Hillbilly Elegy's Glenn Close Becomes Third Actor Nominated for an Oscar and Razzie for the Same Role

There are some film performance that are destined for the Academy Awards, performances that need to be recognized as one of the best of a given year. Then again, there are also some performances that leave you scratching your head, wondering how a such a talented actor could miss the mark by so much, or if perhaps the movie they were in just brought them down. This year, we have a very rare case of both notions being true of the same performance. Legendary actress Glenn Close was nominated for an Academy Award on Monday morning, just days after landing a Razzie nomination for the exact same role.

Close plays Mamaw, the grandmother of author J.D. Vance, in Ron Howard's adaptation of Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy. The Netflix original film has been panned by most critics, earning a measly 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. Given the critical reaction to the film itself, and the slew of meme's featuring Close's character on social media, the Razzie nomination made sense to a lot of people. The Oscar nomination, however, was a bit more surprising.

In the Razzies, Close is up against Lucy Hale (Fantasy Island), Maggie Q (Fantasy Island), Kristen Wiig (Wonder Woman 1984), and Maddie Ziegler (Music) for Worst Supporting Actress. In this year's Academy Awards, Close is facing off against Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Olivia Colman (The Father), Amanda Seyfried (Mank), and Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari).

There have been a few instances over the years where an actor was nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year, but this is just the third time that someone has been given those nominations for the same performance. The first time was in 1982, when James Coco was nominated for Best Supporting actor for his role as Jimmy Perrino in Only When I Laugh, only to get the nod from the Razzies as well. The same thing happened to Amy Irving just two years later, when she was nominated for both an Oscar and a Razzie for her part in Yentl.

There is clearly a divide when it comes to Hillbilly Elegy and the performances of its stars, and it'll be interesting to see if Glenn Close ends up taking home either award this year.