn Close, appreciating her openness and sharing of personal and professional insights. Glenn reciprocates the gratitude, expressing her love and appreciation for the hosts and listeners.

Glenn Close [52:12]: "I love you guys. Thank you."

Melissa McCarthy [52:12]: "Thank you."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ben Falcone [02:08]: "This is so cool."
• Melissa McCarthy [04:27]: "I'm talking to Glenn fucking Close."
• Glenn Close [12:38]: "I was hired as an understudy for all three shows on Broadway."
• Glenn Close [17:14]: "I want you to do the show tonight."
• Glenn Close [22:18]: "You have to be incredibly resilient."
• Melissa McCarthy [23:03]: "There's so much to learn when you fall down a lot."
• Glenn Close [27:54]: "I write their history... I make up the backstory to understand where they've been."
• Melissa McCarthy [29:15]: "I write everything and I write them and I write them... It looks like I've gone crazy."
• Glenn Close [42:00]: "I love sitting on my porch and watching people."
• Glenn Close [49:19]: "I'm working on a series for Ryan Murphy called All's Fair..."
• Glenn Close [50:10]: "I was in the last Knives Out movie... It was so much fun."

Key Themes and Insights

1. Resilience in Acting: Glenn's stories as an understudy highlight the unpredictable nature of acting and the necessity of being prepared to seize unexpected opportunities.

2. Preparation and Technique: Both Glenn and Melissa emphasize the importance of rigorous preparation, whether through writing, memorization, or developing a deep understanding of a character's background.

3. Balancing Personal and Professional Life: Glenn's lifestyle in Montana serves as an example of how actors can maintain personal well-being while managing a demanding career.

4. The Evolution of Storytelling: The conversation touches on the impact of storytelling in shaping human experiences and the need to preserve authentic narratives in an age overwhelmed by information.

5. Collaboration and Community: Glenn's interactions with fellow actors and directors underscore the collaborative essence of theater and film, as well as the supportive relationships that sustain creative endeavors.

Final Thoughts

This episode of Hildy's Happy Hour offers listeners an intimate glimpse into Glenn Close's early career challenges, her disciplined approach to acting, and her balanced personal life. Through engaging storytelling and candid conversations, Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy create a warm and insightful atmosphere, making this episode both inspiring and relatable for aspiring actors and fans alike.

Transcript

[Sam Bee]

Hey, Choice Words listeners. Sam Bee here. Guess what? We are back with a brand new season of Choice Words from Lemonada Media. Each week I'll chat with amazing guests like Kerry Washington, Laura Dern, and Nick Offerman to dive into the biggest choices they've ever made. We are talking career shaping, history changing, life defining decisions. As someone who has made my own fair share of questionable choices. Hello, Bangs. I am pumped to share these funny, poignant, all too relatable stories with you. Season 2 of Choice Words is out now. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. You won't want to miss it.

[David Duchovny]

Hi, everyone. I'm David Duchovny. Join me on my podcast, Fail Better, where we use failure as a lens to reflect on the past and analyze the current moment. I speak with makers and performers like Rob Lowe, Rosie O'Donnell and Kenya Barris, as well as thinkers like Kara Swisher and Nate Silver to understand how both personal setbacks and larger forces impact our world. Listen to Fail Better wherever you get your podcasts.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Lemonade.

[Ben Falcone]

All right, here we go.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Here we go.

[Ben Falcone]

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Hildy's Happy Hour. This is Ben Falcone, along with your.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Other host, Melissa McCarthy.

[Ben Falcone]

I call her Melissa McClatchkin sometimes. Steve Mallory's not here. He was doing a fancy guest speaking engagement in Seattle, Washington.

[Glenn Close]

Wow.

[Ben Falcone]

If you must know. And he was doing a talk, I guess you'd call it, about comedy writing. And it was called Write a Comedy, Save the World.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I agree with that.

[Ben Falcone]

But he's not here, and so we're gonna. We'll be better without him. And where. Aren't we just the luckiest geese in the gander?

[Melissa McCarthy]

Sure.

[Ben Falcone]

Aren't we the luckiest geese in the gander? Because today we have the one and only Glenn Close. Welcome, Glenn.

[Glenn Close]

Ah, thank you.

[Ben Falcone]

I mean, I mean, we've been talking about containers and what. How they feel and what they do.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Mayonnaise.

[Glenn Close]

Mayonnaise.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Big, big, big dust up in the other room about. There's not enough. Well, we ordered BLTs, guys. Well, Glenn did.

[Ben Falcone]

And then we all just played Glommed On.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Glommed on. We all literally were like, well, Glenn's having a blt. That's gotta be the sandwich to go with. And then we all found them just a whisper dry. And then we didn't have mayo.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, it's almost a crime.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I mean, I feel like I really like Glenn Downey.

[Glenn Close]

And you've also bought my shoes already. I know.

[Ben Falcone]

That's another thing that McCarthy did.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I could have just Done it and not told you. But I was like, oh, my God, what shoes are you wearing? Then I took it off her foot, aggressively looked at the label, immediately bought them. And then instead of keeping it to myself, I was like, glenn, I single white female Jew. And I just ordered your shoes. Like a real creeper.

[Glenn Close]

But I like the ones you ordered.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I have.

[Glenn Close]

I think I'm gonna get a pair like them myself. Twinsies.

[Melissa McCarthy]

If my plan goes right, no one will be able to tell us apart.

[Ben Falcone]

Boy, you know, I want to watch that.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I'd be so happy with that.

[Ben Falcone]

Oh, I need to watch that movie again. It was a good movie, right?

[Melissa McCarthy]

What?

[Ben Falcone]

Single White female? What you're talking about?

[Melissa McCarthy]

I was thinking twins, and I was like, oh, maybe we should play twins. And just never acknowledge that we don't.

