September 5, 2011, 5:00 PM ET
Why Oscar Voters Love Gender-Bending Roles
By Alexis L. Loinaz
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/09/05/does-the-academy-favor-gender-bending-roles/For Glenn Close, the coming fall season is going to be a real drag—and that's a good thing. The acclaimed actress is set to storm theaters with "Albert Nobbs," a passion project in which she plays a woman masquerading as a male waiter in 19th-century Ireland in order to land a job.
It's a performance that's already generating buzz for Close, who played the role in a 1982 Off-Broadway play and won an Obie award for it. Thirty years later, the Emmy- and Tony-winning actress is no doubt hoping her big-screen turn in "Nobbs," which recently screened at the Telluride Film Festival and which she also co-wrote and produced, will nab the one award that has eluded her: an Oscar.
