Amy Madigan is having a very good morning — one that involves a cup of coffee, her dog and a freshly announced Oscar nomination.
Madigan’s nomination for her performance as Aunt Gladys in Weapons, adds another milestone to an already storied career. The recognition follows a Critics Choice Award win and a Golden Globe nomination for the same role, signaling a major awards-season moment four decades after her first Oscar nod.
Madigan celebrated the nomination with her Jack Russell terrier, Woody, by her side. “My dog is like six inches away from me right now. He’s just kind of my best pal in the world. I don’t know how people get through life without animals,” she tells Gold Derby.
The nomination also places Madigan in the history books. Previously nominated nearly 40 years ago for Bud Yorkin’s steelworker family drama Twice in a Lifetime (1985), she now holds the record for the longest gap between Oscar nominations for an actress and says a lot has changed since her first time navigating awards season, she notes, especially when it comes to the red carpet. “I have a great team of people and they present me with options, which was not the case when I did this 40 years ago. So it’s a very different way to kind of go through the maze.”
But for Madigan, the nomination is about the people who’ve been with her throughout her career. “It’s friends who stood by me through my whole long career. And I emphasize the word long because I’ve been doing it quite a while. I know that friends are wishing me goodwill and that’s money in the bank. That’s just the real deal. None of it means anything unless I’ve got my husband and my daughter and my friends taking this ride with me.”
Amy Madigan in WeaponsWarner Bros.
Despite the accolades and history-making moment, Madigan’s passion for acting remains unchanged. “It just feels wild, to tell you the truth, because I wasn’t expecting any of this, but I still really, really love what I do. I love acting. I love the whole soup of it. And I hope that I can continue to do it.”
That love of the craft was central to her work on Weapons, a project she describes as deeply collaborative and creatively fulfilling. “The whole team behind Gladys and to Zach Cregger who conceived of her because we all worked on it together. This was an original idea. We just kind of said, ‘Okay, we’re going to grab this by the throat and how are we going to do it? ‘ And we all kind of fulfilled that, which really is the best feeling in the world.”