Amy Madigan: 'I don't wish anyone to fall down a sewer. Except sometimes'

Being an Oscar nominee has become a full-time gig for Amy Madigan — luncheons, fittings, interviews. On a noon video call she grins crookedly and admits, "I'm tired." The last time she was nominated was in 1985; now 75, she is shortlisted this year for her turn in Zach Cregger's Weapons as the nightmarish Aunt Gladys, a clownish child-catcher with round specs and a brutal orange wig who pops up in the film in jolting, electrifying bursts.

Her living room curtains are drawn; she is in a rental she shares with her husband Ed Harris after their house burned in last year’s wildfires and they are still sorting permits. Cregger has credited her with "saving" the movie, and Gladys has become a TikTok sensation — beloved by costumed trick-or-treaters and drag acts alike — even though Madigan herself steers clear of social media.

"People like Gladys. They want to hang out with Gladys," she says, amused and a little bemused. Work had dwindled for about a decade, she admits, and there were times she wondered whether to quit.

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