Amy Madigan Loves Your Aunt Gladys Costumes

Many people dream of the kind of career Amy Madigan has had in Hollywood. She received an Oscar nomination for 1985’s Twice in a Lifetime, costarred in HBO’s cult favorite Carnivàle, and has appeared in box-office classics ranging from Field of Dreams to Gone Baby Gone. Yet nothing has ever caused quite the commotion that her portrayal of Aunt Gladys did. The frightening copper-haired antagonist of Zach Cregger’s Weapons has become a true pop culture sensation, dominating memes, Halloween costumes, and (possibly) your nightmares. Madigan, now 75, had been a fan of Cregger’s horror film Barbarian when she was given the Weapons script to read, and she agreed to meet him for lunch. Little did she know that he was so eager to work with her, he had promised himself he wouldn’t give her the role on the spot. “When he was driving there, he was telling himself, Don't offer her the part. Just go to lunch, and then you'll think about it," she says. He did anyway. It was the right move. Madigan won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress, is nominated for a Golden Globe, and could very well land her second Oscar nod 40 years after her first. “It just happened, I guess the word is ‘organically,’ but stuff like that doesn't happen too often, to me anyway,” says Madigan. “We just took off.”

Your character in Weapons, Aunt Gladys, became an instant icon. She has a very particular look: slightly smeared red lipstick, a messy bob. What was the evolution of her unique appearance?

Aunt Gladys goes out only when she has to. She wears bright colors, and her makeup is a little off. We saw a thousand wigs before we settled on Gladys’s hairstyle. We didn’t want her to be reminiscent of another “scary” antagonist in a film. She is quite striking, and she is fascinating. I found out that people really like Gladys. They want to hang out with her.

Do you think Gladys might come back to the screen in some form?

There's been a lot of talk about it. Zach and I just talked very briefly, and he shot an idea and said he'd been really thinking about it. He said, "Would you be up for doing it?" and I said, "I would love to live in your brain again, if this happens." We'll see, because you know how this business is. Until it's real, it's not real.

What was Halloween like for you? There were so many people dressed as Gladys.

I should have arranged a concession of Gladys wigs. We could have made a dollar on each one. There are tutorials on TikTok about how to do Gladys makeup. So, yeah, it was a good Halloween.

At an earlier point in your life, you posed naked for Playboy.

Well, “naked” is a bit of a misnomer because I was submerged in a bathtub of jelly. I was a musician, and the name of our group was Jelly. Somebody thought, Wouldn’t that be a great idea, and I said, “Sure, I’m up for that!” My father was not thrilled.

You are a big baseball fan.

Yes, I watch every pitch, every foul ball, every error. There is absolutely a correlation between sports and acting. Sports saved my life in grade school. I loved the community of creating something together.

Are you a superstitious person?

I am Irish Catholic, so I do believe in some of those superstitions: Make sure you get the hat the correct way, and all that kind of stuff. There’s one prayer that calms me. It’s like a meditation.

Your phone must be ringing off the hook right now.

No, but I hope, from the business side, that I have refreshed somebody to go, "You know what? She probably could be good in this, couldn't she?" You can hope for that, but, as I say, I'm an ultrarealist about that stuff. So, we'll see.

Your husband, Ed Harris, directed you in Pollock. You played Peggy Guggenheim, the eccentric patron of the arts.

She was a great character. When we’re working together, Ed and I get along very well. If you’re a couple, it’s either really going to work or it’s going to be a shitstorm.

What sign are you?

I’m a quadruple Virgo. I’m an Earth sign. I’m not like, “Let’s go kayaking!” I’m like, “Let’s not do that.” I tried to learn how to scuba dive with my husband, and we went out in the water, and I started flailing my arms. The guide said, “What’s wrong?” I quickly got out, and that was my water thing.

Style Director: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Codirector: Frank Lebon. Director of photography: André Chemetoff. Hair by Jawara for L’Oréal Professional at Art Partner; makeup by Lauren Parsons for Sisley Paris at Art Partner; manicure by Jolene Brodeur for Dazzle Dry at the Wall Group. Set design by David White at Streeters.