[Ben Falcone]

Look exactly like Schwarzenegger and DeVito.

[Glenn Close]

So we dress alike.

[Ben Falcone]

Oh, I kind of love it. Okay, we're gonna work on that.

[Glenn Close]

Actually.

[Ben Falcone]

We'Re gonna start with some softball questions before we just really eviscerate everyone. Okay, try. We usually start with where we all met. And I'm. Here's one, because I'm actually gonna put it to YouTube. Because the first time that I remember you, Glenn, was at the Palmer Hotel. I think that's what it's called in Palm Springs. There was, like, some kind of a. I'm sure it was awards season. I had just gotten a directory thing, that director to watch right before Variety slammed Tammy, the very movie that I got. But then I remember as we're walking out, and there were, you know, tons of neat people. But then I remember Melissa was just talking to you. And I remember thinking like, melissa is talking to Glenn fucking close. This is so cool. It's true.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And I was sitting there, and in my head, as I was talking to Glenn, I was saying, holy shit, I'm talking to Glenn fucking close.

[Ben Falcone]

Right? But. But. So you two had met before then or around then. Do you remember your meeting place?

[Glenn Close]

No.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Trying to think of the first. I feel like it was an awardsy something or other that. Where we would have met.

[Ben Falcone]

Because you were. You were at the.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I know I met you and your. I. You. And I think you were with Annie when I first met you.

[Ben Falcone]

Annie Mumelo.

[Melissa McCarthy]

No, Annie.

[Ben Falcone]

Daughter.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Any daughter. Her daughter, I believe.

[Glenn Close]

Oh, you know what? I think you're right.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And I think you were like, you should, because I'm chewing on your foot if you're in heels.

[Glenn Close]

She was. She was living out here and wanted to come and stay at that hotel and have a Massage.

[Ben Falcone]

Ooh, that was a good hotel.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Well, well played, Annie.

[Ben Falcone]

Okay, so here. Here are some of the questions I think that our myriad of listeners would. Would love to hear. When. When did you know, Glenn, you know, you've got all these. The. I'm not going to go through all the awards and all the things because it's just so much accomplishment. When do you know? When did you know that you wanted to act? Was it, like, really early? For me, I think I was, like, 14, and I knew I wanted to do, quote, unquote, comedy. Yeah. But did you have a moment or was it just.

[Glenn Close]

No, it was. I think it was much earlier than that for me, I think as a kid, I loved the Disney movies, the great, you know, Snow White and Cinderella, and I love fairy tales. And I was very, very shy.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Were you really?

[Glenn Close]

Really? No, I'm a true introvert. And, you know, and I've come to terms with that. Very, very shy. But I read early, and I just. I think my imagination. I always lived very much in my head. And we were lucky enough to grow up until I was seven on this wonderful piece of property that my grandfather owned. And we were just like, you know, we'd run out all day long. I mean, it was, you know, it was like, let's pretend. Let's pretend this, let's pretend that. And I was part of a gang of four. My sister, of course, was the leader. Billy and Dougie Wagner and me. And, yeah, I just. I. Was it rural?

[Melissa McCarthy]

Were you out in the country somewhere?

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, I mean, back country, Connecticut, Greenwich. You say Greenwich. Everybody goes, oh, I learned not to say where I was from.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah, it gives a different connotation, but, yeah, you think.

[Glenn Close]

They think you're, you know, you have.

[Melissa McCarthy]

A sweater tied around your. Around your shoulders and a polo shirt on at all. Like you came out of the womb wearing that.

[Glenn Close]

But my parents were real black sheep, so we could have been in Iowa.

[Melissa McCarthy]

When you. When you watch those fairy tales as a kid, did you gravitate? Which part did you gravitate toward? Or were you just looking for the overall story of it? Or were you like, ooh, I like the princess or I like the villain?

[Glenn Close]

Well, Snow White, I thought she was the prettiest. My Ms. Wilson was second grade. Looked like. I thought she looked like Snow White. Pretty good. Yeah, that's good, I think. And then I kind of pretend when you were pretending, you always were like the poor little Match Girl, you know, it's like that, and you pretend it was always. I remember lying in my bed and pretending I was dying and wow. And what my family. What each ones in my family would say over my. At what age are we talking about Psychiatrist?

[Melissa McCarthy]

That's the second half. We bring in a doctor to just work through some of these.

[Ben Falcone]

Well, I contemplated death a lot. So if Glenn's going down, I'm going down on this ship.

[Glenn Close]

But we also. It was. I mean, TV was black and white. Right. And we only could watch TV on Saturdays. There was the Big Top Circus, the Farmer Gray cartoons. And I remember the theme to the movie.

[Ben Falcone]

Yes.

[Glenn Close]

You know, but we had puppets. We had a whole thing of those stife puppets. And we would just make up stuff.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, my God, that's amazing.

[Glenn Close]

It was great. So our imaginations were fed.

[Melissa McCarthy]

We had to come up with them.

[Glenn Close]

And I also remember sitting on a sofa and my feet didn't reach the edge and I pretended that I was reading a grown up book. I'd sit there and I'd turn the page and go. And I turn.

[Melissa McCarthy]

In my head, I'm like, I hope that book's like upside down. But you're like, oh, this is a particularly good paragraph. Gobbledygook, gobbledygook.

[Ben Falcone]

So at some point you then went to William and Mary College. Right. So it's somewhere between watching Snow White and I love Haley Mills.

[Glenn Close]

Remember Haley Mills? Loved her.

[Ben Falcone]

So you went to William and you studied theater. Acting. Okay. Which I just looked it up. It's an insanely hard school to get into now. I don't know if it was that fabulous school. Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

It's a state school.

[Ben Falcone]

Is it?

