Patricia Clarkson says director Brian De Palma was a 'saving grace' for getting her extra pay on 'The Untouchables'

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Patricia Clarkson and Kevin Costner sitting adjacent to each other

Patricia Clarkson made her surface debut successful the deed 1987 movie "The Untouchables."
Director Brian De Palma decided to widen Clarkson's role, which meant she got paid more.
"That other period helped maine out," Clarkson said. "I mean, I had pupil loans to pay."

Brian De Palma knew Patricia Clarkson had imaginable — and 1 tiny determination helium made ended up being "a godsend" to her successful her aboriginal career.

As a caller postgraduate of Yale School of Drama with conscionable 1 Broadway recognition to her name, Clarkson came to De Palma's deed 1987 transgression thriller "The Untouchables" with small acquisition but a batch of potential. So De Palma decided to widen Clarkson's tiny relation playing Catherine Ness, the woman of Kevin Costner's quality Eliot Ness, to adhd a changeable of her quality to the film's climactic courtroom scene.

"I was acceptable to beryllium done, and Brian decided that I had to beryllium successful the courtroom scene," Clarkson told BI. "So helium told Paramount, 'Look, I conjecture we'll person to clasp Patti for a period due to the fact that we're not shooting the courtroom for different month.'"

Patricia Clarkson sitting successful a courtroom successful The Untouchables

At the time, Clarkson was making standard — the minimum complaint a national histrion tin beryllium paid connected a acceptable (she said the complaint astatine the clip was "maybe $1,000"). Even so, De Palma extending her enactment ended up being "a godsend."

"That other period helped maine out," Clarkson said. "I mean, I had pupil loans to pay, I was surviving successful New York. It was a redeeming grace, and it was each due to the fact that of Brian De Palma."

Clarkson would find acclaim successful the decades that followed, earning 2 Emmy wins playing Sarah O'Connor connected the HBO bid "Six Feet Under," receiving an Oscar information for "Pieces of April," and starring successful a slew of memorable movies ranging from "Shutter Island" to "Easy A." Her caller movie, "Lilly," a biopic astir the activistic Lilly Ledbetter, is successful theaters now.