Sony Classics Announces Actors’ Showcase ‘Carnage’

Carnage is the kind of film that makes fans of the dramatic arts’ tongues wag. It’s a filmed presentation of a Tony Award-winning play by Yasmina Reza, adapted by Roman Polanski, starring four of the hands-down best actors alive: Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the Sony Classics film, which was nominated for two Golden Globes (for Foster and Winslet’s performances), March 20 (prebook Feb. 16) on DVD ($30.99) and Blu-ray ($35.99).

The story concerns two New York couples who come to meet because the son of one couple punches the son of the other. One couple, played by Waltz and Winslet, at first seem like stereotypical uppity Manhattanites, he on his phone every two minutes to discuss some Wall Street conundrum, she pressed and polite, eager to keep up appearances and smooth away her husband’s rudeness. Foster and Reilly, on the other hand, play, on the surface, a more down-to-earth couple, consisting of a bleeding-heart liberal who pushes fairness and justice upon her peers, and a working-class man who has worked his way up into the upper middle class and carries its associated manners but also a certain internal darkness.

The film takes these four and places them into a room, bouncing their conflicting views and veneers off of one another until all niceties melt away and what’s left is a truer, harsher view of humanity through these people.

“When the gloves come off, it’s pretty revealing,” Reilly said of the characters.

With a film such as this in which nearly all of the action takes place in one room, between four characters, two weeks of rehearsals took place before anything was shot for the film. But don’t expect any of that rehearsal footage to make the home video release, according to Waltz.

“If I had a say in these things, I would do away with all this ‘behind-the-scenes, making-of’ rubbish,” Waltz said. “It’s nobody’s business. Why would you poke your nose in our rehearsals? Where do we then have our safe space where we try and make fools of ourselves and just fathom what it is we need to do?

“… It’s a huge drag, and I try to avoid making-ofs, EPKs, blah blah, ‘Can you explain your character?’ … Why would I? I would be doing myself and the story and, most of all, your experience watching the film, the greatest disservice possible. I’m just there to incarnate … the character that has no body when it was written.”

If there’s one particular sequence of Carnage sticks out in many viewers’ — and the actors’ — minds, it’s when Winslet’s character throws up the peach cobbler the nervous other couple has been foisting upon them. Her character runs off, mortified, to clean herself off, while the others stick around to deal with the mess.

“It was days of that. It was horrible. It was really gross,” Reilly said. “Everyone’s like, ‘Poor Kate, she had to vomit.’ I had to clean up Kate’s vomit.

“… Needless to say, I haven’t had cobbler since I made the movie.”

Regardless, Reilly said the cast of heavy-hitters got along smoothly.

“There wasn’t a diva in the bunch,” he said.

Both Waltz and Reilly had only the highest praise for Polanski, whose resume includes classics from Chinatown to The Pianist.

“If you look at his movies, the only thing that really kind of strings them all together is like, they’re excellent,” Reilly said. “They’re really well-made and beautifully photographed. … He has a lot of variety as a director. I thought this was a really gutsy movie for him to make.”

When asked what Polanski brought to his performance, Waltz replied: “Precision. Exactitude. Concreteness. All the qualities that I adore and that I really strive for and that I’m grappling with and fighting with, and where I derive all my inferiority complexes and all that.”

Perhaps that precision is why the film’s DVD and Blu-ray don’t include any deleted scenes.

“It’s all there,” Reilly said. “What we said is what’s in the movie.”

The DVD and Blu-ray do include a making-of of sorts in the form of an “Actor’s Notes” featurette, as well as a red carpet featurette and another dubbed “An Evening with John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz.”

Sony Pictures Reunites 'Boyz,' 'Boot' Casts at LA Film Fest

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is reuniting the cast and crew of the Oscar-nominated film Boyz in the Hood at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival, June 23 at at 8 p.m., to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary.

Sony Pictures releases the film as a 20th-anniversary Blu-ray July 19 at $19.95. Cuba Gooding Jr., Nia Long and filmmaker John Singleton will participate in a Q&A following a screening at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium 14.

Sony Pictures also will also screen the director’s cut of Das Boot at the fest, as the studio releases the film on Blu-ray July 5 at $34.95. The two-disc Blu-ray includes 60 additional minutes to the original film, a making-of documentary, seven vignettes touring a German U-boat, two featurettes with first assistant director Maria Petersen and a featurette about the making of the director’s cut, among other featurettes. Sony Pictures will hold the Das Boot screening June 21 at 7 p.m., with a Q&A with director Wolfgang Petersen and star Jürgen Procnow before the film.