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah. Oh, it is.

[Glenn Close]

It's a state school. I don't know what the tuition is now, but when I was there, I. And I was out of state, I paid $5,000.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Wow.

[Glenn Close]

I think that's right. A semester. But it's a fantastic school. And when I went there, there was a triumvirate of professors at the theater department and they had a beautiful theater. Phi Beta Kappa Hall. Phi Beta Kappa started at William and Mary. I think Thomas Jefferson started it. Wow. But anyway, and Howard Scammon became my mentor. He was the. My major, my mentor.

[Ben Falcone]

Is he the one who came and saw your show on Broadway?

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Ben Falcone]

Which I think is so sweet.

[Glenn Close]

Everyone.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Everyone.

[Glenn Close]

And he would give me notes, and.

[Ben Falcone]

I bet they were pretty solid, really good notes.

[Glenn Close]

And he said, they're two things, he said. Well, he came up to me once, I think it was my senior year. He said, just remember, you're a very big fish in a very small pond.

[Melissa McCarthy]

After the Show. Oh, my gosh. Is that your.

[Glenn Close]

No, this is. Was when I was at college and I'd been doing shows, you know, kind of. And people, you know, knew my work and stuff and let you know, to.

[Ben Falcone]

Kind of respect New York respect.

[Glenn Close]

So when I went to New York, I was a very little fish in.

[Melissa McCarthy]

A very big pond. Hi, I'm Emily Deschanel.

[Sam Bee]

And I'm Carla Gallo. And we're here to bring you Boneheads.

[Melissa McCarthy]

The official Bones rewatch podcast.

[Sam Bee]

That's right. We're watching all the episodes of Bones, starting with episode one, and we are the right people to do it.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I play Dr. Temperance Brednnan and I met Carla 16 years ago on set.

[Sam Bee]

I played Daisy Wick.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Tune in every Wednesday to hear all our behind the scenes stories, conversations with cast and crew, and our favorite moments.

[Sam Bee]

Boneheads from Lemonada Media is out wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ronald Young Jr.]

DC versus Marvel, Android versus iPhone, John Williams versus Hans Zimmer. You may have had these pop culture debates with your friends, but I know you didn't have me weighing in with a verd. I'm Ronald Young Jr. And as the host of Pop Culture Debate Club, I'm here to listen to the arguments, ask some questions, and ultimately pick a winner. Listen to Pop Culture Debate Club wherever you get your podcasts from Lemonada Media and the BBC.

[Melissa McCarthy]

What was your first professional show like on.

[Glenn Close]

I was hired as an understudy for at the Phoenix Theater Company and they were doing three shows on Broadway, one after the other, and I was hired to be an understudy for all three shows. For all three shows.

[Ben Falcone]

Oh, you had to learn three shows at the same time?

[Glenn Close]

Three part? No, not at the same time. They weren't rotating. It was one and then the other, so. And my first job was understudying Mary Yore, who was the female lead in Congreve's Love for Love, an 18th century comedy. And she was married at the time to Robert. Robert? Robert who played the Captain and Jaws Robert?

[Melissa McCarthy]

No.

[Ben Falcone]

Captain and Jaws Robert. Not Robert Evans?

[Glenn Close]

No, it is Robert and he played. Oh, he played King Henry VIII in Man for All Seasons.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, I. I see him.

[Ben Falcone]

I know exactly.

[Melissa McCarthy]

He's an amazing actor.

[Glenn Close]

Robert Shaw.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Robert Shaw.

[Ben Falcone]

Thank you so much.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Thank you.

[Ben Falcone]

I was stuck on Evans.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Different Robert.

[Ben Falcone]

That's just a very different Robert. The kid stays in the picture Versus, you know.

[Glenn Close]

And I understudied Mary Beth Hurd, who was brilliant. Thank God I never had to go on for her.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Did you go on in your first understudy well, it's.

[Glenn Close]

Was very dramatic. We had gone out of town to Philadelphia, Betty Anaheim there. And we, you know, put the show on its. On its feet. And Hal Prince was the director. Oh, and Mary Hewer was having problems. She was having problems remembering her lines. She was. Seemed incredibly nervous. She was just not in good shape. And we got through that, came back to New York, and I think we'd done maybe three previews at the old Helen Hayes Theater. Wow.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Wow.

[Glenn Close]

And I went in. I went in on a Saturday afternoon to get ready for the matinee. And Hal was at the door, at the stage door, and he said, glenn, come. Come with me. And he took me out onto the stage and he said, I. We all. You know, I'm. During this performance, I'm gonna decide whether I'm gonna let Ms. York go or not. If I do, I want you to go on tonight.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Holy.

[Glenn Close]

Can you do it? Now, the thing is, I hadn't had an understudy rehearsal, but somehow, in my green kind of, you know, passion to just get up there. Because as an actor, people only know what you can do when you actually are doing it for sure. And that's, you know, the conundrum when you first start, how can I get a job so people can know what I do? So I would sit in the back of the theater just. And I'd watch everything. It was a really wonderful way to start because I saw how some actors connected with the how and some didn't. I saw that he got very impatient. If you just said, I don't like this. I don't feel right that with an actor, with a director like that, you don't say, just, I'm not comfortable with this moment. You say, I would like to try three things, which is better.

[Melissa McCarthy]

That's a massive lesson to learn early on. Don't just say, can I try this?

[Glenn Close]

And I remember seeing Mary Beth, who was brilliant. She got a Tony nomination for it. And subtly funny, she did the most funny things with her fan. But Hal was directing her, and she said, I didn't want to do that. Like what? Who says that to Halperin? So Hal said, okay, what would you like to do? And Mary Beth told me later that she realized all of a sudden she was there having to show Hal Prince what she thought should be done at that moment. And everybody stopped work. And, you know, the theater was silent.

