Legendary actor Glenn Close says she was nervous meeting new Knives Out cast: TIFF talk

Acclaimed actor Glenn Close said she was nervous when she first met the cast of the latest Knives Out murder mystery.

Close and Knives Out director Rian Johnson sat down for a Toronto Film Festival DIALOGUES session, Murder Mysteries Reawakened: A Knives Out Conversation, on Sunday. Close is an eight-time Academy Award nominee, three-time Emmy winner, and three-time Tony winner.

Close stars as Martha in the third Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which premiered at TIFF on Saturday.

This latest in the series stars Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, Josh Brolin as an abrasive priest, Josh O’Connor as a younger cleric, plus Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Jeremy Renner and Mila Kunis.

For some of the actors, it was the first time working together.

“All of us were nervous because you had this incredible company of actors,” Close said. “You come to a company of actors and you have to trust them, because you have to go to many different emotional places with them, and you can’t do that without trust.”

Knives Out director Rian Johnson and actor Glenn Close speak at TIFF.

Close described her character, Martha, as a servant of the church.

“She’s very disciplined,” Close said. “She is the one who would dust and would rearrange the flowers and steam his vestments, and make sure that the cloth on the altar doesn’t have a crease in it.”

As with any role, Close examined the character’s motivation.

“Why does she do that? Because there’s always a reason, and it usually brings you back to what makes that person human,” Close said. “And I think when you can find where the humanity in that character is, that’s what really resonates in an audience.”

Close said she tries to not judge a character, which can be a challenge, particularly with one of her most iconic roles, as jilted lover Alex Forrest in the 1987 thriller, Fatal Attraction.

“…that was a character that was judged by the world,” Close said.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has several more showings at TIFF, including on Sept. 10, 11, 12 and 13. See more here.

Lead photo: Netflix screenshot