Barney’s Version a Feast for Actors

Barney’s Version, the filmed version of Mordecai Richler’s novel of the same name about a TV producer’s storied life, presents several actors of great renown (Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman and Minnie Driver, among others) to sink their teeth into meaty roles that evolve over many years throughout the story. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases the film on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack June 28 at $38.96.

The combo pack includes a piece on Richler, a making-of featurette, a red carpet featurette from the Los Angeles premiere, a Q&A with Giamatti and a commentary with director Richard J. Lewis, writer Michael Konyves and producer Robert Lantos.

The film follows Giamatti as Barney Panofsky, a man who, after his first wife dies during his bohemian days in Rome, takes a job as a TV producer and marries a shallow woman (Driver) he is set up with, only to meet the love of his life (Rosamund Pike) on their wedding day. Although many of the proceedings in Barney’s life are dead serious, such as an accusation of murder and his struggle with alcoholism and the toll it takes on his third marriage, Giamatti says the film’s dark humor manages to sneak through.

“I actually think that the humor weirdly sustains all the way through, even when it gets dark and darker and darker, there’s still weird humor,” Giamatti said.

Although some have pointed out that the role of Barney is somewhat similar to that of Miles in Sideways, the first role for which Giamatti was nominated for a Golden Globe, Giamatti said his Golden Globe-winning role as Barney is unlike that of Miles, in that the previous role was more of a loveable loser type, while Barney seems to always come out on top.

“I suppose there are similarities in that they’re both prickly, difficult guys, but I was never thinking of that character,” Giamatti said.

“Barney’s more of an optimist than that character,” Pike said. “He’s very successful, he gets a lot done. …. There aren’t enough big livers. Everyone’s too worried about who they’re going to offend and what people are going to think of them. Barney doesn’t have any of those concerns. It’s so refreshing.”

Director Lewis said getting Giamatti on board was crucial.

“He just felt right,” Lewis said. “We knew that Paul was kind of the go-to guy. Once we started rehearsing with him … we knew that we had found our Barney. … With Paul and the script, I think we were able to get the attention of a lot of good actors, including Dustin.”

The film also offers strong roles for actors Scott Speedman (“Felicity”) as Barney’s aimless, alcoholic writer friend, Boogie, and particularly Driver as the sassy second Mrs. Panofsky, giving the role biting humor.

“I connected in terms of the self-destructive parts,” Speedman said of his role. “You know, everybody has a little bit of that. But I think he was a really talented guy who sort of loses his way.”

Of her role, Driver said: “I definitely grew up with a couple of girls who were very princessy, as it were. …It was an amalgam of a lot of different people. She was very well-written …I just added a bit.”

Producer Lantos said he wanted to make the film after reading the novel, which made him laugh and cry. Lantos also produced the 1985 film Joshua Then and Now, starring James Woods, which also was based on a Richler novel.

“I was on an airplane when I first read it, and I tried to hold back because there was a guy sitting right next to me, and finally I couldn’t,” he said. “… If it could do that to me, I just took it for granted that it could do that for others.”

 

 

Terry Gilliam Talks 'Imaginarium,' 3D

Genre: Fantasy
Studio: Sony Pictures
Street date: 4/27
Prebook date: 3/25
Price/Format: $28.95 DVD, $34.95 Blu-ray
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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a delirious dream ride, with Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 Monkeys) at the helm. Gilliam spoke with me and other journalists about, among other things, where he comes up with his ideas ("little elves," he says), how he brings them to life without a mammoth budget and what he thinks about 3D.

“I don’t think technology changes or saves anything,” Gilliam said. “3D is interesting, but you’re going to need more money to make a film. And if you need more money to make your film, you’re going to be limiting what you can say and do because that’s just the way it works. The more money, the more you’re constricted in what you say. You’re not out there to disturb people when you’re playing with $200 million dollars, you’re there to reassure them, stroke them, ‘ahhh, come back to my world, it’s going to be like you’ve seen before.’”

Take that, Avatar!

Read the whole story here.

