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Patricia Clarkson has recalled the moment that Harvey Weinstein told her she would “never work again” after she confronted him over an Oscar nomination.
The 65-year-old told Business Insider that the disgraced movie producer, who is currently in custody on Rikers Island for several sex crime charges, attempted to submit her for Best Supporting Actress at the 76th Academy Awards for her role in the 2003 film The Station Agent.
Given that Clarkson is the lead star of the film, however, she objected to being submitted for the Best Supporting Actress category. “I hate when actors put themselves in false categories,” she said. “I think that’s something that needs to be addressed by the Academy. Too often it happens.”
Recalling her confrontation with Weinstein, Clarkson said: “When you are supporting, you should be truly a supporting player, and when you’re the lead, you have to step up and go into a harder category. I was the lead in The Station Agent, so I said, ‘No, Harvey, I’m not going into supporting.’”
Directed by Tom McCarthy, The Station Agent stars Peter Dinklage as Fin McBride, a man seeking solitude in an abandoned New Jersey train station. Clarkson stars as Olivia Harris, an artist and one of Fin’s neighbours who is grieving the death of her child.
Clarkson, who is also known for The Green Mile, added: “So I went up against Harvey, and he told me I’d never work again. It got very ugly.”
That same year, Clarkson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Peter Hedges’ comedy drama Pieces of April. “I’m definitely supporting in that. Katie Holmes is clearly the lead of that film,” acknowledged Clarkson.
Speaking about the allegations against Weinstein, in which dozens of women in 2017 including Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow accused him of sexual misconduct, Clarkson said that she recognised her problems with the producer were not as serious.
“This was patter to me, what I went through with Harvey. It was still difficult and terrible what he did to me, but compared to so many women who went through so much more, it was odd to talk about it,” she said.
Clarkson later played The New York Times editor Rebecca Corbett in the 2022 film She Said, which is about the investigation into Weinstein, stating that her past issues with the producer were “motivation” for the role.
After several women came forward with damning allegations against the world-famous movie mogul, juries in New York and California found Weinstein guilty of sex crimes, with his accusers giving harrowing testimony at trial.
Weinstein appealed both convictions within weeks. In April 2024, an appeals court overturned his New York conviction, and he is now set to be tried again in a Manhattan courtroom, as he remains behind bars for the Los Angeles charges.
English (US) ·