Dianne Wiest Is Divine: Remind Yourself With These 5 Clips
Dianne Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway
Oscar-winning actress Dianne Wiest made headlines this weekend when she confessed to the New York Times that she’s moving out of her apartment because her work no longer pays the rent. We believe it: Rents in New York City are exorbitant, and it’s a sad reality that women over sixty (who are not Meryl Streep) aren’t offered lucrative roles in Hollywood.
The good news is, even if she has to downgrade apartments, the 66-year-old Weist is still a steadily working actress: She’s performing off-Broadway in Rasheeda Speaking and will appear in 2015’s much-anticipated Tina Fey–Amy Poehler comedy Sisters. But it sounds like she deserves much better roles than the “nice moms” she’s mainly being offered. After all, this is the woman of whom a young Brad Pitt once said (to Tiger Beat!), “The greatest actors aren’t what you would call beautiful sex symbols. I’ll tell you who my favorite actress is: Dianne Wiest, and you wouldn’t call her a sex symbol. Dianne Wiest is, to me, the most beautiful woman on the screen.” With that in mind, let’s look back on five performances that demonstrate why Dianne Weist deserves all the high-paying gigs she can get.
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Wiest received her first Academy Award for playing Holly, the fragile youngest sibling struggling to find her own voice in Woody Allen’s comedic drama. In this scene, she gives an inner monologue to a moment we’ve all experienced at one time or another.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
As Peg, the Avon Lady with a heart of gold who discovers Johnny Depp’s Edward all by himself in a decrepit mansion, Wiest eases audiences into the darkness of Tim Burton’s gothic fairytale world.
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Wiest brought remarkable honesty and humor to the role of Nat, a mother trying to comfort her grown daughter (Nicole Kidman) after the loss of her four-year-old son, in John Cameron Mitchell’s acclaimed low-budget drama.
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Following an additional nomination for Parenthood (1989), Wiest won another Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Woody Allen’s roaring ’20s show biz farce. The normally soft-spoken actress adapted a rich, tremulous voice to play Helen Sinclair, a past-her-prime Broadway diva who effortlessly seduces John Cusack and steals every one of her scenes.
The Birdcage (1996)
It’s up to Weist to spell out the movie’s big reveal — “this is a man” — in Mike Nichols’ raucous comedy of errors. Her role as a conservative Senator’s wife isn’t the flashiest in the film, but watching her maintain her practiced diplomatic exterior in the midst of all the madness is hysterically funny.
Image credit: Everett Collection
