In Glenn Closes’ book, this scene was a must.
The actress, 78, got candid on her choice to strip down in her new movie “The Summer Book.”
The project is a Finnish-English-American co-production, and is adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Tove Jansson.
“It was my idea,” Close told AARP’s Movies for Grownups about the nude scene in the film, adding she “thought that’s something [her character] would do when no one else is around. In Finland, they’re much more used to nakedness than we are.”
One scene shows her character, Grandmother, on a fully naked during a walk in the forest.
Close quipped: “I didn’t want to put my clothes back on. It felt so good.”
The official logline for the project reads, “Nine-year-old Sophia (Emily Matthews) spends the summers at her family’s seasonal home on a tranquil isle in the Gulf of Finland, but this will be the first summer without her mother. Her father (Anders Danielsen Lie) remains numbed by grief while her grandmother (Close) guides her on a giddy, winding path towards young adulthood” in a “delicate account of growing up and growing old.”
While the actress plays a grandmother in the “Summer Book,” she recently became a grandmother in real life, as well.
Close’s daughter, Annie Starke, welcomed her first child, Rory Westaway Albu, with husband Marc Albu this past February.
“I now have a little grandson,” she gushed. “He’s almost seven months old. And I’m very aware of my role as grandmother. I’m very proud of it, and I love spending time with him.”
Close, Starke, 37, and their family all live together on a ranch in Montana.
“One of the reasons we live here is because we can raise [Annie’s son] surrounded by nature,” she confessed. “He’ll know that property like the back of his hand, and he’ll know the changing of the seasons. He’ll know how things grow. He’ll get respect for wildlife, he’ll build his secret places and it will sustain him through life, as my childhood did, my early childhood running around the Connecticut countryside.”
Which is the same reason “The Summer Book,” a film “about the day-to-day, how life goes on,” Close expressed, resonated with her.
Close is no stranger to baring it all on the big screen. She previously went nude in “The Big Chill” in 1983 and “Fatal Attraction” in 1987.
In January, Close revealed how playing Alex Forrest in “Fatal Attraction” allowed her to feel more confident in herself.
“I think it was the first time people realized I could be sexy,” Close said while on “Sunday Sitdown.”
The three-time Emmy winner noted that while the movie was challenging, she enjoys taking on “roles that demand everything, ’cause they’re few and far between.”
Despite having a decades-long career on both the stage and screen, one of Close’s upcoming roles was totally out of her comfort zone.
The star is set to appear in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming legal drama, “All’s Fair.”
“I was curious,” Close admitted to Daily Mail in April about meeting and working with co-star Kim Kardashian. “I couldn’t wait to meet her. I had never done a Ryan Murphy show before, which is a whole other universe, and I think she would be surprised at how I was. I had to find my feet.”
Close refused to give the SKIMS founder, 44, any acting tips, however.
“I would not presume to give Kim Kardashian advice,” Close stated. “I think she’s a very, very brilliant woman. I think she could choose to do anything she wants.”
“Frankly, if she wants to be an actress, that’s one road,” she continued. “But she could be. She’s a great executive. She’s a great businesswoman. She’s a very, very involved mother. She’s getting her law degree. So, I think she has huge potential and that she’s fulfilled already as a woman. And frankly, I will be fascinated to see what she chooses to do.”
Kardashian also inspired Close to “experiment” with her fashion choices.
“I feel I can be myself, and I’m kind of experimenting now,” the Oscar nominee said. “I’m in a phase of life, especially after doing ‘All’s Fair’ and kind of seeing Kim’s different hairstyles every day. I’m thinking I want to do that.”
“So,” Close added, “I’m in a time where I want to find who else I am and work maybe with fashion a little bit more.”
“The Summer Book” hits theaters Friday, Sept. 19.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
