I like actress Patricia Clarkson. I like her smoky voice, her intelligent presence on screen, and that she didn’t “break through” until her late 30s. I also like that you’re never sure what she’s going to pop up in next.
I like actress Patricia Clarkson. I like her smoky voice, her intelligent presence on screen, and that she didn’t “break through” until her late 30s. I also like that you’re never sure what she’s going to pop up in next.
This week she just happens to turn up in Cairo Time, a romantic drama here on Rialto Channel (Saturday 12th November, 8.30pm).
Clarkson scored her first movie role at the age of 27, as Kevin Costner’s wife in The Untouchables (1987), and although she worked regularly in film and television it wasn’t until she played a drug addicted model in Lisa Cholodenko’s award winning film High Art (1998) that she really made her mark. Since then she’s worked for: Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island), Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven), Lars von Trier (Dogville), Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent) and George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck)
Clarkson is a darling of independent cinema, a character actress who spent years playing housewives chopping vegetables but has gone on to prove she can do a lot more besides cooking. She’s become a sought after supporting actress who adds complexity and depth to characters and films, such as in Pieces of April (where her acerbic dying mother routine scored her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination), and more recently she has stepped up to leading roles, such as Juliette in Cairo Time.
Directed by Syrian/Canadian Ruba Nadda, Cairo Time is a love letter to a city as well as love story. Juliette arrives in Cairo to vacation with her husband Mark (Tom McCamus), a UN diplomat, only to find he’s been held up working in Gaza. Unable to meet his wife, Mark sends his friend and security officer Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to guide Juliette around the beautiful and exotic city of Cairo, and the two unexpectedly fall in love.
Clarkson is not only branching out into leading roles, she’s also giving mainstream movies a crack. She stole the show, along with Stanley Tucci, as actress Emma Stone’s parents in the high school satire Easy A, and more recently appeared in the fun and semi-raunchy romantic comedy Friends with Benefits as Mila Kunis’ hippie mother.
If you want to see just how frivolous and fun Clarkson can be, then take a peek at the Saturday Night Live viral video Motherlover staring Justin Timberlake, Adam Samberg, Susan Sarandon and Clarkson. It’s hardly the award winning material Clarkson is known for, but it’s good for a giggle.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/digital-short-motherlover/1099491
Enjoy.