Glenn Close was confused by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Shakespeare in Love Oscar win

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Is Glenn Close throwing a little shade at Gwyneth Paltrow? In a new interview promoting her new film HILLBILLY ELEGY, the Oscar-nominated actress says Gwyneth Paltrow's Academy Award for 1998's SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE "doesn't make sense."

Close was discussing being recognized for her acting work over the years and she went on to say "I honestly feel that to be nominated by your peers is about as good as it gets." It's in her next statement that she seems to notice faults in the award ceremonies and how they're structured which led to the perceived shade at the Paltrow win:

"I've never understood how you could honestly compare performances, you know? I remember the year Gwyneth Paltrow won over that incredible actress who was in Central Station and I thought, 'What?' It doesn't make sense."

The "incredible actress" that Close is referring to is Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro, who won awards from the Berlin International Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, along with others for her work in CENTRAL STATION. That same year, Paltrow was also up against Cate Blanchett for ELIZABETH, Meryl Streep in ONE TRUE THING, and Emily Watson in HILARY AND JACKIE. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE also won Best Picture that year and many still believe it's one of the worst Best Picture winners to date. The huge frontrunner that year was SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but the now-disgraced Harvey Weinstein, who was running Miramax at the time, put a lot of attention into the marketing of the movie and reportedly strong-armed the cast and crew into doing as many interviews as possible to promote the film during its Oscar push. Close also goes on to talk a bit on how who wins is really determined a lot by how much publicity they can get:

"So I think who wins has a lot of things to do with how things have been, you know, whether it has traction or whatever. Publicity, how much money did they have to put it out in front of everybody's sight. I have to be philosophical about it if I was upset about it."

Glenn Close has been nominated for an Academy Award seven times and she yet to win over the course of her very esteemed career. The actress has been nominated for THE WIFE, ALBERT NOBBS, DANGEROUS LIAISONS, FATAL ATTRACTION, THE NATURAL, THE BIG CHILL, and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP. Close goes on to say that "I'm very proud of the times that my peers have felt that my performances were worthy of attention" and she may find herself looking at her eighth possible nomination. HILLBILLY ELEGY isn't really garnering the best reviews but the performances of Close and Amy Adams are being deemed by some as award-worthy. 

Do YOU agree with Glenn Close's assessment on Gwyneth Paltrow's Oscar win for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE?