Patricia Clarkson Talks Filming in Egypt, Oil Spill 'Heartbreak' Back Home

By Nicki Gostin Posted Aug 4th 2010 12:10PM

In 'Cairo Time,' Patricia Clarkson plays Juliette, a woman who, while awaiting her husband's arrival in Egypt, enters into an unexpected affair with a retired cop (Alexander Siddig). Clarkson, whose first film role came as Kevin Costner's wife in 'The Untouchables,' is notable for gliding easily between indie films ('High Art'), mainstream movies ('Shutter Island') and television (Frances Conroy's free-spirited sister on 'Six Feet Under') without batting an eyelash.

Here, the Oscar nominee (Best Supporting Actress, 'Pieces of April') discusses filming on location in beautiful Egypt, the difference between making an indie and a blockbuster and finding clean bathrooms on low-budget sets.

Did you really film on location?
It was all shot in Cairo. Everything you see is real. It was beautiful but overwhelming. It's a very dense, very populated, brimming city. It's noisy, loud and overwhelming, but in that, it's breathtakingly beautiful.

Did you encounter anti-American sentiment?
I thought I would. It's funny, I went prepared for that and I didn't have any of it. Look, it's a male dominated society -- there was sexism and misogyny, but there wasn't anti-Americanism.

Did you eat a lot of Middle Eastern food?
To some extent. I don't know if you've known anyone who has gone to Cairo, but it's kind of like Mexico -- you get sick. But I never got sick, so whenever I ate, I ate pretty much the same thing. There was nothing for them to shoot if I got sick, so I was religious about it. But I had some beautiful food and beautiful Egyptian wine.

So you're telling me you never got food poisoning ... but you were tipsy on the set.
[Laughs] Yes, that's all I drank. No, at the end of the week when I didn't have to shoot the next day -- oh my, the beautiful wines and the sun setting over the Nile...

You've been described as having a whiskey voice.
I don't like whiskey at all, but I have always liked bourbon.

See the trailer for 'Cairo Time':

You hop between indie and mainstream movies. What's the biggest difference between the two?
A lot of zeroes at the end of your check. And I'm not being facetious. Work is work and acting is acting. You often have to take the journey much more quickly in independent film, of course, because there's less time and money and less amenities, but in the end it's still about the journey your character takes. Acting really doesn't know money.

Ever been on an indie movie where you've had to hold your breath to use the toilet?
Oh, every independent movie I've ever been on in my whole life! My little trailer -- I think we can call it that -- in Cairo. Oh yes, there were days when it was not clean, oh my. On 'Pieces of April' there wasn't a restroom for miles. I've done guerilla filmmaking.

Did you have to use a bathroom at a McDonald's?
Oh yes, and gas stations and everything. 'Pieces of April' was shot for $200,000.

So, did you and Katie Holmes race each other to the bathroom?
We only had one scene together, at the end, but me and Oliver Platt ... he would guard the door in some down-and-out gas station in New Jersey.

You're from New Orleans -- do you still have family there?
My mother is councilwoman-at-large on the city council. She just got re-elected at 74. I have three older sisters who live there ... nieces and nephews, uncles, aunts, cousins.

Is it heartbreaking to go back?
Two heartbreaks in a row. Katrina was so horrifying and devastating and the city made such a glorious recovery piece by piece. There are people who are still struggling and still left out in the cold from Katrina, and now to be hit by this criminal act from BP. This oil disaster is a disaster upon a disaster. They have ruined the Gulf of Mexico. I can say that because I saw it with my own two eyes. It's criminal negligence. Heads should roll and people should go to jail, and if they don't ... it's a disgrace.

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Comments

(3)

Wednesday 04 August

By acemakr6

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Another leftwing loon, at least she's good looking!!!

By Felicia

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Seriously? You don't think there is anything wrong with the BP oil spill? It shouldn't have ANYTHING to do with politics; it is wrong and that is all. Unless you have seen what is going on there, unless you are from there, I suggest you keep your mouth shut because you are the one looking like the loon.

By Cara

Ace appears to be just another ridiculously uninformed Republinut. New Orleans could float off the map because of this spill and they'd blame the "liberal media" for exaggerating the situation.

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