The legendary star has confounded expectations and conventions ever since she burst into instant stardom at the late age of 40 in Fatal Attraction, back in 1987. Thirty years later, she is still headlining movies and receiving yet another round of award nominations. After blazing with a dangerous sexuality in Fatal Attraction which threatened the sexual and social boundaries of that era, her new film opens with a sex scene. It remains surprisingly shocking, since both stars are 71. Close proudly declares that she feels completely sexual and “eager” in her eighth decade.
Close said: “It’s one of the great myths that you lose your sexuality as you get older. I feel as free and as creative, as sexual and as eager as I ever have.
“It’s one of those ironies, I suppose, that we sometimes start feeling comfortable in our own skin only late in our lives, but hopefully with enough time to benefit from it.”
It is also a mark of changing times that her star-making role portrayed a strong woman as a deranged maneater, where her latest role is far more nuanced but still addresses the complicated balances between men and women in any relationship.
Close is going into the 2019 Oscars as the favourite for Best actress, ahead of Olvia Coleman and Lady Gaga.
She has already won the Golden Globe Best Actress (drama) while Coleman took Best Actress (comedy and musical), and tied with Lady Gaga at the Critics Choice Awards.
It is her seventh nomination. Her portrayal of a long-suffering wife who sacrificed her own career and allowed her husband to take credit for her work has been universally praised, but there is also a sense that it is her time.
Even so, along with embracing her age and sexuality, the actress says she is also at peace with however the Academy Awards ceremony goes on February 24.
She said: “I’ve survived all this time just being at the party, and I’ve loved it. Most people sweat over whether they’ll actually win, but I’ve never felt that.
“I think I’ll be incredibly nervous when they open the envelope, but only because so many people will be disappointed if I don’t win. A lot of them already think I’ve got an Oscar. If I do lose, I want to look at the camera and reassure everyone: ‘I’m OK.'”