The medieval city has become one of the
globe-trotting actress' favorite destinations.
Getting
Glenn Close to discuss
Budapest gives some insight into the
total immersion she invests in her wildly varied film roles. On the
day of our interview, she is in New York, surrounded by notes,
diaries, and travel books, prepared to spend all day, if necessary,
to reveal to our readers the wonders of the Hungarian capital on
the banks of the Danube.
"It's a deeply beautiful city," she says of the place she first
fell in love with while filming the movie
Meeting Venus in
1991. The five-time
Oscar nominee recently returned to Budapest to
shoot
The Lion in Winter, which airs this month on Showtime.
(She also stars with
Nicole Kidman and
Bette Midler in next month's
highly anticipated
The Stepford Wives.)
Close came to Budapest from an exotic upbringing that involved day
schools in
Switzerland and
Connecticut, while her father, a
physician, ran medical clinics in the
Congo. After graduating from
William and
Mary, she moved to Broadway, reigning in role after
role until she turned 35 and landed her first film,
The World
According to Garp, opposite
Robin Williams. From there, she
starred in a string of hits, including
The Big Chill, Fatal
Attraction, and
Dangerous Liaisons, while simultaneously
starring onstage (notably as Norma Desmond in
Sunset
Boulevard ) and television (she won an
Emmy for NBC's
Serving in Silence). Here, the actress talks about her
latest roles and the city that remains one of her favorite
backdrops.