 

 

Patton Oswalt Shows Us His Dark Side in ‘Big Fan’

Those who have heard his comedy act know Patton Oswalt is one of the best comedians alive, revered by comedy snobs who respond to his out-of-nowhere riffs on KFC Famous Bowls, “The Christmas Shoes” and film producer Robert Evans’ sex escapades. I got the pleasure of seeing him in Los Angeles last year at an amazing, sold-out performance at the Largo Theater with fellow genius comedian Louis C.K.

The comedian gets his most notable lead role (unless you count voicing the rat in Ratatouille) in Big Fan, written and directed by The Wrestler writer Robert D. Siegel in his directorial debut. Big Fan hits DVD Jan. 12 at $26.99, from Vivendi Entertainment.

Oswalt says he doesn’t know if Siegel had him in mind when he wrote the role, but it’s not hard to see why Siegel chose him as New York Giants No. 1 fan Paul Aufiero. Oswalt perfectly encapsulates the kind of manner and lifestyle we associate with extreme fandom — working at a parking garage, living in his mother’s house at age 36 and writing out diatribes to recite on sports call-in shows late at night.

Oswalt, though, doesn’t exactly share his character’s pedigree.

“[Siegel] gave us reign to improvise, certainly, but what he realized very early was that I don’t know anything about sports,” Oswalt admitted. “But the stuff that was more personal, like the stuff between me and Marcia Jean Kurtz (who plays Paul’s mother), he was totally cool about us riffing.”

Some of the scenes between Oswalt and Kurtz are among the film’s most hilarious, with Paul teasing his mother about collecting soy sauce packets and his mother teasing him about never dating anyone, except his hand.

“I had never worked with any of [the cast] before, but they’re all such seasoned pros,” Oswalt says of the cast, which also includes Michael Rapaport and Kevin Corrigan.

Oswalt says he understands Paul’s obsession in terms of other media.

“I tend to get really wrapped up in pop culture ephemera — films, books and stuff like that,” he says. “I certainly understand that motivation and what makes people kind of subvert existence.”

After a string of TV roles — a nine-season run on “The King of Queens,” among them — Oswalt is humble about the reception Big Fan and the role has received.

“It feels great. I certainly didn’t expect it. I didn’t even know if we’d get a release after Sundance,” he says, referring to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, at which the film premiered and was widely praised. “It got a lot of great reviews, but it didn’t look like we were going to get any kind of distribution. I felt really happy for [Siegel] because I knew the kind of hell he went through. It was just kind of gratifying all around.”

Oswalt’s latest comedy release, My Weakness is Strong, was released in 2009 in a DVD/CD combo pack from WEA/Reprise.

Actor Jon Foster’s ‘Brotherhood’ Pledges for VOD

Jon Foster (Pandorum, also the brother of actor Ben Foster) stars in Brotherhood, about a fraternity hazing gone wrong — the brothers-to-be are coerced into fake robbing a convenience store, landing one of them in the hospital. Foster plays the ringleader, Frank.

The film won an audience award at least year’s South by Southwest, or SXSW, film festival. Brotherhood also stars Lou Taylor Pucci (who co-starred with Foster in The Informers), Trevor Morgan (Vampire) and Arlen Escarpeta (Friday the 13th).

Phase 4 Films has recently launched into the video-on-demand market and released the film through VOD nationwide Feb. 18, the same day it opened theatrically in Dallas (the film also released theatrically in Los Angeles Feb. 25). A DVD/Blu-ray release date has not yet been set.

Foster talked to IndieFile about the film and its release strategy.

IndieFile: How do you feel about the film coming out on VOD alongside theatrical?

Foster: I’m glad that people get to see it. I think that’s the most diplomatic thing to say. These are tough times to be selling movies right now, and you always hope that the biggest group of people get to see it. Here’s the thing: I watch more movies at my house than the movie theater, so that’s the positive way of looking at it.

IndieFile: SXSW and Sundance are embracing VOD and the Internet as a way to get smaller films out there. What do you think about using those means to deliver films alongside a smaller theatrical release?

Foster: Times are changing, and media’s changing along with it dramatically, to make entertainment more accessible to people so they don’t have to travel to go to them movie theater. It is an ordeal to go to the movies, as much as I love it. It’s much easier to pop on my Netflix and hang out comfortably. But I really think it’s important to have a group experience when being entertained. If you’re going to go to a standup comedy club, if you’re the only person in the audience, you might laugh, but it’s going to be a lot more fun if you’re with a bunch of people. So I think that’s the only downside to having access to this kind of media as opposed to going with a group. But I’m a Netflix junkie, so I can’t speak negatively about VOD or any of these new forms of sharing media that these new companies are doing right now.

