Close discusses handling risks

LONG ISLAND NEWSDAY
Glenn Close saluted "risk-takers in the arts" at a recent Sundance Institute gala and noted several career moves she'd made that others considered risky.
There was her portrayal of lesbian soldier Margarethe Cammermeyer in 1995's "Serving in Silence." There was her turn in 1990's "Hamlet," a risk because Mel Gibson was playing the great Dane. And this month, she's seen in HBO's "Strip Search" as an FBI agent who performs an "inquiry" on a possible terrorist suspect ... another risk, she says.
"I don't live behind high walls and a locked gate, and if I play a certain role like this I worry, will it be so controversial that people will take it out on me?" she confided.
But while throwing caution to the wind is one thing on screen, it's something entirely different where family is concerned.
Six weeks ago, Close was booked to fly to Europe, but the trip coincided with another flare-up in Iraq. She canceled the flight, afraid something might happen on U.S. soil and she'd be unable to get home to daughter Annie.
"It was the first time I've ever not done something out of fear, and that made me angry," Close said. "You hear every day that we're supposed to be safer here, and it's so not true. But I should've gone. It's the only time I've ever done that."