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

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Lesser-Known Movie Facts You Might Not Know

Before The Devil Wears Prada was even published, Fox 2000 snapped up the film rights in a preemptive deal after reading 100 pages and an outline. The manuscript by Lauren Weisberger, a former assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, was generating significant industry buzz. Studio exec Carla Hacken recognized its cinematic potential and moved quickly to option it in 2003. Tasked with writing was Aline Brosh McKenna, who found it hard for anyone in the fashion world to talk to her because they feared being blackballed by Anna. According to McKenna, she did find someone (whom she will never name) who spoke to her, and then read the script. After reading the script, they told her, "The people in this movie are too nice. No one in that world is too nice. They don't have to be, and they don't have time to be." McKenna took the note and made "everyone a bit busier and meaner." The Devil Wears Prada isn't just one of the most iconic fashion films of the 2000s — it's a landmark in fashion cinema, period. But despite it being set in the fashion world, the film had a modest wardrobe budget of just $100,000, pushing legendary costume designer Patricia Field (who is best known for work on Sex and the City) to tap into her deep fashion Rolodex. Field envisioned Andy Sachs as a "Chanel girl" and personally reached out to the fashion house, leveraging her longtime relationship and sharing the script. Chanel eagerly came on board, excited to see their designs on a younger character. This partnership, of course, famously led to Andy's iconic Chanel boots moment. Field ended up pulling about a million dollars worth of clothes for the film. Her work on the movie was also recognized with an Oscar nomination for Best Costume in case you're wondering, Field imagined Miranda Priestly as someone who wore Donna Karan. She ended up pulling many archival pieces from Donna Karan for the film. After seeing a very rough cut of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977, directors like Francis Ford Coppola and Brian De Palma were skeptical, with Coppola saying that they were concerned for George Lucas. The early version lacked finished visual effects, had scenes of WWII dogfights as place holders for space fights, and had no music. All added up, it made it hard for viewers to grasp what Lucas's full vision was. Steven Spielberg, however, was one of the few who believed in the film from the beginning and predicted it would be a massive hit. Wicked was always meant to be a movie. Before it became a Broadway phenomenon, Universal had already acquired the rights to Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel with the intention of turning it into a film. However, producer Marc Platt struggled to adapt it into a screenplay, saying, "[It] felt that it was missing something." One day, he got a call from composer Stephen Schwartz, who knew he had the rights, and Schwartz asked him if he had ever thought of making it into a musical. That's when the "lightbulb went off" in his head, and Platt decided to work with Schwartz to make it into a musical. He thought that if the musical was successful enough, it could be turned into a movie. The term "prequel" is often associated with the Star Wars prequel films. However, those weren't the first movies to use the word. The 1979 movie Butch and Sundance: The Early Years is credited as being the film that helped popularize the term. The movie was a prequel to 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In 1988, when it was announced that Michael Keaton was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Tim Burton's Batman, fans were outraged and very skeptical, reportedly sending over 50,000 protest letters to Warner Bros. At the time, Keaton was best known for comedic roles like Mr. Mom, and many felt he lacked the physicality and gravitas required to play the Dark Knight. Critics and fans also feared that, because of his casting, the film would be too campy or repeat the tone of the 1960s TV series. Similar to Michael Keaton, fans were not happy that Heath Ledger had been cast as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Today, it's hard to even imagine anyone else in the Oscar-winning role. However, when it was first announced that he would be playing the role in 2006, people online lost their collective shit, thinking he was too much of a "pretty boy" for the role, wouldn't have the chops to do it, and overall just a really bad choice. Some even campaigned for him to be removed from the part. After Chris Farley's death (who was originally cast as the voice of Shrek), Nicolas Cage was offered the role by his friend and the head of DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg. However, Cage turned down the role because he didn't want to play an ugly green ogre. In a 2013 interview with Today, he clarified what he meant by that when he turned down voicing the character, saying, "Truth is, I'm not afraid to be ugly in a movie.... When you're drawn, in a way it says more about how children are going to see you than anything else, and I so care about that." In All About Eve, Bette Davis as Margo Channing wears an off-the-shoulder silk cocktail dress in the party scene that is not only one of the most iconic dresses in film history, but has also become synonymous with Davis herself. Legendary costume designer Edith Head designed the dress; however, it was not meant to be off the shoulder — it was supposed to be a square neckline. The dress was made late and delivered to the set right before filming the scene. According to Head, she came to the studio to find Davis wearing a dress that "didn't fit at all... Someone had miscalculated, and the entire bodice and neckline were too big." Horrified, Head prepared to go tell the film's director that the dress was not ready, but Davis shrugged it off, pulled it down around her shoulders, and quipped, "Don't you like it better like this anyway?" As part of her contract, Glenn Close got to keep all her Cruella de Vil costumes from 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. However, according to Close, when Disney "found out how expensive they were, they were unhappy that it was in my contract." Disney then offered to create replica outfits for her to take instead of the originals, but she said no. It's hard to imagine anyone other than Emma Thompson as the deliciously wicked Baroness in Cruella — her performance was pitch-perfect and effortlessly commanding. But surprisingly, she wasn't Disney's first pick for the role. The studio initially eyed Nicole Kidman to play the icy fashion designer. Also, the original live-action Cruella de Vil, Glenn Close, is an executive producer on Cruella. Elton John's journey with Disney began when lyricist Tim Rice was tapped to help complete Aladdin following the death of Howard Ashman, who passed away from complications related to AIDS in 1991, just months before Beauty and the Beast was released. Rice had been brought in to collaborate with composer Alan Menken (who had had a musical partnership with Ashman), but when Disney began work on The Lion King, Menken was unavailable. Looking for a new musical partner, Rice suggested none other than Elton John. The pairing proved legendary, resulting in one of the most iconic and beloved soundtracks in Disney history. The two had worked together in 1982 on John's song "Legal Boys." The Wizard of Oz may be a beloved classic today, but it wasn't a box office hit when it premiered in 1939. With a massive budget for its time, the film struggled to earn back its production costs. Despite critical acclaim, its initial theatrical run fell short financially. It wasn't until years later — thanks to frequent re-releases and television broadcasts — that the film finally turned a profit. Also, the reason the film has become such an iconic piece of pop culture is that starting in 1956, it began having yearly TV showings that helped introduce it to new generations of kids over the decades. The first gay kiss in a film was in 1927's Wings. The movie is about two World War I combat pilots and close friends fighting for the same woman's affection. But many have pointed out over the decades that the film has a subtle gay subtext about the two being more than just friends. Wings is also noted as the first film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Truman Capote, who wrote the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's, disliked Audrey Hepburn's performance as Holly Golightly in the film adaptation. He had really wanted Marilyn Monroe (who turned down the role after being advised against it) to play the character. In fact, Hepburn wasn't even a second, third, or fourth choice to play Holly. After Monroe turned down the role, the producers considered casting Debbie Reynolds, Doris Day, and Elizabeth Taylor in the part before finally settling on Audrey. And for the record, Capote didn't just hate Hepburn's performance; he hated the entire movie in general because it steered away from the darker themes in his book. In the original script for The Addams Family, it was supposed to be revealed at the end that Uncle Fester truly was an imposter. However, Christina Ricci voiced her concern about that ending to the film's director, Barry Sonnenfeld, who decided to change the scene after talking to her. According to Sonnenfeld, the entire cast was unhappy with that ending during the first table read, except for Christopher Lloyd. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Sonnenfeld explained how, with some nudging from Anjelica Huston, Ricci made a really thoughtful case: "Christina explained to me how the audience would be left emotionally adrift if it wasn't the real Fester. Does that mean the real Fester is still out there? And how could Gomez just give up his search for his brother after all these years just because this impostor came into their family?" Contrary to popular belief (internet lore?) Leonardo DiCaprio never turned down the role of Max in Hocus Pocus because he couldn't have accepted even if he wanted it. It's a bit convoluted, but he was asked to come in to read for it, but with director Kenny Ortega being fully aware that he was unavailable to do the movie because he was already committed to filming What's Eating Gilbert Grape and This Boy's Life. According to Ortega, DiCaprio was brought in to read for the role because the casting people knew he would be very good and that it would inspire Ortega to find the right guy to play Max. Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis paid for two Forrest Gump scenes (one was the scene where Forrest runs across the US) to be filmed out of their own pockets. According to Hanks, Paramount refused to increase the film's $55 million budget, and just the running scene alone would be very expensive to shoot. Hanks and Zemeckis agreed to pay for the scenes in return for a larger percentage of the film's box office gross. He said that they both put in a lot of money, but it paid off! Reportedly, Hanks earned $65 million from his percentage of the box office gross. The iconic boulder-rolling scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark is an homage to a very similar thing that happened in the 1954 Scrooge McDuck comic "The Seven Cities of Cibola." In the comic, Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie travel to a lost city, where they find an emerald idol. However, noticing it is booby-trapped, they decide not to take it. What they don't realize is that they have been followed by the Beagle Boys, who decide to steal the idol, which sets off a giant boulder that chases after them. George Lucas — who came up with Indiana Jones — was a big fan of the Scrooge McDuck comics (which were created by Carl Barks) growing up and told Edward Summer, a writer who put together a book of Barks' Scrooge comics, that the boulder scene in Raiders was a "conscious homage" to "The Seven Cities of Cibola." In a sort of full-circle moment, the Raiders logo would go on to inspire the DuckTales one (which of course is a classic cartoon series about Scrooge McDuck's adventures): Whitney Houston was originally supposed to sing a cover of Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" as the main theme song for The Bodyguard. However, they decided to switch the song after they found out that Paul Young was doing a cover of the song for the soundtrack to Fried Green Tomatoes. Kevin Costner then suggested to David Foster (who was producing The Bodyguard soundtrack) that it should be "I Will Always Love You." They also almost ended up doing a slightly different cover of "I Will Always Love You," since the only version Foster could find was Linda Ronstadt's cover. But when Foster spoke with Dolly Parton (who, of course, wrote it), she told him they needed to do her version because it included the "And I wish you joy and happiness" final verse. In the original script for Back to the Future, Marty McFly was supposed to return to 1985 by driving the DeLorean into a nuclear test site in the Nevada desert, where a nuclear explosion would generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power needed. However, they were ordered by the studio to cut a million dollars from the budget. As a result, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis rewrote the climax to take place at the Hill Valley clock tower, using a lightning strike to power the time machine instead. This change not only saved the budget, but it became one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. And lastly, prior to its release in 1997, many critics and Hollywood insiders predicted that Titanic would be a box office bomb. And there were several reasons why it was predicted to be a failure. One of which was that, at the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made and was getting compared to the costly Waterworld, which had been released a couple of years before and had not managed to be a huge success because it, like Titanic, was the then–most expensive movie ever made. Another was that Titanic also took a long time to film. Going way over schedule delayed the release of the movie, as it was originally meant to be released during the summer (the blockbuster movie season). Moving its release date to December set off red flags and only added to the "doomed film" narrative.

