Amy Madigan triumphs as horror’s Aunt Gladys, winning her first Oscar 40 years after her last nomination and breaking the genre’s awards curse.
HOLLYWOOD: Amy Madigan has won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as the voodoo-wielding Aunt Gladys in the horror hit ‘Weapons’.
The 75-year-old actress defeated a crowded field including Teyana Taylor, Wunmi Mosaku, and Elle Fanning to claim the Oscar on Sunday.
Her victory also overcomes a long-standing tendency for horror films to be ignored by the Academy.
“I’m very overwhelmed,” Madigan told the audience, thanking director Zach Cregger for writing her a “dream part.”
In the film, which grossed RM1.3 billion worldwide, Madigan plays the mysterious aunt of a boy whose school class vanishes.
The story eventually converges on Gladys, who uses voodoo to drain the life force of others to sustain herself.
The character’s cartoonish look, featuring heavy makeup and a bright red wig, became a viral sensation on social media.
Madigan was not the initial favourite but built momentum with wins at the Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild awards.
“Did you think Aunt Gladys would end up here at the Oscars? No. Not because of quality, but because of genre bias,” she told Variety before the ceremony.
This Oscar is the highest honour in Madigan’s long career spanning film, television, and stage.
Her first Oscar nomination came 40 years ago in 1986 for the drama ‘Twice in a Lifetime’.
“The first time around, it was a complete surprise,” she told Variety of that initial nomination.
Madigan has been married to fellow actor Ed Harris for over four decades, and they have one child together.
She has spoken about the difficulty of finding substantial roles in her later years in Hollywood.
“You know what the situation is. The reality is you have to make your peace with it,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2015.
Of her ‘Weapons’ character, she told Deadline, “This is a woman who knows what she has to do, and she does it.”
Madigan will next appear in the Apple thriller ‘Sponsor’ opposite Jason Segel.
The Sun Malaysia
