Bedford Resident Glenn Close’s Gripping New Film Debuts Tomorrow

​Bedford resident Glenn Close’s new film, The Wife, will be released in theaters tomorrow, August 17. The film adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s 2003 novel stars Close as Joan Castleman and Jonathan Pryce as Joe Castleman. Directed by Sweden’s Björn Runge, the film begins as novelist Joe wins the Nobel Prize for literature.

He and his supportive wife, Joan, take off for Stockholm, where a series of parties and celebrations in Joe’s honor awaits them. Throughout their stay in Stockholm, Joan takes her usual place — in her conceited husband’s shadow. The 1992 setting explains that Joan harbors resentment — and flashbacks to 1958 featuring the young couple (played by Close’s real-life daughter, Annie Starke, and Harry Lloyd) help explain why.

The two met at Smith College while Joan was Joe’s talented writing student. Shy Joan sought to become a writer, but was told that writers need to be read, and during the ‘50s, female writers weren’t read. At the time, Joe is married with a newborn child. His affair with Joan is not his last — his infidelity continues long after his marriage to Joan. However, it is Joe and Joan who, together, share the best-kept secret that they won’t admit to even the most pressing of journalists (played by Christian Slater). Close’s smoldering portrayal of the title character is especially relevant during today’s #MeToo movement.

On July 30, Close visited the newly renovated Bedford Playhouse for a screening of the movie and an exclusive Q&A. The Fatal Attraction star said she was drawn to the role of Joan because of “the challenge of it. I had never been through this emotional territory before.” In her first performance with Pryce, Close explains that with the help of the director, writer, and Pryce, they worked hard to create a complex, authentic marriage in The Wife. With the screenplay written by Jane Anderson, the film is captivating and is said to possibly bring Close her first Oscar.

Before she hit Hollywood, Close lived just outside of Westchester in Greenwich, CT and spent many childhood memories at the Bedford Playhouse. She explains, “This theater is very much a part of my creative life. My imagination was fed in this theater from a very early age and I have a lot of emotional memories of the Bedford Playhouse.”

Read more about Close’s Westchester connection and life in an exclusive interview conducted by Paul Adler in Westchester Magazine’s September issue.