It’s a good week for the Ed Harris and Amy Madigan household.
The veteran actor touched down this weekend in Park City, Utah, where he was honored for his decades of work as a screenwriting labs adviser at Friday’s Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford fundraiser at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. Harris and director labs adviser Gyula Gazdag received inaugural Robert Redford Luminary Awards, presented to them by Amy Redford and Michelle Satter, respectively.
While walking the red carpet ahead of the event, Harris spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how he feels about awards at this moment in time, and he promptly turned his attention toward his wife of 40 years, Amy Madigan. “My wife was just nominated for an Oscar,” he said. “So, in terms of awards at the moment, I think they’re cool.”
Weapons fans think it’s pretty cool that the woman who slipped into the shoes of Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger’s Warner Bros. film got singled out for her work in a horror film, a genre that typically has a tough time with recognition when it comes to the Academy Awards.
At the time nominations were announced on Thursday, Harris was in Texas where he’s filming a spinoff of the Yellowstone universe from Taylor Sheridan, a series titled Rio Paloma. “I didn’t want to call because I knew she had gotten up at, like, 5:30 a.m., and then she probably tried to go back to sleep,” Harris explained. “I didn’t talk to her until about 10 or 10:30 a.m.”
It’s understandable that Harris didn’t want to bother his wife, considering how heavy a lift the whole season is for her. “She’s been going nuts because the whole award season is so insane, especially for a woman, from what you’re wearing to makeup, blah, blah, blah. But she’s digging in on it. She’s handling it pretty well, I got to say.”
Harris knows the awards season swirl well after having been nominated for four Oscars, including nods in 2003 for The Hours; 2001 for Pollock; 1999 for The Truman Show; and 1996 for Apollo 13. “It’s been a while,” he said, “but I kind of know what she’s going through and I’ve just been trying to be supportive.”
In what way? “Cook a lot,” he said with a smile. “So she doesn’t have to.” The notice marks Madigan’s second Oscar nomination, and it arrived nearly 40 years after her first for 1985’s Twice in a Lifetime.
Harris added that it’s “been pretty remarkable” to see the response to Madigan’s portrayal of Gladys, which has become something of a pop culture phenomenon. From the moment Gladys walked into the principal’s office, Harris said he perked up. “Who is this?” he asked. There have been countless memes, Halloween costumes and loving tributes from horror and film fans alike. “It’s such an iconic creature that she established,” he said, adding that he got a kick out of drag queen mimics. “I think it’s pretty cool.”
Back to Redford. Harris said it was an honor to be receiving an award with the Sundance founder’s name on it. “He was always very generous and I really loved him,” he noted. “Just his integrity and his honesty. He really, genuinely gave a shit about what he was doing. I mean, it was his generosity. It was very, very special.”
During his acceptance speech at the fundraiser, Harris got choked up about having a front row seat while seeing so many artists find their voice over dozens of summers at the Sundance Institute labs. “It’s just hard to describe for anybody who hasn’t been a part of it. You really can’t describe it because it’s a unified positive. It almost sounds like a cult or something, but it’s not. It’s just about the work. And it’s about helping these young filmmakers realize their scripts and understand their material deeper. Everybody’s working for the same purpose. It’s about artistic freedom, it’s about love, it’s about giving.”
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