Business Insider

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Carrie-Anne Moss is finally having fun

Carrie-Anne Moss has lived many lives. At 30, she got her big break opposite Keanu Reeves as Trinity, the sunglasses-wearing, gun-toting badass who fought the evils of a simulated reality in " The Matrix." In her 40s, she scaled down her workload so she could raise her three kids. Now in her 50s and with her kids off to college, Moss is back on our screens, making a dramatic appearance as a Jedi knight in the "Star Wars" Disney+ series " The Acolyte" and starring opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the second season of his Netflix series "FUBAR." But she still holds her breakout role close — so close that she almost turned on "The Matrix" on a recent plane trip to Los Angeles. "I seriously almost watched it, but I didn't want anyone on the plane to think I was watching it to watch myself," Moss told Business Insider. "I just love the story." While she ended up watching her former costar Reeves kick butt in " John Wick" instead, Moss still cherishes the opportunity to revisit the famous Wachowski sisters movie. "'The Matrix' is one of those movies where, as you grow in your thinking, it becomes something different," Moss continued. "There is so much in it that I know I haven't received yet in terms of storytelling." These days, Moss isn't just poring over her old movies in search of new meaning. Returning to acting in earnest now that her children are older has given her a newfound sense of enjoyment for the craft and the experience. That's especially true of her time on "FUBAR." As the East German spy Greta, Moss not only puts on an accent, but gets to play a juicy arc as a villain — one who kisses Schwarzenegger's character in their first meeting. The role was reinvigorating. "I love working and love so many of the jobs that I've done, but that wouldn't be how I would describe them," Moss said. "Having a job for the first time where I can say, 'That was so much fun,' it makes me want to do more." In the latest interview in Business Insider's "Role Play" series, Moss reminisces about about her years as a struggling actor, getting pulled over while nursing her baby, and the moment when the "Memento" script finally clicked. On getting sick immediately after learning she got the part in 'The Matrix' Business Insider: Let's take it back to the '90s. You're landing a few roles, most notably on the "Melrose Place" spinoff series, "Models Inc." What are you doing in that time to just pay the bills, pay the rent, and get by before the big break? Carrie-Anne Moss: I waited tables a little bit when I first came out. I was a model when I was first breaking into acting, so I made a little bit of money doing that. And then I would get little parts that would just make me enough money to get to the next one. I didn't know about paying taxes, so when I got that tax bill, I was like, "Oh, no! What do you mean?" I was in acting class, I was going to the gym, didn't have many friends, I would make friends on the treadmill, just becoming an adult. I was pretty innocent, naive, and very excited about living this dream that I had had my whole life. LA was so amazing then. Tell me about the moment you learned you got the role of Trinity in "The Matrix." I screen tested for it. I did all these different auditions to get to the final screen test, which was with Keanu [Reeves]. And it was on my 30th birthday. I met Keanu that day and felt very comfortable with him. He was very kind. I was very nervous. I mean, there was so much riding on it. You have to sign your contract before you go into the screen test, so you already know that if you get it how much you're going to get paid. So that just builds more pressure. Yeah, and I kind of didn't expect to get it. But at the same time, I had gone through so many times thinking I wasn't going to get to the next level, and then I got to the next level. So I do the screen test, and then they had a week to decide if they are going to book you. I knew the deadline was a Friday, so the whole week, when my phone rang, you're just wondering. The Friday I was supposed to hear from my manager and my lawyer, they called and said, "They've asked for an extension. They've asked for another week." And I was like, "Oh, god!" So by the next Friday, I had totally let it go, to be honest. It wasn't on my mind like it had been the week before. Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role — it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you. Continue By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use this data to improve your site experience and for targeted advertising. By continuing you agree that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . They called me, and everyone was on the phone, and they told me I got it, and I remember I instantly got sick. I remember that distinctly — I literally felt a head cold. I think I was holding so much stress, I was crying, and I was so happy, and got sick. I remember getting off the phone with them, and I didn't even know how to tell anyone. It was a surreal moment, almost too much. On the scene that convinced her to do 'Memento' My manager is the one who really wanted me to read that. I was reading it, and I was intrigued, but it does take quite a few reads. And I remember, even after reading it a couple times, I didn't fully get it. But when I got to that scene where Natalie turns on Leonard — I remember the big splurge I did for myself after "The Matrix" was I bought myself a lawn chair so I could lay down and read scripts out in the sun. It was a serious splurge — and I remember lying on it and reading that moment in the script and feeling, "Oh. My. God." I just felt I had to do that scene. I knew right then and there. There are other layers to why I wanted to do the movie, but so many years later, that still stands out. I like these characters and these moments where I would never ever have anything like that in my life. There's such freedom in a character that would do that. You can't play that wrong, really. She is so diabolical in that moment, she's so horrible and so nasty. So to be that manipulative and go in there and do that to him like that. I just felt that would be so incredibly fun to do. On losing her acting ambition while making 'Disturbia' Shia LaBeouf Not so much. I had just had my second baby, and I was not really that open to working at that particular moment. I had a 2-year-old and a new baby. I remember my team at the time going, "We really think you should do this." And very rarely did they do that; they really respected my need for being home. I do feel motherly to younger actors now, but back then, I didn't feel that. I really liked Shia and thought he was really talented and cared a great deal about him, but I didn't feel like that. You were literally feeling motherly to your own child. Was your baby on set with you? Yeah. We shot that in LA. I remember getting pulled over on the freeway, nursing him in his car seat at night while I had someone driving me. He was crying so hard to be fed. I was crying. I was thinking, I can't do this. But you figure it out. I did not get a ticket. I was crying, and the baby was crying. I think the cop was just like, "You need to go home." And I was like, "I know!" After "Disturbia," was that the time when you decided to focus more on being a mother than acting? Oh, yeah. I think I had my first child after doing "The Matrix." I think for the premiere of the second one, I was pregnant. It all changed. I was one of those people who didn't even want anyone else to hold my baby. It was all encompassing. It was feeding me so much that it wasn't like I made any kind of mental decision. I actually, physically, couldn't do the work. And I didn't have a built-in support system, and I didn't want it. So when I worked after I had kids, it was, "Can I get help?" So that was really hard. And it sounds so corny, but I would get offers and think about it, especially when my kids were really young, I just thought, at the end of my life, am I going to care that I did another movie or if I held my baby? It was a no-brainer. I have to say I lost a lot of my ambition for the business. But now that the kids have grown, has the drive returned? Yeah, totally different. I don't know if you have ever seen that movie " Searching for Debra Winger." I watched it again recently, and what Debra Winger said is that there's a season for everything. There's a season to be a struggling actor and eating chips and salsa and a little bit of sushi and having enough money to have a coffee — I mean, that was my life. I wasn't going on vacation. I worked a lot because I never went anywhere. So when everyone went home at Thanksgiving, I would get the job. I couldn't afford a plane ticket home. You have your very focused and driven time of really wanting it and fighting for it, and then, for me, a change happened when I had kids. I remember when I went to do "Jessica Jones," it was very jarring. I went to work in New York, and I was commuting a lot, and I literally felt like I didn't even know how to talk to people. I didn't know how to do Uber. Krysten Ritter had to show me how to do it. I mean, going to set and everyone having phones, that was a real culture shock for me. You're doing a take, and the dolly grip is on his phone. It was like, "When did this happen?" On her death on 'The Acolyte' and showing her kids 'The Matrix' It's great to see you working more. You were fantastic in the brief time you were on "The Acolyte." Was it explained to you, going into taking the role, that you would die in the first six minutes of the first episode? Yes. [Show creator] Leslye [Headland] really pitched that to me that she really wanted me to do this because she wanted it to be believable. Did you like that idea? I didn't really think about it. I think the reaction to it from the fans, I kind of thought, "Wow, how did I not think of that?" All of them have seen "The Matrix" at a certain age. Yeah, it wasn't like, "Hey, I really want to screen a movie for you." They knew it, maybe their friends talked about it. This was by the time they were 12 or 13. All their friends came over, and I made popcorn, and all the moms approved; it was a big thing. I remember when my oldest saw it for the first time, the look of shock on his face because I was the mom who said, "Don't use that stick as a gun, we don't play with guns in this house." [ Laughs.] That made me really laugh. When your kids realize you had a whole life that they have no idea —like, "Who is that person?" — that's how it should be. Your kids should be the center of their own world. I've always been very sensitive to that. Kids who have parents who are actors, it's often their parents are the center of attention, they get a lot of attention when they are out in the world. I always stepped back and didn't want that for them.

