Patricia Clarkson stars as Elaine, a former screenwriter who is now married to a successful - and ruthless – studio executive. When Elaine takes a young gay screenwriter into her confidence, she discovers a secret that sets off a chain of devastating events.
Patricia Clarkson on the Stage Production Versus the Film: “I loved the play, but he said the screenplay is going to be very different. And I was very happy about that because the play was so present in my mind. Because Craig is such a rare breed in that there are great playwrights and there are great screenwriters, and I think there's just a sliver that are both. And Craig is one. He's a great playwright and he can write a true screenplay.
You look at the job he did on ‘Secret Lives of Dentists’ - I don't know if you knew that book by Jane Smiley [the novella entitled ‘The Age of Grief’] -- that adaptation is masterful, how he captured again a very complex story, the details. But I'm so glad when he approached me. He said, ‘The screenplay's going to be different.’ He was kind of writing the screenplay with me and Peter and Campbell [Scott] in mind, so he said. He said, ‘Would you?’ and I said, ‘Of course. Are you kidding? That would be astonishing.’
It was just shifted and altered enough and became its own piece. The play remains this extraordinary experience I’ve had witnessing it, watching it. And now this incredible [experience] I've had being inside of it."
Patricia Clarkson on the Weirdness of Hollywood: “I don't know that it's any weirder than any other town. But I think every metropolitan city has its pockets of…you know. But that's what makes them great. It's why those of us choose to live in the big cities - that's why. Because [there are] people of all walks of life, different people. It's an eclectic city. And that's what I love about it.
I grew up in New Orleans. Now I live in New York. They're both cities I love, and I like coming to LA. I don't know if it's a place I could live, but I like coming here to visit as long as I'm at the Chateau Marmont, which is my home away from home."
I haven't had any odd, strange encounters in Los Angeles. I've certainly had a casting couch moment or two with directors when I was younger. Yeah, I've certainly had a few of those moments like, ‘Oh, you know if you took your shirt off ...’ going in for some small film. But I haven't had any really strange encounters in Hollywood. New York, maybe. But not in Hollywood. Hollywood as a whole - it's already fertile and ripe. Every normal day in LA is ‘Whee!’ in our business.”
Patricia Clarkson Admits Her Computer Knowledge is Limited: Peter Sarsgaard’s character finds escape and solace in the world of online chat rooms. Clarkson’s character joins Sarsgaard’s in anonymous online discussions where secrets are revealed and lives are changed. But Clarkson says that in real life, she doesn’t own a computer and had to develop an understanding of chatting online for this role.
“I did learn and do research and I have been on a computer with a friend or the man I date. I have been on a computer, but I'm not a computer aficionado. I'm not a computer gal, but I have been in chat rooms. With different friends I have gone into a chat room.
I think they're fascinating and I think the beauty of chat rooms is that you can have your anonymity, of course, and you can choose to be raunchy and sexy and bold. Or you can actually go into certain chat rooms and maybe have an incredibly soulful, meaningful conversation that will change your life or change the other person's life.”
Patricia Clarkson Explains Her Character’s Motivation for Visiting a Chat Room: “I think it's curiosity. Elaine, at the beginning of this movie, she's somewhat happy but I think there is a dollop of loneliness and boredom. This is a woman who is, I think, a quite productive screenwriter at one time in her life. Like Robert [Sarsgaard], I think, an art film screenwriter. She says, ‘I write the movies that Jeffrey will never make.’ But I think a real screenwriter. I don't think she dabbled in screenwriting. I think she was a very accomplished screenwriter, but I think she gave it up. And a little later in life, as you can see, had children. In her late, mid-30s had children and then got swept up in this Hollywood life.
I think when she first encounters Robert she is smitten. I think they are kindred spirits and I think he's a beautiful man. I think she sees in him, internally and externally -- and of course as played by Peter Sarsgaard, he is. He is delicious and delightful. I think she's absolutely captivated by him, and so incredibly -- and I think that's what's so sad -- deeply empathetic and compassionate about his loss. She most of all knows what is to come up with that screenplay and how it's going to change and how he will have to make big compromises. And, of course, the story goes in the trash.”
