Patricia Clarkson - Why Andy and TLI wanted her to be Justin's mother in Mother Lover

Here is a deeper dive on the casting decision on the Emmy-nominated song, Mother Lover.



It wasn’t by accident that Andy Samberg cast Patricia Clarkson to star alongside Susan Sarandon in Saturday Night Live’s “Motherlover” short. From her breakthrough role as a Nico-esque chanteuse in 1998’s High Art, Clarkson has specialized in playing women who are comfortable in every inch of their skin, roles that, counter to general Hollywood practice, have only increased as she nears her 50th birthday. (We’re not telling tales out of school, either—Clarkson is one actress who’s absolutely forthright about her age.)

In Woody Allen’s new Whatever Works, she plays Marietta Celestine, mother to Evan Rachel Wood’s teenage runaway, a Southern society matron who arrives in New York City as a delicate flower in a pink skirt suit, but soon finds herself succumbing to the city’s myriad temptations. Though she’s played her share of wives and girlfriends, Clarkson has amassed a fascinating collection of past characters, in part by balancing small roles in big movies with big roles in small ones. If you don’t remember her from No Reservations and Miracle, you will as Ben Kingsley’s spurned mistress in last year’s Elegy, or the inspirational but unhinged drama teacher in Phoebe In Wonderland.

She’s sure to make her mark again in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, due out this fall. Clarkson, who introduces herself as “Patty,” gave The A.V. Club a call from her home in New York City.

Click here for the interview:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/patricia-clarkson,29806/
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