Tom's Guide

2 hours ago

• Tom's Guide

'The Life of Chuck' star discusses screening film with director Mike Flanagan, his favorite performances from the Stephen King adaptation and more

"The Life of Chuck" is a 2025 summer movie I've long been anticipating. Directed by horror icon Mike Flanagan, this movie is adapted from a Stephen King short story about a man, Chuck (Tom Hiddleston), whose death seems to coincide with the end of the year, it won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and since then, it's been on my radar as a potential Oscar contender. But it only just debuted in the U.S. earlier this month, with select theaters premiering it on June 6 and a wide release on June 13. That made it one of seven must-watch movies to come out on June 6, and it also means you might not have yet had a chance to see it. Lucky for you, I managed to sit down with "The Life of Chuck" star David Dastmalchian. He plays a grieving parent named Josh in the film, and I got to talk to him about the movie — which, for the record, I saw and loved — and why it needs to be the next reason you go to your local cinema. Now, while "The Life of Chuck" might not be a familiar name to you, Mike Flanagan probably is and Stephen King almost certainly is. And if you know anything about those two, you'd likely go into this movie expecting an eerie horror/thriller. It was a really special night, and there was not a dry eye in the house." But that's not what this movie is about. Instead, it's a deeply emotional film, at times uplifting and at times heartbreaking. So I wasn't entirely shocked to learn that when Flanagan screened the movie for some close friends, including Dastmalchian, it made several members of the cast and crew tear up. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. "I cried twice when I saw the movie for the first time," Dastmalchian recounted. "[It] was at Mike's house. He showed a group of us close friends from the game night, showed us "[The] Life of Chuck," and we also, that same night, watched [writer/director] Bryan Fuller's [upcoming movie] "Dust Bunny." It was a really special night, and there was not a dry eye in the house." As for what made Dastmalchian tear up? An incredible performance from Matthew Lillard in the first act of the movie. "When Matt Lillard tries to, you know, encapsulate what it is that's going on with him and why things are starting to feel almost pointless in the day-to-day activities of what people are trying to do. It's such a beautiful speech. It's such a beautiful moment. And I just, I don't know, that's one that will always stand out, very special in my mind." Lillard's performance isn't the only one to watch in "The Life of Chuck" — though it is incredible. In fact, I don't think that there's a single bad performance in the movie, something Dastmalchian was quick to agree with me on. "Every single performance, from Rahul [Kohli] to Sam [Sloyan], Karen [Gillan], it's just a wealth of incredible, incredible work." But when I pressed Dastmalchian for a performance that stood out above the rest, he had a clear answer, and one I couldn't argue with, having seen the film myself. "Chiwetel [Ejiofor], in many ways, carries this film. Dastmalchian declared as I nodded in agreement. "I know that Tom [Hiddleston] is Chuck, and Tom embodies Chuck. And what he does is so wonderful, and it's like a centerpiece of the film. But Chiwetel really carries on his shoulders the weight of what's happening in the world." The Olivier Award-winning actor was also Dastmalchian's scene partner for the film, and as David was quick to point out, that was an incredible experience in its own right. "He's the person in these moments of consultation and conversation with characters like mine, like Karen's, like Matt's, and — my god — can I just say what an incredible scene partner that guy is? Like when I got to give that monologue about the internet and Pornhub and all that stuff, as silly as some of that is, it's also very heartbreaking. And getting to make eye contact with such a fine and deep, resonant actor was really cool." As I already mentioned, "The Life of Chuck" stars Tom Hiddleston as Charles "Chuck" Krantz, whose death seems to coincide with the death of the universe. The story is told in reverse chronological order, starting with the end of Chuck's life and working its way back to Chuck's childhood as an orphan living with his grandparents (Mark Hamill and Mia Sara). Alongside Hiddleston, the movie also stars Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak and Cody Flanagan as younger versions of Chuck. Watch 'The Life of Chuck' in theaters now Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made. Here's what he's been watching lately: