Patricia Clarkson says a 'very ugly' interaction with Harvey Weinstein in the 2000s motivated her to star in the #MeToo drama 'She Said'

• Patricia Clarkson said she had a "very ugly" interaction with Harvey Weinstein during her 2003 Oscar campaign.
• Clarkson was the lead in "The Station Agent" but said she faced pressure from Weinstein to change categories.
• Her experience with Weinstein motivated her to take a role in the 2022 #MeToo movie "She Said."

In the early 2000s, Patricia Clarkson's career was an embarrassment of riches. Three of her films premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, two of which, "The Station Agent" and "Pieces of April," would go on to find acclaim during award season.

But Clarkson told Business Insider that acclaim would be accompanied by "threatening" from then-Miramax Film head Harvey Weinstein, who, after an argument with the actor, promised she would never work again.

Leading up to the 2004 Academy Awards, Weinstein had been plotting an Oscar campaign for Clarkson's performance in "The Station Agent." The low-budget indie starred Clarkson opposite then-unknowns Peter Dinklage and Bobby Cannavale as a trio of outsiders who build a friendship at an abandoned New Jersey train station.

Though Clarkson was clearly the movie's female lead, Clarkson said Weinstein wanted her to enter the easier-to-win best supporting actress category. Clarkson pushed back.

"I hate when actors put themselves in false categories," Clarkson told BI when asked about sparring with Weinstein. "I think that's something that needs to be addressed by the Academy. Too often it happens. 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.'"

There was added motivation for Clarkson to campaign in the lead category that year: She was already getting a best supporting actress Oscar campaign from United Artists for her other movie, "Pieces of April," in which she played a mother trying to reconnect with her estranged daughter, played by Katie Holmes.

"I'm definitely supporting in that," Clarkson recalled. "Katie Holmes is clearly the lead of that film. So I went up against Harvey, and he told me I'd never work again."

Clarkson said she stood her ground despite Weinstein threatening her. "It got very ugly," she added.

An attempt to contact Weinstein, who is serving a 16-year sentence on sexual assault charges, was not successful. Weinstein's rep had no comment.

Ultimately, Clarkson got an Oscar nomination for "Pieces of April" in the best supporting actress category — but she never forgot that encounter with Weinstein.

It was one of the reasons she wanted to play New York Times editor Rebecca Corbett in the 2022 movie "She Said," which recounted The New York Times' 2017 investigation that exposed Weinstein's history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women.

Clarkson told BI she doesn't talk about the incident with Weinstein often, adding that many women were emotionally and physically abused by him more severely.

"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. Asked directly about if the incident motivated her to pursue "She Said," she replied emphatically. "Of course it was a motivation to do 'She Said.' Of course it was."

A New York jury convicted Weinstein of sex crimes in 2020 and sentenced him to 23 years in prison. A retrial of his case is currently underway after New York's highest court overturned his conviction last year.

He remains in jail serving a 16-year sentence, as his California conviction on three sexual assault charges still stands. In both cases, Weinstein pleaded not guilty and maintained that all sexual encounters were consensual.