Dianne Wiest: 'Nice mom roles were all I was offered following Oscar win'

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/26/oscar-winner-dianne-wiest-admits-to-money-troubles

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You might think an Academy Award in the cabinet should mean guaranteed financial security, with 2014 first-time winners Lupita Nyong’o and Jared Leto having since picked up paydays for the new Star Wars film and star-studded superhero epic Suicide Squad, respectively. But despite maintaining a rare status as a two-time Oscar winner, the actor and regular Woody Allen collaborator Dianne Wiest has revealed she is struggling to pay her rent.

Wiest, who won the best supporting actress prize for 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters and 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, told the New York Times: “I have to move out of my apartment soon.” She said the only roles which followed after her dual win were those of the “nice mom”, adding: “And that’s it. That’s all that ever came, except in theatre.”

Wiest, who is currently starring in the off-Broadway play Rasheeda Speaking, suggested that writing her own roles was not an attractive option. “I think that if it’s meant to happen, it will happen,” she said. “Which is I guess a real sign of stupidity.”

In the period between her two Oscar wins, Wiest, 66, starred in cult 1987 hit The Lost Boys, 1989 comedy Parenthood and 1990 fantasy Edward Scissorhands. But her notable big-screen roles have been few and far between in the past decade. She won plaudits for an offbeat supporting turn alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Kaufman’s 2008 directing debut Synecdoche, New York, and was also one of the ensemble to win a special jury prize at the Sundance film festival for 2006’s A Guide to Recognising Your Saints.