[Ben Falcone]

Needle drop, needle drop.

[Glenn Close]

And she did it. And of course, she was brilliant. He said, okay, yeah. You know, and it. Oh, my God. And I saw Mary not connecting. I Mean, just that one point. I think she was going through other things that made her life difficult. But anyway, it was. He said, okay, so I'll make the decision after the show. I want you to go up to your dressing room, which is fourth floor, Garrett dressing room.

[Ben Falcone]

Okay.

[Glenn Close]

I was Jenny the maid. And wait. And if you hear that they want you down in costumes, because we only, all of us only had one costume. That means that Ms. Ewer is gone. And I want you to do the show tonight.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Good God, what a nail biter.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

So you just went up to your dressing room and said.

[Glenn Close]

Went up to my dressing room and I waited. I knew everyone was going out to have dinner, find their dinner. And I heard, well, Ms. Close, please come down to the costume room. And I was put in her costume with her perfume. Her wig was put on my head.

[Ben Falcone]

Wow.

[Glenn Close]

I was ushered to the star dressing room on the stage level, empty. On the wall were all the hooks where she had had pictures of the nine children that they had between us. Between them. I inherited wonderful Eugenia Mills. It was like four foot. A African American woman who had been Lin Fontaine's dresser, but they didn't have dresses and maid, basically. And she said she would hold Lin Fontaine's mirror behind her for hours. And when they went on tour, Eugenia had to go find the black preacher in town to know where she could stay. I mean, it was things like that. Anyway, she was. And I, I, I knew my lines. I never walked through the show. They. They tried to find all the actors and bring them back in time for me to at least walk through the show. I had a big pannier, you know, those big hip things on either side.

[Melissa McCarthy]

To have never, like, rehearsed it with fellow actors, to never actually put it on its feet on the stage is like. Is making me sweaty.

[Glenn Close]

Like, it's sad to sing a little song which I still can remember.

[Melissa McCarthy]

What is the song?

[Glenn Close]

See if I can do it. Would that a woman had fashioned mankind Is that an unmanned his mind Then would the world a utopia be with something and monona, Monona free For if God were a woman. Men and women, rest of my life. Anyway, it was about how the world would be better if God were a woman. Yeah. And I remember I had to sing it. And Hal came down the Highland. He said, I didn't know you could do that because I never auditioned for him.

[Melissa McCarthy]

This is all crazy. He had never even seen you do it. And yet he was like, you're going on. Yeah, like out of a canon now.

[Glenn Close]

The topper to the story. I went on stage, the show didn't have to close. I kept this, you know, I helped keep the show open. I remember my one thing is they're talking so loud, you know, because I hadn't ever had to. It was my first job. I haven't had to stand on a. On a real stage. Well, I'd done it in William and Mary, so, yeah, I knew that. But, you know, the size and also was an 18th century comedy where everything is even larger than large life.

[Ben Falcone]

Right.

[Glenn Close]

So I had to come up, you know, to everyone's level. But the thing that I have carried in my heart my entire career, which is now 50 years, half hour, knock on my door. I'm handed a note. I open it up and the note says, in the English theater, it is tradition for one leading lady to welcome the next into the theater. I welcome you. Be brave and strong, Mary. Your.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, my God.

[Ben Falcone]

Wow.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Do you still have that note?

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, my God.

[Ben Falcone]

Can I have.

[Glenn Close]

Makes me cry every time.

[Melissa McCarthy]

That is the Lord.

[Glenn Close]

Not only did she have the wherewithal, which she died that next January, she had opened in a play. I think she used something to get through it, and she used something to get to sleep. And she choked in her sleep and died. But the fact that she didn't say break a leg or have a great time, but she said, be brave and strong. Oh, my God. That's what acting is to me. I think actors, even bad actors are brave. You know, it takes. And to me, the gift of getting that in the midst of someone else's tragedy, being my.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Good fortune is challenging.

[Glenn Close]

I mean, another cool thing that also is. Is very much what this crazy profession is about. When that show was over, I went back to the fourth floor dressing room. We had two other plays and I had two other place to understudy. So it's like, okay, wow, what a lesson there, right? Okay. Now I have to prove to people that it wasn't just a fluke. But meanwhile, I have, you know, a contract of fulfill.

[Melissa McCarthy]

There's something so amazing about not having it too easy to be challenged like that into such a scary weight, such a scary way to step into the lead unexpectedly and then to immediately go back and be like, I am still in the process of earning.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Where. What? Where you will, you know, eventually get to hopefully. But I think sometimes when I see younger people get things too easily and maybe it's just more of what it would have been to me. I just think, oh, there's so much to learn when you fall Down a lot. Like, I spent years falling on my face, which I think helps so much.

[Glenn Close]

That and the rejection. Overcoming rejection, overcoming reviews, overcoming. You know, you have to be incredibly resilient.

[Ben Falcone]

What I'm getting from your story, too, aside from just getting that you were probably pretty tremendous that you could carry the show as an understudy, and the show kept coming as your first job. As your first job. But what I'm. I think I'm gleaning that you're not hitting as hard as you probably could is how prepared you were. Because I think, you know, I'll once in a while read an article about Ms. McClatchkin over there, and it'll be like her meteoric rise. And I'm like, really? Her meteoric rise at 40, where she was working so hard every day. And so. So what? Like, you weren't, you know, somebody sitting in the back scrolling your phone or whatever, you, you know, not paying attention. You were learning the whole show. You knew it. So you were able to do a good job.

