Wednesday, November 27, 1996
Glenn Close, famous for her chilling film portrayals, stars as
the deliciously devilish Cruella DeVil in Disney’s "101
Dalmatians."
Taking on what might be the nastiest role of her career, Glenn
Close describes her experiences as Cruella DeVil in the remake of
the classic Disney cartoon, ‘101 Dalmatians.’By Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
hen films are remade, actors are often intimidated by the
prospect of competing with a legendary performance. Even when the
actor is a brilliant performer and the original film is a cartoon,
the process is still daunting.
In the case of Glenn Close and the remake of Disney’s "101
Dalmatians" into a live action feature film, there was enormous
pressure to get the performance of Cruella DeVil just right.
Close’s role, described by Movieline magazine as "the biggest bitch
in motion picture history," led Close to exhaustive research. The
actress did everything in her power to make the new DeVil as
deliciously devilish as the old.
"In the beginning I was very intimidated," Close says. "I have
great respect for the original. In fact I lifted a lot of the
dialogue from the original and used it in the movie because she’s
really mean in the original. In John Hughes’s first version (of the
script for "Dalmatians"), she wasn’t that mean. I really liked what
the original character said, so if you notice, there are a lot of
lines that I stole."
Close used more than plagiarism to create a DeVil for the ’90s
without straying from the original. Sitting back with a
shortly-cropped head of hair and a relaxed smile, the actress,
famous for chilling performances in films like "Fatal Attraction"
and "Dangerous Liaisons," knows full well that she was the first
choice for the role of DeVil. It is clear, however, that she still
put in tremendous effort, despite her valued status, as Close
recounts the many hoops she jumped through in order to find the
perfect DeVil.
The first struggle with the role was deciding how far to take
it. There were questions as to how outlandish Close’s character
should get.
"I didn’t want to do something really, really campy," Close
says. "She’s definitely larger than life, and she does happen to be
the devil, but I could have gone a lot further."
Although Close could have pushed her performance further,
"Dalmatians" co-star Jeff Daniels was impressed by just how
outrageous Close got.
"Just watching Glenn come in and go for it was enjoyable,"
Daniels recalls. "Having done ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ when you’re really
out there, it was nice to see somebody else out there."
But even more impressive than acting outrageously, Daniels
admired his co-star’s believability.
"I thought she was so big and broad and believable," Daniels
says. "Those guys who go for (characters that are) big and broad
and are still believable  it’s really hard to do and I admire
those guys who do it. I was so thrilled that she went for it. I was
blown away."
But a lot goes into making a performance that can blow people
away. Her appearance, especially, was an important way to amplify
the demonic virtue in Cruella’s nature. Close and a team of make-up
and costume designers went through a wild pursuit for the right
look for DeVil.
"We collaborated starting in September for something we started
shooting in January," Close recalls "It took a long time to come up
with the look of the face. We experimented a lot because we were
starting out with a cartoon character. We ran the gamut. We started
out scary, because I didn’t know if we should go the direction of
the Joker in ‘Batman.’ But then it came back to refining. Basically
you have a very glamorous woman who’s distorted by her soul, by her
character, rather than some mask that you apply onto her."
Although nothing synthetic was applied to Close’s face, her body
was wrapped in seriously constricting costumes and corsets. She
found her wardrobe so painful to wear that she forced herself to
shed pounds from her already slender build.
"I’ve had a lot of experience in period costumes with corsets,"
Close says. "With corsets, the thinner you are, the more
comfortable you are. It’s as simple as that. When I had costume
fittings for this, I couldn’t keep the corset on for more than 15,
20 minutes and that was very worrisome. The costume needs a very
exaggerated shape, which means you had to be very restricted, and I
just wanted to be as comfortable as possible because you can’t
interrupt filming every 20 minutes to take off your corset."
Even with the weight loss, Close was still uncomfortable in
costume. It kept her from visiting the set of Kenneth Branagh’s
"Hamlet," which happened to be filming in London at the same time
as "101 Dalmatians." But in spite of the fact that Cruella’s
clothes kept Close from even sitting down, she forced herself to
make an appearance on the neighboring set when Robin Williams, who
has a small part in the film, came around for the day.
"My costumes were so bizarre, and so I honestly couldn’t go onto
a set looking the way I did," Close says. "But I went to one of
their rehearsals and I stopped in when Robin Williams was there. I
went in full Cruella drag to surprise him and that was fun."
While Close had fun visiting the set of "Hamlet," things were
not quite so cheery on the set of "Dalmatians." Busy trying to act
as horrifying as possible, Close had to endure the sadness of
putting sweet Dalmatian puppies into a frenzied state of
terror.
"I only had two scenes with the dogs, but it was terrible," says
Close. "I hated it because they were terrified, especially in the
scene where I come to buy the puppies. I came up to them and Little
Perdy ran off the set three times. She was very frightened by my
aura."
Close’s aura has inspired a lot of fear in audiences throughout
her career. In her most recent acting endeavor as Norma Desmond in
"Sunset Boulevard," she pulls off yet another intelligent,
determined and seriously psychotic character. But Close insists
that each of these strong women she plays are not at all
similar.
"I don’t think Norma has anything to do with Cruella, except
Norma had three-and-a-half-inch heels and Cruella has
four-and-a-half-inch heels," Close jokes. "I really fall in love
with all these characters. In the process of creating them, you get
great empathy for them. If you go into it thinking, ‘I’m going to
play a monster,’ I think that means you’ve distanced yourself."
And it is obvious that Close is not one to distance herself from
anything. As she works on her latest project, tentatively titled
"Air Force One," Close finds herself in yet another strong female
lead role. She seems resigned to the fact that Hollywood has
type-cast her as the epitome of a strong woman.
"In ‘Air Force One’ I play the Vice President of the United
States," Close announces, then smiles and adds, "in
four-and-a-half-inch heels."
FILM: "101 Dalmatians" will open in theaters today.
Walt Disney Pictures
Director Stephen Herek prepares to shoot a scene with Glenn
Close on the set of "101 Dalmatians."