Glenn Close has played a lot of characters during her career, but not many people know she is in low point of Steven Spielberg’s filmmaking career. When it was released 30 years ago, critics lambasted Hook as overly sentimental and lacking in imagination and Spielberg came to agree with them, later expressing disappointment with how the movie turned out.
Luckily for Spielberg, audiences felt differently about Hook and the movie proved to be a commercial success that banked over $300 million. Its story – which follows a grown-up Peter Pan as he returns to Neverland to rescue his kidnapped children from his old foe Captain Hook – still resonates with audiences today. It’s even gained something of a cult following in the decades since its original release, with many film fans claiming Hook as one of their favorite childhood movies.
The talented cast of Hook is no doubt a major factor in explaining how it has charmed so many audiences. The late, great Robin Williams gives a typically spirited performances as Peter Banning (AKA the grown-up Peter Pan), while Dustin Hoffman is hilariously hammy as Captain Hook. British actors Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins co-star in the movie too, as does Avatar: The Last Airbender voice actor Dante Basco. The wider cast also features quite a few cameos from familiar faces, including award-winning actress Glenn Close who appears in Hook briefly as a member of the titular pirate’s crew. Check out her cameo in the clip below – she’s the bearded buccaneer who Captain Hook accuses of betting against him luring Peter Pan back to Neverland and gets thrown in a wooden chest with a few scorpions as punishment.
Robin Williams on set one day when Spielberg asked if she’d like to appear as a pirate, which Close enthusiastically agreed to. As the above clip shows, her transformation into a male pirate is pretty convincing – so convincing, in fact, Close said that while she was in costume a script girl believed she was a man and flirted with her.
Glenn Close isn’t the only famous face that can list a cameo in Hook on her résumé. Musicians David Crosby and Jimmy Buffett also appear as of Hook’s crew, as does boxer and Rocky star Tony Burton. Elsewhere in Hook, stars including actress Carrie Fisher, director George Lucas and musician Phil Collins also make brief cameos.
