Patricia Clarkson reminds us of Dame Helen Mirren in the way that she speaks her mind, doesn't fear the outcome and her points are always valid (and humorous). She's delightfully mischievous in a world where most celebrities are trained to keep their mouth shut, rarely elaborating on a barrage of vacuous, boring and safe statements.
And like Mirren, Clarkson is as classy as they come; an exemplary human being in every which way. In an recent interview with The Guardian for which she's promoting an upcoming flick - Learning to Drive - with Ben Kingsley, the actress addressed the issue of sexism in Hollywood following Game of Thrones actor Kit Harrington's comments on sexist double standards for 'hunks'. Below are just some of her infectious pearls of wisdom.
On Harrington's comments specifically - he's sick of talking about his hair and his body - she didn't hold back: "He’s a sex symbol. Get over it. You have an amazing career and you’re on a hot show. Take your shirt off," she says, cackling.
She also described her own experiences of sexism in the industry, with comments on the portrayal of women and gender inequality in film.
"We always tend to want to soften female characters... Well, unless it’s some ridiculous caricature like a dominatrix or a one-dimensional boss with no life and bad hair. These archetypal older women in movies can sometimes make my skin crawl. It’s about the one dimension, it’s about the lack of any texture."
"When I was younger, of course I had people act inappropriately to me. I’ve had certain directors yell at me. But I didn’t stand for it and I didn’t let it go far enough for it to be in any way abusive to me. People didn’t speak up as much as they do now. Women have risen. But we’re still underpaid and we’re still a vast minority in this business."
Her favourite zinger: "Men make bad movies that bomb all the time but they’re like, ‘Oh, well, we didn’t do the marketing right.’ Eat me!"
She's excited for the all-female Ghostbusters: "There are still so many movies made starring 50 men and one woman! A white male actor should never be allowed to complain about anything. Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously! The odds of us having films made which star women... Everyone still references one movie: Bridesmaids! Ghostbusters is a great thing and I love these actresses. I can’t wait to see it."
Can we all agree that it's time we brought 'eat me' back into circulation?
