Glenn Close has confessed she had “no idea” how to play a “white woman who lived her life in the black community” in her new film The Deliverance.
Directed by Lee Daniels, the Netflix horror film stars Glenn with Andra Day and Mo’Nique in the story of a family battling a demon in a haunted house.
The Fatal Attraction star plays Alberta, who has a black daughter played by Andra and has “only dated black men” throughout her life, Glenn said.
She shared that when Lee “told me that there are white women like this in every black community, I was intrigued and wanted to do her justice.”
Lee said that “every black person knows a white woman like this, but not every white person knows a white woman like this!” Glenn, 77, recalled People.
Glenn Close has confessed she had “no idea” how to play a “white woman who lived her life in the black community” in her new film The Deliverance (pictured)
She explained that she was delighted to play the role because the “rule I’ve tried to follow” has been to “never repeat myself”, a challenge she accepted “for my own good” because otherwise she would “get bored”.
The Deliverance centers on Andra’s character, Ebony, an alcoholic who begins to fear that her children are possessed.
Her mother, Alberta, a devout Christian, is also an incorrigible tease who enjoys making advances to nurses when she goes in for chemotherapy, which has led her to start modelling a series of extravagant wigs.
Meanwhile, Mo’Nique plays Cynthia, the social worker assigned to Ebony’s case, who could have her children taken away from her and placed in foster care.
The film marks a surprising departure for Mo’Nique, who carried on an explosive public feud with Lee for more than a decade before reconciling.
Glenn described her own character as “a woman who has been abused and I think has become an abuser. She has found God in a very real way and she hopes that her daughter can recover as well.”
Andra has heaped praise on Glenn for her performance: “The way she embodied this character and the way she… watching her, she’s so legendary and she’s been doing this at the highest level for so long.”
She shared that she and Glenn formed a ‘deeper kinship’ with each other while playing characters that clash on screen.
She explained that she was delighted to play the role because the “rule I’ve tried to follow” has been to “never repeat myself.”
Directed by Lee Daniels, the Netflix horror film stars Glenn with Andra Day (right) and Mo’Nique (left) in the story of a family battling a demon in a haunted house.
The film marks a surprising departure for Mo’Nique, who carried on an explosive public feud with Lee for more than a decade before reconciling; the pair are pictured together in August.
“We could do whatever we had to do in the scenes where we’re fighting and there’s so much anger and pain. But we needed that love and we got it.”
Andra explained the dynamic between the characters: “There is a huge tension between mother and daughter in this film, which is basically based on the love they feel for each other. But life has been hard for them.”
Throughout her long and celebrated career, Glenn has been nominated for eight acting Oscars but has never won, a record she holds jointly with Peter O’Toole.
Andra received a best actress Oscar nomination for Lee Daniels’ 2021 film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, but lost to Frances McDormand for Nomadland.
Mo’Nique is the only Oscar winner in the cast of The Deliverance, having taken home the best supporting actress award in 2010 for Lee’s acclaimed drama Precious, the project that started their fierce feud.