[Glenn Close]

That's true. I was ready, but I. I was ready. I had. And, you know, now, you know, you learn that you don't have understudy rehearsals until after the show opens. And how. How I was ready. I just. I think I was so passionate, you know, to get up there.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Wants to sit and watch and learn. I mean, that's the best lesson. Yeah, you can. To watch really good people not just do an amazing performance, but to get to it, to watch them stumble and fall. It's like that. It's like I was. I. I cleaned toilets and altered pants at the Actors Actor Studio Studio when I was in New York and, you know, 20 clean toilets. I was. I wasn't in school, so I was an intern before I was there when NYU came in to officially join it. But until then, there were a bunch of, you know, that we couldn't really. We weren't in it, but they needed help. So I was an intern there, and I. I cleaned whatever had to be cleaned. I cleaned the bathrooms. I. I could sew, so I would do some of the alterations and stuff. But that was also. I could sit in on those sessions. We'd have to sit up in the. In the highest row. And I was like, great. I don't care where. I. I'll sit on the floor and just watch people work on getting to a good performance. And I thought, this is the greatest thing to watch somebody who I know is really good struggle through. And I sat there and I just. Oh, my God. I sat in every session, I was like, this is priceless.

[Glenn Close]

Watching is really.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

Paying attention. You're lucky to be. I mean, that's why I never stay in my trailer. Very rarely, I'm there watching what other people are doing. You know, I don't see my trailer either.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I find it boring.

[Glenn Close]

It's so boring.

[Ben Falcone]

What do you. We had Octavia on this, and she is your nemesis in our show.

[Melissa McCarthy]

As in life. As is in life. Let's be honest.

[Ben Falcone]

You know, Octavia for on film. On film work. She will come in and she will do. She's there for second team rehearsal. In fact, second. Sometimes the RDP on Thunder Force was like.

[Melissa McCarthy]

He was like, what's happening?

[Ben Falcone]

Could you please? Like, he was like, I love Octavia, but I. I feel like we need to be ready. Because she was like, no, she understands it's second team rehearsal. She just wants to get that extra repetition.

[Glenn Close]

Get that?

[Melissa McCarthy]

And I'm always there early, but she's there even earlier than me. So then we both started showing up, and I think everybody was like, why? Why are they here? But we're like, that way, by the time we're ready to go, we've had. We've had four or five runs on it. We are. We're ready.

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Ben Falcone]

And then they would sit. They both had folding chairs on. On the stage, and they just would kind of do their stuff.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And now the game changer we had. We. I finally got a little. Which is my. Like, all I need for true joy is a little, tiny folding table.

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And Octavia would sit on. We'd each sit on one side of it, just go through our things or chat, and we just look like a couple old bitties.

[Ben Falcone]

In your super suits.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah, in super suits. Now she. How do you prepare? Because talking to her, it's funny. I learned. I've known her 500 years. She said that she prepares for a character, which I'd never. You didn't know this either. She said, I write their history. I don't know where my character is until I know where they've been. Not factual, but she'll. She'll conjure it. And then Alison Janney said that she maps out. She does this whole chart that sometimes is all the way around her trailer of. So you know where you are within the story. But I had never asked my friends, like, how do you prepare for something?

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah. When you're in your trailer, are you. You're learning what other people are doing in the movie that you're.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Or even getting ready to do something?

[Glenn Close]

Like, yeah, I like to see what other people are doing a lot. I. It is, it depends. I've played characters that I was intimidated by that if they were walked into a room, I'd be intimidated. Cruella Maqui de Matoy in Dangerous Liaison. And literally, I think one of the last times I went to Harold Guskin, who I would go to for some coaching every now and then it became just to force myself to say the lines, you know, so I wasn't intimidated by them. And that's just. I think my shyness came out vis a vis the character that I was being asked to play. So it's like getting to know another person. And I know that it takes time. You can't. And also for the words. I mean they're words and they're words. But I'm very aware of what my brain is doing. I'm very aware of short term memory and long term memory. And how you in align for a play is so different from how you learn a line for a movie because you don't have to remember them.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

After the one or two days. Yeah, it can go away. Do you score out stage directions when you're memory lines?

[Melissa McCarthy]

I don't know. I don't do unless there's something really specific I want to do. But usually not actions because I have to wait till I'm on my feet. But I write. I write everything and I write it. I'll be three weeks out and I have notebooks where I just look like I've gone crazy.

[Ben Falcone]

Just the lines over and over.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Because I write them and I write them and I write them. It does. It looks like, you know, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Because there's something about the visual. That's why even if someone comes up and gives me a line, I'm like. And I just have to. I can scribble it on a napkin, but I have to see it for.

[Glenn Close]

My brain to retain the funny. I went through a thing with the hardest dialogue I've ever had to learn was Delicate Balance. Edward Albee.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Really.

[Glenn Close]

Just because the syntax is just not what your brain expects. I found that and everybody. We did adult. Yeah. Really hard to memorize. So to learn the lines, it was repetition, repetition, repetition. And I would go over a speech before I went to bed in my bed, put the script down next to my bed. When I wake up, first thing, you pick it up, you know, thinking that I would put. If I forgot a line there, it would become kind of second nature. So. But you're Absolutely. Married to the dialogue in the script. Then you start, you know, kind of looking away, doing it away, and then you can do it a little bit. A little bit. A little bit. The fascinating thing for that process for me was when you finally have assimilated it and you're brain has adjusted, that neuronal pathway has been, you know, pioneered. When you look back, it's almost like looking at a foreign language. Have you had that?

[Melissa McCarthy]

How did that stay in the.

[Glenn Close]

Honestly, can't go back to the written page. And I think that's a different kind of memory than we do when we have one scene to do on a show or. You know, I do think it works.

