Award winning actress Glenn Close plays a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Some thirty years after donning men’s clothing, she finds herself trapped in a prison of her own making. Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson and Brendan Gleeson join the prestigious, international cast that includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Janet McTeer, Brenda Fricker and Pauline Collins in ‘Albert Nobbs’, opening in cinemas all over the U.S. on January 27.

Rodrigo Garcia directs from a script that Glenn Close, along with Man Booker prize-winning novelist John Banville and Gabriella Prekop, adapted from a short story by Irish author George Moore.

Glenn Close’s connection to the character of Albert Nobbs stretches back almost three decades to her 1982 performance in Simone Benmussa’s theatrical interpretation of the short story, Albert Nobbs, by nineteenth century Irish author George Moore. ‘I think that Albert is one of the truly great characters, and the story, for all its basic simplicity, has a strange emotional power,’ begins Close, whose turn in the Off-Broadway production prompted rave reviews and garnered the actress an Obie Award.

Even as Close’s career skyrocketed the character remained with her. “There’s something deeply affecting about Albert’s life,” the actress continues, “She never stopped continuing to move me. I became very busy in my career, but always thought that Albert’s story would make a wonderful movie.”

Close has worked continuously on story ideas across the intervening years, developing a passionate attachment to the character of Nobbs; a woman living in 19^th century Britain, who has survived by disguising herself as a man and becoming a waiter. As the story begins, we find her working at Morrison’s, a reputable hotel in Dublin, where she has been for past 17 years.

“Albert doesn’t want to end up in the poorhouse,” explains Close. “At that time Ireland was extremely poor. Around the corner from the hotel was abject poverty. She knows that without her job that’s where she could end up. And she knows anyone can get fired at any moment. There is a sense of fear among all the hotel workers.”

When the audience meets Albert, the character has played her role as a male servant in Morrison’s Hotel for so long that she has lost her own, true identity. “She doesn’t even know her real name,” Close says. “She was an illegitimate child, raised by a woman who was paid to take care of her and who never revealed Albert’s true identity. I figure the woman was paid to not tell because family didn’t want the child to, one day, show up on their doorstep. So Albert, who already didn’t know who she really was, disappeared into the guise of a waiter when she was fourteen years old. When we meet her thirty years later, she is isolated and invisible, albeit an impeccable servant, having lived in hotels her whole life.”

Benmussa’s play adaptation of George Moore’s Albert Nobbs, was minimalist, with a considerable amount of mime used to tell the story, but, even so, Close believed that the tale’s poignancy, heartbreak and humour — the latter realized by a wonderful collection of characters who people Morrison’s Hotel — would fuel a film adaptation.

“The play was very austere,” concedes the actress, “The power of the story is like a simple glass of water,” she continues, “When light reflects in a glass of water, it creates something extremely complex. The story is simple and linear, but it touches on complex human issues that reflect on everyone’s own life and everyone’s own baggage, and gives them something to take away as well. I’m hoping it will be universally appealing.”

Certainly producers Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn agreed, with Curtis responding to Close’s passion for, and knowledge of, the character and the story. ‘One of the elements that interested me as a producer was Glenn’s hands-on, nightly experience in the theatre with the story,’ Curtis explains. ‘Making this movie with Glenn made a lot of business sense to me.’

Curtis met Close on the 2005 comic drama The Chumbscrubber. ‘It was day two of her time on set,’ recalls Curtis, ‘and Glenn walked up to me, gave me a script, and said, “I must play this part on the big screen before I die.” She was looking me right in the eye and I said we should do it right there and then.’ Curtis laughs, ‘She suggested I might want to read it first.’

The producer read the script that very night, ‘and it got inside me in ways I didn’t even understand,’ she says, ‘and I knew it would be right. When someone like Glenn says that they must play a part before they die, you figure it’s a good character and script. Albert has that struggle for identity and purpose and yet she hasn’t been equipped with the tools to get there. I think that it is a really universal life experience.’

Fellow producer Julie Lynn concurs. “The story is about a woman who is naïve, and is in her own bubble of loneliness because she’s lived with her face hidden from the outside world for decades, as a means of survival and self-protection. When we first meet her, she has been separated emotionally from the rest of the world.”

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The full list of nominees for the 2012 Irish Film and Television Awards have been announced, with old favourites and emerging talents comprising this year’s selected actors, writers and other creative talents.

The 9th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA), sponsored by Irish Film Board and RTÉ, will take place on Saturday February 11 at the Convention Centre in Dublin and will bring together the best in film and television that Ireland has to offer, as well as numerous international stars who will be competing in a handful of categories dedicated exclusively to honouring those from other countries around the globe.

Two-time IFTA winner Ciarán Hinds is back in competition thanks to his strong performances in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, which has already received multiple recognitions from other award bodies, and ‘The Debt’ in which he co-starred with Dame Helen Mirren. Hinds has been nominated in the fields of Best Actor in a Lead Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, respectively.

Brendan Gleeson is another Irish actor who has received double-recognition from the IFTA voters this year, as his roles in ‘The Guard’ and ‘Albert Nobbs’ earn him lead and supporting nominations as well, respectively. ’Albert Nobbs’ leads the field alongside ‘The Guard’ with each film receiving nine nominations apiece.

Gleeson’s co-stars in ‘Albert Nobbs’, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Brenda Fricker, are both nominated in the category of Best Actress in a Supporting Role, while the film itself has received acknowledgement in the Best Film, Best Script, Best Make-up & Hair, Best Original Score and Best Sound categories. American actress Glenn Close rounds off the film’s successful IFTA reception as she earned a spot in the Best International Actress.

Aine Moriarty, CEO of the Academy, released the following statement regarding this year’s festivities:

“The Irish Film & Television Awards is Ireland’s showcase to the world of what our small but outstanding film and television community has to offer: excellent and challenging feature films and dramas; entertaining television and engaging factual content. The Irish industry consistently delivers world-class standards of work that is watched by a global audience.

Ireland’s economic struggles have been well documented, but against this pressure it’s heartening to see how Ireland’s hard-working creative community continues to punch above its weight and really deliver.”

The Academy’s shortlist for the Best Film category would appear to be reflective of their endeavour to ‘showcase’ the best in Ireland’s original content, with the four nominated titles covering such topics as cross-dressing (‘Albert Nobbs’) and sociopaths (‘Charlie Casanova’), while delving into black comedy (‘The Guard’) and questions of religious faith (‘Stella Days’).

The final choices for Best International Actress are also of note considering the pairing of Kristen Wiig – for her role in ‘Bridesmaids’ – with Glenn Close, Meryl Streep and Tilda Swinton, each of whom represents a film with a much greater sense of gravitas (‘Albert Nobbs’, ‘The Iron Lady’ and ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’, respectively).

HBO’s fantasy series ‘Game of Thrones’ and Showtime historical drama ‘The Borgias’ were among those honoured in IFTA’s main television categories. The awards will be hosted by Simon Delaney and will be broadcast live on RTÉ One at 9.30pm on Saturday February 11.

For the full list of this year’s IFTA nominees, click here.

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