Glenn Close Gets Razzie And Oscar Nomination For ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Role

Glenn Close received an Oscar nomination for her role in “Hillbilly Elegy,” while also garnering a nomination for a Golden Raspberry (Razzie) award for the same role.

Razzies are notoriously known as the film awards that people are given for a bad performance, rather than honored for the best. Close was nominated for a “worst supporting actress” Razzie award alongside Lucy Hale and Maggie Q in Fantasy Island, Kristen Wiig in Wonder Woman 1984 and Maddie Ziegler in Music. As for the Academy Awards, Close received a “best actress in a supporting role” nomination next to Maria Bakalova in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Olivia Colman in The Father, Amanda Seyfried in Mank and Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari.

The double-nomination might not come as a surprise for those who followed the release of the film. Critics widely condemned Ron Howard’s adaptation of J.D. Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” that was released in 2016. The book tells the story of Vance’s own journey growing up amidst poverty and drug addiction in Appalachia to go on to become a Yale Law School graduate. The book was seen as an insight into the parts of the country that may have felt forgotten by coastal elites.

In the film, Close plays the role of Bonnie “Mamaw” Vance, who helps the young J.D. overcome obstacles and teaches him how to work hard in order to improve his life situation. The character was seen by some as an embodiment of the white, working class in America.

On the film ratings site, Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received a 25% from critical reviews but holds an 85% approval from audience members. On the site, critics described the movie as “the most laughable movie of 2020,” “objectively terrible,” and accused it of “feeding stereotypes.” One critic even said it “should be a eulogy for Howard’s career.”

The New York Times’ review of the film said that the movie is “too tasteful, too sensitive for its own good, studiously unwilling to be as wild or provocative as its characters,” adding that the moral of the film’s story “is that success in America means growing up to be less interesting than your parents or grandparents.” Mentioning Mamaw’s character, the review concludes, “The best thing I can say about this movie is also the most damning, given Mamaw’s proud indifference to anyone’s good opinion of her. It’s respectable.”

Vance, who was involved with the making of the adaption, was not surprised by the negative reviews of the film, citing politics as the reason that many Hollywood insiders panned it.

“A lot of people don’t like me personally, my politics and things I’ve said publicly,” Vance told The Daily Wire. “That reverberated onto the movie a little bit, even though the movie is a different animal … it cuts out a lot of the socio-political commentary.”

While actors have been nominated for an Oscar and Razzie in the same year, they have never had the nomination for the same role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “In 2010, Sandra Bullock won the best actress Academy Award for her role in The Blind Side, and also received two Razzies for other films.”

Close has been nominated for an Academy Award eight times but has never received a win.