[Melissa McCarthy]

A completely different part of your brain in a different way because it's. It's just too much. It's such a massive amount.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, that was. And another crazy thing is that play started with a big dialogue. I mean, a big monologue. Curtain up. And I started a monologue. Yeesh. Again, so. And one performance, John Lithgow was playing my husband. I knew as I was saying the line that I had skipped over a line or two lines. And as I kept saying, saying the dialogue, I was saying, do I need to put these lines back in? Is it a cue for John while you're saying the.

[Ben Falcone]

Yes, absolutely.

[Melissa McCarthy]

It does make you think, how can my brain be in four separate places of watching, looking. I'm aware of what I did, but I'm still talking. That's it.

[Glenn Close]

That's why I think be an actor, certainly a stage actor is the closest you get to insanity without going and saying. Because you have that little voice. That little voice say, no, no, you don't have to, you know, don't. You don't have to say it. Oh, they just laughed. I don't know. Do you want to, you know.

[Ben Falcone]

Totally.

[Glenn Close]

If you lose that voice, where are you?

[Melissa McCarthy]

You're just stone cold bonkers.

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah. Because, you know, doing comedy too, like, you have live, you know, you're playing for a laugh. You're holding for a laugh. So that means automatically you're not just being this character, you're calibrating the character based on what's happening out there. Like, it does make you on the. On the brink of madness.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Which, you know, which is kind of part of. It's. It is the fun of it. I mean, there's something. It's wonderfully fun being an actor, but it is. It's a weird part, don't you think, of, like, being a complete glutton for punishment.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Because you are literally Flagging people down to be like, I'm going to do this publicly. I wonder what you'll think of it. Which is a terrible idea.

[Ben Falcone]

It's just a terrible idea.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And then it is fun to just walk in somebody else's shoes so much. But it does. It does leave you exposed. But have you. Do you get stage fright at all? Being shy? Which I don't think of you as shy, so that's fascinating.

[Glenn Close]

I will. Because it's easier for me to do something on, you know, in a theater with a thousand people than it is to do something. We used to be in front of my parents. I just like. And it has nothing to do with my parents. It's just being. I don't. Yeah. I don't get stage fright because I think of the audience as my total collaborator. I need them. And I'm interested in what our exchange will be for that night. I don't feel like they're my. I remember Mary Beth used to. Because we did. We did garb together. We did a play together. And she used to stand in front of the curtain before it went up. She'd say, I dare you.

[Melissa McCarthy]

That's incredible.

[Glenn Close]

She had terrible stage fright. Terrible stage fright.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Really?

[Glenn Close]

Yeah. But she'd say, I dare you. And. And I, you know.

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah, I get stage fright.

[Glenn Close]

She wants to quit a job because she was so. Really.

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah, rough. Now, McCarthy, I'm going to embarrass you to tell your story about Dangerous Liaisons. This is a. This is going to embarrass you in front of Glenn.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I wonder if I've told you this. I don't think I have the mo. When I'm asked what is the most pivotal, mind bending moment of watching someone perform? And not because you're here, because I've said this before. It's on record somewhere.

[Ben Falcone]

It's on record somewhere.

[Melissa McCarthy]

It is at the end of Dangerous Liaisons when you are there jeering at you and you are sitting there after, you know, and they're just. They're doing all these terrible things. When you flush and it comes through your makeup, I don't want it. Almost like I'm such a door. It almost like chokes me up. I remember gasping and I remember being like, that's not physically possible. It's not physically possible to make your body react because this was very early on. I don't even know if I was acting at this point, but I was like, that's. She's having a physical response. And it literally changed how I thought about acting that you're not just saying it, that you. You have. You are it and you've become it. And you're going through all of the pain. Not just showing pain and emoting. You are physically enduring what the character is. And I just remember I was like, there is no way possible that that happened. And yet I watched it happen, and it, like, truly broke my brain. And it's one of the most remarkable moments I've ever seen anyone do. And it truly, like, changed what it. What it meant to act and actually be. Do the. Prof. Be the. Be the person and not perform. So stick that in your pipe.

[Ben Falcone]

There you go. Stick that and smoke it close.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

Well, I always. I'm sure you've been through situations where a scene has been cut that has actually. It breaks your heart if you. You know, I've. That's happened to me once badly. But I knew that I had that scene where when she hears that he's dead, she wrecks the room and starts tearing her clothes. So I knew her truth. Her reality was she has never loved anybody like she loved him. And to be carrying that reality and that burden of loss, you know, in. And, you know, and keeping the facade, probably that effort was probably what made, you know, the. My face.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

But. Yeah, that's why I think acting for me is 95% imagination.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

You just. You just have to think of the most sometimes mundane things to place yourself in a given moment, you know, what would be in your head or not be in your head, you know?

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

And that is so. I mean, that's just so much fun. It's such a. It's such an exploration, you know, I think we are. We explore the human condition, and I think that's why what we do is so incredibly important. And you just hope that you get the chance to be in stories that can, you know, move people. Because we live by stories. I mean, look, my whole childhood was stories. I was a big reader. You know, I just. It's all stories, and it helps. It forms your character. And, well, it gives hope.

[Melissa McCarthy]

It gives hope, it gives fear, it gives everything. Because there's no limit to what you can imagine or what a story can be. And then it. It. You know, sometimes I worry that there's not that kind of play where you just have to run outside and figure it out, that it's all kind of generated for people now. And I'm like. I mean, I grew up on a farm with no neighbors, so it's like we just had to go outside and make shit up. And it was we did too. It's really good. But I think with stor now it's like we, we need those so much because everything's so kind of. You can find an answer so quick. You can find out the right way. An expert. And I'm like, sometimes you should.

