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Patricia Clarkson is recalling her experiences working with Harvey Weinstein on the movie The Station Agent
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Clarkson says that things got ‘very ugly’ with the movie producer when he wanted her to switch Oscars categories in the hopes of securing an award
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The actor notes that “of course” the incident was a motivating factor behind her decision to take a role in the 2022 movie She Said about Weinstein’s downfall
Patricia Clarkson is recalling an “ugly” encounter with Harvey Weinstein.
The star, 65, revealed to Business Insider that during the 2004 awards season she had two hotly tipped movies, The Station Agent and Pieces of April.
Clarkson noted that at the time Miramax head Weinstein, now 73, had been “plotting” an Oscars campaign for her performance in the former, a low-budget movie she starred in alongside Peter Dinklage and Bobby Cannavale.
Related: Harvey Weinstein’s 5 Children: What to Know About His Elder 3 Daughters and 2 Kids with Georgina Chapman
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She then said that the producer wanted her to enter the supposedly easier-to-win Best Supporting Actress category at that year’s Oscars rather than the Best Actress category, despite the fact that she was one of the movie’s leads.
“I hate when actors put themselves in false categories,” Clarkson told Business Insider. “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 Station Agent, so I said, ‘No, Harvey, I’m not going into supporting.’ “
Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
Patricia Clarkson on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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The Six Feet Under star added that she was “definitely supporting” in Pieces of April — in which Katie Holmes played the lead — further motivation for her to stick to her guns.
“So I went up against Harvey. And he told me I’d never work again,” Clarkson recalled.
She claimed that “it got very ugly.”
Ultimately, Clarkson received a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Pieces of April, with the Oscar going to Renée Zellweger for her performance in Cold Mountain.
Related: Harvey Weinstein Reacts to Adrien Brody Mentioning His Kids in His 2025 Oscars Acceptance Speech
Etienne Laurent-Pool/Getty
Harvey Weinstein in court on Oct. 4, 2022 in Los Angeles
Reflecting on her decision to take the role of New York Times editor Rebecca Corbett in the 2022 movie She Said, which recounted the story of Weinstein’s downfall, Clarkson told the outlet, “of course” the encounter was a motivating factor.
She then clarified that though her experience with the producer was “difficult” and “terrible,” it was “patter” compared to “many women who went through so much more.”
Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted of third-degree rape and committing a criminal sex act in 2020. In April 2024, however, his 2020 New York convictions were overturned, and he is currently awaiting a retrial. Weinstein has remained behind bars due to his 2022 convictions for sex crimes charges in California.
The mogul, who denies all charges against him, is serving his prison term at Rikers Island in New York City after beginning his sentence at Wende Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
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