The talented and glamorous actress is almost unrecognizable playing a real life Appalachian grandmother in director Ron Howard's "Hillbilly Elegy." The film is inspired by a true story. Close plays the matriarch of a dysfunctional family.
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"They loved her. She was fierce. She was irreverent. She was, you know, a matriarch in the true sense of the word," Close said. "I felt like it was big Nikes to fill!"
Close said there was something about "Mamaw" that she felt she could unravel.
"I felt that I understood her," said Close. "And so I just asked questions like, 'How did she walk? How did she hold her cigarettes?' Found out that she sometimes smoked two cigarettes at the same time. She smoked cigarettes all the time!"
"Hillbilly Elegy" is based on J.D. Vance's memoir about a young man who leaves his troubled Appalachian home in search of a better future, but gets called back into the fold due to a mother who is battling addiction.
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"I think Mamaw was desperately trying to stop that cycle for her grandson. I think she realized she had made mistakes with her children," said Close.
"Hillbilly Elegy" had a short run in theatres. It is on Netflix now.