[Glenn Close]

Another thing, I think all the. That, that I think about that a lot because we're in an. Oh, I've read a very, very, very wonderful book by the guy who wrote Sapiens. And it's about, it's about human communication from the cave to AI and one of the things he says is that in the information age, we have come to believe that information, the more you know, the closer you get to truth. Truth and information are totally different. I have that on my totally now different.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And there can be so much information that has nothing to do with if it's the truth or not.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, you can make up an alternate truth if you have enough information. But you know, and it's just. And I think the further we get away from the simple truth, what is right, what is wrong, what is good, what is bad, the further away we get from our humanity and the more we are manipulatable because we don't know who we are anymore.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I agree with that wholeheartedly.

[Ben Falcone]

I'm pretty. I'm pretty easily manipulated, I guess.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And you're just like. And go to sleep. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Hi there, it's Julia Louis Dreyfus. This fall, my podcast Wiser than Me is back for season three with even more wisdom straight from some legendary old ladies. These chickadees have a lot to teach us. Every word is a lesson in living unapologetically and focusing on the stuff that really matters. From Lemonada Media, Wiser than Me, Season 3 out now. Find it wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe to Lemonada Premium in the Apple podcasts app and listen to every episode of season three A.D. free.

[Reshma Saujani]

Hey, I'm Reshma Sajani, founder of Girls who Code and Moms First. I consider myself a pretty successful adult woman. So why is it that in midlife as I'm about to turn 50, I feel so stuck? Join me as I try to find the answer on my so called midlife from Lemonada Media. I talk to experts and extraordinary guests about divorce, exercise, menopause, sex, drugs and more to understand what we're going through and how to make the most of it. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ben Falcone]

What is a pleasant evening for you in Montana? Like, what's it?

[Glenn Close]

What's What.

[Ben Falcone]

What do you like to do? I know, you know, you've got a house somewhere, wherever you do. But, like, what's. What's for fun? Because for people that don't know Montana, what's it like? Is it. I'm assuming it's rural.

[Glenn Close]

Well, there are cities. Okay. Now I'm in it. I'm in a college town.

[Ben Falcone]

Okay.

[Glenn Close]

Which is fantastic. A lot of kids are at.

[Ben Falcone]

I grew up in a college.

[Glenn Close]

A lot of great bars. Sure.

[Ben Falcone]

And I like the energy. A lot of young people.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, a lot of people. A lot of stuff going on at university, which is really fun. That's really great. And like any other growing city, because since. Since COVID people are moving out. It's all about where students can live, you know? Anyway, that's all at the Shoe. But you can get to nature so fast. I mean, I can see. I have a little house in the north end of town. Used to be kind of the poor side of town. And that sounds really horrible, but anyway. Yeah. And so they're little houses with big yards because people had gardens and they still do gardens. And they're even. I don't know. In my neighborhood, there are probably four houses that have chickens. Everybody has gardens. One guy grows his tomatoes on the top of his garage.

[Ben Falcone]

Oh, my gosh.

[Glenn Close]

Garage roof. Yeah. Because he probably gets the best light, you know, from the South. It's long. It's. It's totally. It's very, very, very different from New York or la. And I'm sure the. It is. It will change as more and more people come in. But, you know, hardworking, you know, agricultural base. The valley is vast and incredibly rich in beautiful black soil. So a lot of crops have been grown there over the centuries. It makes my heart literally ache when I see all this housing going up over that soil. And all I think about is that water and all that kind of thing. But for me, an evening. Sometimes I love to get a. You know, either a G and T in the summer or a nice glass of wine. I have rocking chairs on my little porch. And I love sitting on my porch and watching people.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I love a porch rock.

[Ben Falcone]

Me too.

[Glenn Close]

You know, my whole heart. I have this thing about porches. All houses used to have porches because people didn't have air conditioning. And so you had to sit outside on your porch, and it made you part of your community. And when air conditioning came in, people left. And they've been. Anyway, so I love it. I'm like three blocks from the fairgrounds in the summer. I Can hear if there's a rodeo going on. Oh, my gosh. Or, you know, something going on in the fairgrounds. You can walk into town. Or I just like to sit in this big leather chair I have and just have a great book. Or I go across the yard to my sister and plop down on her couch. She has a great chair that she sits in and we watch tv.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, that sounds.

[Ben Falcone]

That sounds amazing.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, I mean, it's great. And on the land that I have outside of town, we built. We have some glamping tents. And I love going out there to sleep because.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Really?

[Glenn Close]

Yes, because a creek goes right by. Like, you feel like you're right at the edge of it, and that's what you hear. And it's to me the most, that's where I get back to, you know, sloughing off whatever crap has grown up in my veins.

[Melissa McCarthy]

How many do you go out there for like, days? Or is it quick trips often?

[Glenn Close]

Usually for overnights. But my. My daughter is a wonderful cook and she can, you know, she can cook. She cooks. She once gave me a birthday party in the snow with a sit down table for like 10 people in the snow. The bar was just this big thing of snow. You just put the.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Close]

Big fireplace. Big, you know, it was so much fun.

[Ben Falcone]

But it's amazing.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah. It's a good life. And it, you know, now, I mean, I. I still have a hunger to work. Do you? You.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Close]

A hunger, A great hunger to work.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I love it. I will never. I will never, ever, ever retire.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah. But I have to say what I love is that then I go home. Then I get to go home.

[Ben Falcone]

And what's the good balance? I'm sorry.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, no, I was just gonna. I think we're gonna ask same thing. Like, when you do go home, are you able to just. Okay. I'm taking this much time off and I'm. I'm just disconnecting from the concept of work. Are you always kind of reading, looking, being tempted?

[Glenn Close]

I very, very rarely talk about my work with my family. Nobody. I mean, why.

[Melissa McCarthy]

But will you read stuff like, are you still like, oh, let me read scripts and stuff? Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

Oh, yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah, I did. I can't pass.

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

McCarthy. But what if it's.

[Glenn Close]

I mean, you.

