Patricia Clarkson is a Busy, Busy Actress
By Howard Gensler, Philadelphia Daily News
Mar. 21–It’s been so long since we spoke with Patricia Clarkson at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, all we recall is the actress picking at jelly beans while her “Married Life” co-star Chris Cooper conducted another interview a few feet away.
Thankfully, “Married Life” (see review on Page 40) finally opens today. Here’s what the busy, busy, busy actress had to say about it.
DN: How’s your film festival going?
PC: Well, thank you. I’ve been to the Toronto Film Festival many times, but it’s gotten quite large. When I first started coming here, there were four people here. Seriously. The same with Sundance. Now all these festivals have grown into these events . . . I mean the stars who are here . . . I’m surprised you’re even talking to me. That’s not false modesty.
DN: Well you’re a big star.
(She laughs.)
DN: So you’re not a big star. But you’re a very solid working actress.
PC: Yes, I am. I do work a lot.
DN: You’ve made two films this year for Sidney Kimmel . . .
PC: Yes, I’m the Sidney Kimmel girl . . . He’s a lovely man.
DN: You actually met him?
PC: Briefly, yes.
DN: How did it happen that you ended up in both “Married Life” and Kimmel’s other film here, “Lars and the Real Girl”?
PC: I was offered “Married Life” first and said yes, of course, quickly, because it was fun and sexy and Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan and Rachel McAdams, it doesn’t get any better. And then I got offered “Lars,” which was Ryan Gosling . . .
DN: And Bianca? [Bianca is the film's love interest/sex doll.]
PC: Well, Bianca was, of course, the real reason. She’s the reason I do anything now. . . . I was supposed to get a break between the two films, but I didn’t, but that’s life in the fast lane. It’s a good problem to have.
DN: You’ve done a lot of period films, but this was very noir-ish . . .
PC: This was a very different journey for me. My character was more three-dimensional than in some of the period work that I’ve done, and she was sensual and sexy, and I liked that about her. And she has that big reveal — surprise — but don’t say anything about that. And it was when I got to that page that I couldn’t pick up the phone fast enough to say, “I’m in.”
DN: What was it like working with Ira [director Ira Sachs]?
PC: He’s an actor’s director. He loves his actors. God bless him. He doesn’t give up on us. He creates a beautiful environment for us to work in, and that’s what great directors do. Great directors set the tone from the moment you walk in in the morning, and you’re in hair and make-up, and they come in. They don’t bring in their trauma to you. You have enough trauma as an actor. It’s about the work. It’s about being creative, being challenged.
DN: And Chris Cooper?
PC: He’s a deeply emotional man, and one of the finest, greatest people I’ve ever met in my whole life.
DN: Had you worked with him before?
PC: Yes, we did a movie 15 years ago called “Pharoah’s Army.” It’s a tiny, tiny Civil War movie we shot in Danville, Kentucky. It’s the most intimate view of the Civil War. Very heartbreaking.
DN: So what’s next?
PC: I just finished shooting these four movies back-to-back. Do you want to know what they are? Do you even care? [Laughs] I shot a movie with Sir Ben [Kingsley] called “Elegy,” directed by by Isabelle Coixet, an amazing Spanish director. Then I shot a beautiful movie with Stanley Tucci, just the two of us, and he directed it, called “Blind Date.”
Then I shot “Phoebe in Wonderland,” with Elle Fanning and Felicity Huffman, which was quite yummy. You will not believe Elle Fanning in this movie — she’s off the charts. And then I just worked with Woody Allen in the movie he shot in Spain. . . . And now I’m never going to work again. I’m going to lie in bed and nestle my dog and maybe drink bourbon.
Note: “Phoebe in Wonderland” will play the Philadelphia Film Festival on April 6 and 9. Clarkson has since gotten out of bed to shoot Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” and she is also attached to “Hurricane Mary,” with William H. Macy, Chris Cooper and both Elle and Dakota Fanning.
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