By Ray Rogers
Patricia Clarkson’s contributions to the realm of acting cannot be underestimated. Over the course of four decades, the elegant New Orleans-born, New York-based thespian has consistently wowed audiences in one role after the next, on the silver screen, in television series (her Six Feet Under wild card was especially thrilling to watch) and onstage. Her complex portrayal of a drug-addicted artist in High Art helped solidify her reputation for mesmerizing performances earlier in her career. That was followed by unforgettable turns in Todd Haynes’ brilliant Far From Heaven, Pieces of April—which garnered Clarkson Golden Globe and Oscar nominations—and dozens more, including, more recently, her haunting role as a mother with Munchausen syndrome by proxy in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects, which netted her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.
Clarkson will be at this year’s Hamptons International Film Festival in support of her new film, Lilly, which tells the real-life saga of Alabama tire factory worker Lilly Ledbetter, who fought her employer, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., for back pay after finding out her male colleagues were earning substantially more over the course of her career for the same work. Because of her tireless fight, eventually substantive change was made: President Barack Obama’s first legislation in the Oval Office was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
Ray Rogers: Lilly is such an incredible true story of the women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter. You and Lilly are both Southern, but from very different backgrounds. How did you find your way into this character?
Patricia Clarkson: Well, I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t a character, that she was flesh and blood. I think that’s the best way to honor someone who is one of my heroes—I play so many unsavory characters, but to play such a remarkable human being! I’m one of five daughters of a powerful mother who ran the city of New Orleans, so I know what it is to be surrounded by great women. We all worship Lilly Ledbetter. I didn’t want it to be a portrayal. I wanted to put meat on the bones. I wanted to make her as true and real as I could and not copy. I researched. I watched, of course, tapes of her. I didn’t want to meet her because I wanted to bring as much of me as I could into it, to make it as true as I could. As actors, it is our obligation to portray someone to the truest nth degree that we can find in our souls. And everything must be above and below the waist. All parts of us are required.
Her emotional life was so powerful to me. This woman who really came from nothing and did not have a profound love from a mother. Her mother loved her, but really never expressed it. She had a very hard life growing up. She meets the love of her life, and then she goes to work late in life, which my mother did also. The sacrifices she made, and working in a factory at 60, her trials and tribulations all hit me very hard. I know the way she sounds. I grew up here and I have one of my dearest aunts from Alabama. I know that sound well, that mountain sound. It was just such a great privilege [to play her], but I also had to lose that. I had to realize that for right now, Patty, she’s just Lilly Ledbetter. She’s just a woman who has a struggle in life and I had to bring everything I have. And that’s what I did, every single day.
RR: Have you met her?
PC: I’ve spoken to her briefly. She’s a very dignified woman and I’m just thrilled that she is very supportive of this film and of me. I’ll meet her in the flesh for the first time at the Hamptons International Film Festival. It’s going to be a big, momentous thing. She’s so near and dear to me.
RR: She endured such abuse in that workplace. The tires flung at her, the vehicle rammed into her.
PC: And just constant. And yet she couldn’t live without the money, and she had nowhere to go. She had no way out, so to speak, but you think of the hours she put in and making so much less than all of these men and none of them cared. And they thought she wouldn’t catch on.
RR: What were some of the hardest scenes to film?
PC: Well, those tires are really heavy. And I was 61 when I was doing it. I’m like, how many takes are we going to do? I thought my god, at 60 she was lugging…and I did it, but she was doing it every day when they put her back on the line, further abuse. The things on the hour that she suffered were unconscionable. To then win [her initial suit] and have it overturned…it was wrong. It was abuse. I’m glad she kept fighting. iI’s such a statement of who she is—she really is otherworldly in that she just didn’t give up.
RR: She’s a true hero.
PC: Yes. When she spoke at the DNC [in 2012] I remember watching that. I never knew I was going to be playing her, but I remember watching that speech of hers and I thought, My god! My mother and I spoke about it, and it was just astonishing to see her there.
RR: You come from a big family. Like you, I also have four older sisters.
PC: Oh, my goodness!
RR: It’s such a privilege and it’s made me a different kind of man. I have a different sensitivity to the world and I’m so beyond grateful to the women in my life.
PC: I’m home in New Orleans right now, helping a sister of mine who is moving. So, I’m getting to see three of my sisters who live here—we’re actually going to have a sister dinner tonight. I value the love of my sisters, and they’re excited about me and Lilly. They’re like, Oh Patty, you’re not playing someone who’s killed their children! [laughs] When we have the premiere, they’ll all come up for it.
RR: There’s that stat that came on the screen that women were just making 78 cents on the dollar to men’s salaries back then. That has crept up to just 84 cents. What will it take to change this?
PC: You know Liz Cheney the other day, when she was doing that now very famous interview where she said her father [former vice president, Dick Cheney] is voting for Kamala Harris, and she called Trump and Vance misogynistic pigs? She just said women, we’ve had enough. We are done with this. We’re not going to continue to battle inequality. It’s absurd. Everybody benefits when women are equal. It’s that simple. And we’re not dumb. When I first started in Hollywood I was making nothing. I wasn’t being paid what my male counterparts were being paid. Never. Now, that of course would never happen in a million years. The first thing I say is: What is he making?
RR: Have you been to this film festival before?
PC: Several times. It’s beautiful, and I have friends who live in the Hamptons. The festival is fun, laid-back and people are deeply appreciative of the films. I think this film is such an unusual film. When was the last time we had a Norma Rae, a Silkwood or Erin Brockovich? We just haven’t told these stories in a long, long time. There was a beautiful film about Shirley Chisholm [Shirley] out earlier this year that was wonderful. We need these stories.
RR: What do you like to do when you’re visiting the Hamptons?
PC: I just went to visit a friend recently. She has a dog and we walk in town, go to the beach. We get together with great friends. I went to the fantastic Rita Cantina and had amazing Mexican food and margaritas. I love Rita’s. I saw John Hickey when I was out there, which was fabulous. I just adore him. He’s a great actor and a great human being. I can’t get enough of him. I have such a crush on him.
RR: As Purist has a focus on wellness, I’m curious how you stay healthy and centered on set and off?
PC: I work out, I walk a lot. That’s very important to me. I try to use clean products in my house and on my face and in my body. I try to eat healthy for the most part. I’ve been gluten-free and dairy-free for a very long time. But the thing that keeps me most healthy is just the love of my friends and the people around me. I have extraordinary friends, and my friendships are just my lifeline—that keeps me very healthy. I know it really does.
Lilly screens on October 10 at 5:15PM at Guild Hall, and on October 14 at 11:30AM at East Hampton Regal UA1.