[Ben Falcone]

You are well known and you know this to be true. That time that she can be a little tricky to deal with is when work stops about. Usually around eight days after. Because it's that time where it's just like, oh, wait, you know, I Had this entire world, you know, create, you know, created in my mind. And you live in that space. You. You introduce yourself to that character. You meet all the other actors. There's so many dynamics happening. The director, directors. And then you come back and you re engage with the family, re engage with the kids. And then like on day eight, you're.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Like, what do I do with them? Like, you literally. I start like refolding sock. Like, one of the girls will come home. And I'm like, you may want to check out that sock drawer. It's color coded. It's. I tried out a new folding technique and they're just like, I don't care how my socks are.

[Ben Falcone]

Closets have been. There's. There's just might be strewn. Strewn throughout the room.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And it's got to get worse before it gets better. So I'm like, that junk drawer got up today. Like, I'm going to sharpen those pencils so they're all the right height. I realize sharpen right now, it's like too much energy has gone out.

[Glenn Close]

I tend to do the opposite. Like, I have arrived home and not unpacked my bags for like a week. I just don't want to deal with it. And I. And I. I get. I feel like I get lazy.

[Melissa McCarthy]

That's. I think that's healthy.

[Ben Falcone]

That's healthy.

[Glenn Close]

I guess. I don't know.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I. Redoing sock drawers isn't healthy. Nobody gives. Nobody cares about it.

[Glenn Close]

But it feels so good when they're organized. I do have a little bit of ocd. I do like to come from an organized place.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Glenn Close]

You know, I like to have an ordered life so you can go nuts in your work. But if it was nuts at home and nuts at work, then you'd be nuts.

[Ben Falcone]

Agree.

[Glenn Close]

Totally.

[Ben Falcone]

Can't have a messy desk if I'm going to write a script. Absolutely can't do it. Well, this has been amazing. McCarthy. Do we have any other things?

[Melissa McCarthy]

Yeah, I just wanted to. What are. I know you're currently in la. What is it? Can you talk about what you're working on?

[Glenn Close]

I'm working on a series for Ryan Murphy called All's Fair and it is about a woman. A women run. Is that the right divorce firm? We're all divorce lawyers and I, I am their kind of matriarch. I. I taught them all or I brought them all. And the main. The three partners are Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash.

[Melissa McCarthy]

That sounds delicious.

[Ben Falcone]

What a fun.

[Melissa McCarthy]

And you. And is it current day Sarah Paulson.

[Glenn Close]

Was also one of my proteges.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Never heard of her.

[Ben Falcone]

Never heard of her. She's.

[Glenn Close]

And so she's in it as well.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Close]

And it's very. How can I describe it? Poppy, juicy, sexy, Dishy. Dishy. I mean, to the edges of everything.

[Melissa McCarthy]

You mean. Not Ryan's usual subtle words.

[Glenn Close]

Right, Right. Okay. Yeah. Which is a new world for me. So it's been. I don't like to repeat myself, and I'm certainly not repeating myself in this. And I'm starting to. Yeah. I like my character.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Okay.

[Glenn Close]

She's different. She's different. So what I like is. It's different. I've never been a part of something like this before, which is exciting for the.

[Melissa McCarthy]

As myself, as an audience member. Like, you've done so much in such an array. So if you say, like, this is totally different, I'm like, ooh, okay, I'm in. I'm in.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Melissa McCarthy]

All right. And that's. Where is that coming out?

[Glenn Close]

I think November. November.

[Ben Falcone]

Well, then November.

[Glenn Close]

And also, I have the. I was in the last Knives out movie.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, God. That's right.

[Glenn Close]

Oh, my God. And it was so much fun. Ryan Johnson, I worship and what?

[Ben Falcone]

I want to meet him so bad.

[Glenn Close]

What?

[Melissa McCarthy]

And that's his wife's podcast, right?

[Ben Falcone]

Yeah, yeah. Karina.

[Glenn Close]

Karina.

[Melissa McCarthy]

What a talented duo.

[Glenn Close]

Yeah, yeah, she's real. Well, she's fabulous. I had dinner with him the other day, and she's gonna. I'm sure she's going to go up to the east, you know, east to the Eastman, learn how to film preservation.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Oh, wow. Really?

[Glenn Close]

Yeah.

[Ben Falcone]

Oh, God. And I'm like, I'll probably get, like, you know, like, some crab cakes tomorrow.

[Melissa McCarthy]

I know people are fixing. People are doing great things, and I'm like, do we have a reservation tonight? I'm garbage. I'm folding socks and wondering, like, what am I going to eat tonight?

[Ben Falcone]

Well, so we just want to remind all of our wonderful listeners that we're garbage. Glenn Close is not. She's wonderful. Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

[Melissa McCarthy]

Thank you.

[Glenn Close]

I love you guys. Thank you. We love you too.

[Kate Bowler]

Want more from your favorite Lemonada Media podcast? While supporting the shows that help make life suck less, subscribe to Lemonada Premium today. As a subscriber, you'll unlock exclusive bonus content. Like never before heard interviews, behind the scenes moments, bonus episodes, and so much more. It's easy to sign up no matter what podcast app you use on Apple. You can just click the Lemonada logo in the Apple podcast app and hit subscribe for all other podcast apps, head to Lemonada supportingcast FM to subscribe. That's lemonada supportingcast fm.

[J]

People love to pretend that there are simple formulas for living your best life. Now eat this and you won't get sick. Manifest it and everything will work out. But there are some things you can choose and some things you can't. And it's okay that life isn't always getting better. I'm Kate Bowler, and on Everything Happens I speak with kind, smart, funny people about life as it really is. Beautiful, terrible, and everything in between. Let's be human together. Everything Happens is available wherever you get your podcasts.