Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety”.

Emma Stone Maybe playing the role of Cruella de Vil in Disney’s “Cruella”, but that doesn’t mean Glenn Close is done playing Disney villain. “I have a great story to do to create another Cruella with my Cruella,” Close tells me. She’s low-key about the details but teases, “Cruella comes to New York and disappears in the sewers.”

Close is currently promoting “Transformation: Personal Stories of Change, Acceptance, and Evolution”, a collaborative jazz album with the reissues Ted nash. Close arranged and voiced some of the literary source material for the project’s spoken word performances, while Nash composed the music. “I used to be intimidated by jazz,” says Close. “Now I think that’s an absolute expression of what it means to be a human being.” The album was inspired by their show “Transformation,” which ran for three nights just before the start of the pandemic at Jazz at Lincoln Center. “The CD is the best of the three nights,” says Close. Although she doesn’t consider herself a musician, Close says she dreams of playing electric bass. “I have a fabulous red Gibson electric bass and took some lessons,” she says. “I just want to be in the background being cool wearing a great hat.”

“Transformation” could lead to another Grammy Award nomination. Not that she was aware of it. When I mention her three previous names, Close says, “Are you kidding me?” For what reason? ”She got two names for best children’s recording and one for spoken word.” Quoting Wynton marsalis, he said, “Ted is at his best,” Close says. “It would be so exciting. I really want to make this known to the world. “

And yes, he wouldn’t mind more “Da Butt” in his life. After the viral twerking of her self-proclaimed “sparkling rump” at the Oscars, Close says, “I want to make a music video, but you have to be over 70 to be in it. It’s everyone over 70 who rocks with buttocks.

As COVID restrictions ease, Close is hoping she can finally reprise her role as Norma Desmond in the Paramount film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Sunset Boulevard.” “We are very, very close,” she said. “We are ready to go.” She says Andrew Lloyd Webber still working on new music for the big screen version. “I feel passionate about it. I feel like if I could just take her home to the movies, I don’t care what I do for the rest of my life. I will play grandmothers until I die.

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Monica lewinsky is not a name-only producer on “Impeachment: American Crime Story”, Ryan murphynext series on the president Bill clintonimpeachment. “She’s involved in every storyline, gives a lot of insight and thought,” Murphy told me at the “Pose” premiere in New York. He added: “The great thing about the story we tell is about Monica, which I think needs to be told. Just like [in ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’] we showed Marcia clark in a different way, that’s what we do with Monica.

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It has been about eight years since Michael B. Jordan auditioned for JJ Abrams for “Star Wars: Episode VII”. “I think it was probably my worst audition yet,” the “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” star tells me on “Just for Variety” podcast. He explained, “I think I couldn’t focus on certain sides because you know, when you read for these high profile projects, there’s never really specificity in the sides. Everything is like super wave; everything is in secret. Reading I just couldn’t connect it. I certainly bombed that one for sure.

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Observation: Ellen DeGeneres and James corden dinner last night at Sunset Tower’s Tower Bar.

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Speaking of bad auditions, Scott Eastwood says he missed his chance to play Edward in the “Twilight” franchise. “I remember thinking, ‘This is stupid! I don’t even know why I am participating in this audition. It’s such a YA movie, ”Eastwood tells me. “I don’t think I really tried all that hard, and it was just like, I’m just going to do it and go through the motions. Then the movie turns into seven movies and Robert pattinson made a quadrillion dollars. Eastwood adds, laughing, “So I was like, ‘Maybe you wanted to try maybe just a little.'”

“Wrath of Man”, an action film directed and co-written by Guy ritchie, tells the story of a man (Jason statham) who joins a security company to settle a score with a group of ex-soldiers. To avoid spoilers, I won’t be revealing Eastwood’s role, but I could tell you that his scenes are pure Ritchie action. “At the start of my career I was completely enthusiastic, I wanted to do everything, it wasn’t cool to do everything,” Eastwood says of stunts. “I think as I get older I try to work a little smarter. There are some things where it’s like there’s a reason these stunt guys are such bad asses. When you throw yourself from a building or jump from one car to another, these things are fun and I did them, and I will continue to do whatever I can. But there are times when you say to yourself, “Let’s not push this. You are not as young as you used to be. my lower back can’t take it. ”

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J. Balvin is ready for his close-up. While the Colombian singer’s documentary “The Boy From Medellín” is due out on May 7 on Amazon Prime Video, he seeks to immerse himself in the theater. “If you’re a good artist, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good actor,” he told me at the Vax Live concert. “You have to respect different arts and see if you are able to do it right.” Even so, he has a role in mind: “I’ll be a good bad boy.”

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Sean Penn and its co-founder CORE Ann lee are teaming up with Christie’s Auction House to raise funds for the nonprofit organization. Artists Rashid johnson, Urs fischer and Joel Mesler donated works that will be auctioned off at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale on May 11 in New York City. A piece of Chuck Close will be offered at the post-war sale and contemporary art day on May 14. Proceeds will go to CORE’s COVID-19 programs in Los Angeles, Navajo Nation, Washington DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Georgia and North Carolina.