Glenn Close dishes on possibly playing Cruella de Vil again, making a jazz album and, yes, “Da Butt”
Emma Stone may be taking on the role of Cruella de Vil, but that doesn’t mean Glenn Close (1) is done playing the Disney villain. “I have a great story to make another Cruella with my Cruella,” Close tells me. She’s tightlipped about details but teases, “Cruella comes to New York and disappears down the sewers.” Close is currently promoting “Transformation: Personal Stories of Change, Acceptance, and Evolution,” a collaborative jazz album with reedist Ted Nash. Close curated and voiced some of the literary source material for the project’s spoken word performances, while Nash composed the music. “I used to be intimidated by jazz,” Close says. “Now I feel it is an absolute expression of what it means to be a human being.” And yes, she wouldn’t mind some more “Da Butt” in her life. Following the viral twerking of her self-described “sparkly rump” at the Oscars, Closes says, “I want to do a music video, but you have to be over 70 to be in it. It’s everyone over 70 just fucking rocking it with da butts.”
Monica Lewinsky is not a producer in name only on “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” Ryan Murphy’s (2) upcoming series about President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. “She’s involved with every script, gives a lot of insights and thoughts,” Murphy told me at the “Pose” premiere (see page 24). He added, “The great thing about the story that we’re telling is it’s Monica’s story, which I think needs to be told. Just like [in ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’] we showed Marcia Clark in a different way, that’s what we’re doing with Monica.”
It’s been about eight years since Michael B. Jordan (3) auditioned for J.J. Abrams for “Star Wars: Episode VII.” “I think that was probably my worst audition to date,” the “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” star tells me on the “Just for Variety” podcast. He explained, “I think it was I couldn’t wrap my brain around some of the sides because you know when you’re reading for these high-level projects, there’s never really any specificity in the sides. Everything’s like super vague; everything is in secret. Reading through, I just couldn’t connect it. I definitely bombed that one for sure.”
Speaking of bad auditions, Scott Eastwood (4) says he blew his chance to play Edward in the “Twilight” franchise. “I remember thinking, ‘This is stupid! I don’t even know why I am on this audition. This is such a YA movie,’” Eastwood says while promoting his new movie, “Wrath of Man.” “I don’t think I really tried all that hard, and it was just like I’m going to just do it and go through the motions. Then the movie turns into seven movies and Robert Pattinson has made a quadrillion dollars.” Eastwood adds, laughing, “Then I was thinking, ‘Ya may have wanted to try maybe just a little bit.’”
J Balvin (5) is ready for his close-up. As the Colombian singer’s documentary “The Boy From Medellín” is set to premiere May 7 on Amazon Prime Video, he’s looking to dip into acting. “If you’re a good artist, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good actor,” he told me at the Vax Live concert (see page 25). “You have to respect different arts and see if you are capable of doing it right.” Even so, he has a role in mind: “I’ll be a good bad boy.”