IndieFile: Did you record anything special for the eventual DVD release of Brotherhood?

Foster: I guess they were released on the Internet recently, they were these little segments of these pledges being interviewed to see if they wanted to be in or not. I think those were released. We did some real hazing for the three days before the movie started, and they filmed that. But that film was destroyed by the actors; that won’t be released. To be entirely honest with you, everything we shot is in the movie. If someone was filming between scenes, it was unbeknownst to me. We may have done some sort of mock interview in the basement of the house one time; that might be on the DVD.

IndieFile: What was the response like at SXSW?

Foster: Oh my god, it was a party. People were literally standing up and screaming at the screen and cheering. It really was like a party. That was the most fun, being at SXSW, because the audience, it was so up their alley. I get booed a lot at the Q&As because they hate Frank so much, so that’s really fun for me to do. I love that festival; it’s one of my favorites.

IndieFile: Were you ever in a fraternity? Did you want to be?

Foster: When I was young, I think I wanted to be, but I didn’t go to college either. I’ve had experiences with friends who had really fond memories of their fraternities and have stayed at fraternities over the years. Some of them are great, and some of them are not great. It depends on the people in the establishment that make it good or bad.

IndieFile: This is a made-up story, but the ideas ring true. Could you relate to that desire to belong so much that people would be willing to do things like fake rob a convenience store?

Foster: Yeah, absolutely. A good example is in the hometown I grew up in Iowa, there’s this place called Dead Man’s Bridge, which sounds so stereotypical. It was really rickety and falling apart and you would dare each other to run across it. It was super dangerous, but you’d do it anyway. That was early hazing, a way to kind of put yourself in danger to create a bonding experience. In any group there’s always going to be something that takes place to make bonding happen. And it really depends on the people and the establishment that makes that bonding enjoyable or pleasant or not. I did plenty of silly, stupid things that I probably shouldn’t have growing up because the crowd I was running with was doing it.

IndieFile: I recently got to interview your brother, who was really great. Do you hope to ever star with him again?

Foster: Oh yeah. We just finished a movie together called Rampart about the Rampart police scandal in Los Angeles in the late ’90s. He played a crackhead, and I played a cop. That was really fun. We kind of made a pact to each other that we would keep on working in each other’s stuff from now on, so we’re always looking.
 

Indie ‘Kids Are All Right’ Cleans Up at Golden Globes

Independent films did exceedingly well at the 68th Annual Golden Globes, with wins for Best Picture and Best Actress (Annette Bening), Comedy or Musical, for Focus Features’ The Kids Are All Right, which is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

That film’s win again raises the question as to how films benefit by having been released on DVD before major awards shows. Crash and The Hurt Locker famously won the Best Picture Oscar over bigger movies, possibly in part due to their easy availability on disc building hype. The Kids Are All Right was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Universal Studios Home Entertainment in November of 2010. The only other film nominated here that was available on disc was Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, although that film and the other nominees (Red, The Tourist and Burlesque) didn’t exactly give Kids a run for its money, critically speaking.

Indies, in total, won eight major awards at the ceremony. The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Co.) got a Best Actor win for Colin Firth, and Barney's Version (Sony Classics) scored a Best Actor, Comedy or Musical, win for Paul Giamatti. The Weinstein Co.’s The Fighter won Best Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo) and Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Drama. Additionally, Denmark’s In a Better World won Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Mini-Series / TV Movie went to Sundance’s Carlos.

“We applaud the independents that have won tonight in a tough race,” said Independent Film & Television Alliance President-CEO Jean Prewitt. “HFPA’s nominations and awards have again highlighted the breadth of fine film-making from both studios and independents.”

The King’s Speech (which will be released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, the first Genius title releasing by Anchor Bay after a deal signed Jan. 4), Barney’s Version (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), The Fighter (Paramount), In a Better World (Sony Pictures) and Carlos (MPI/IFC) have yet to be slated for home video release.
 

Katie Aselton, Dax Shepard Deliver ‘The Freebie’

A one-night stand seven years into marriage is proposed as the solution to a couple’s doldrums in The Freebie, coming to DVD Jan. 11 ($29.99) from Phase 4 Films.

Katie Aselton, a former Miss Teen USA contestant and current writer, director and actress, said the idea for the movie came to her while shooting the breeze with a friend.

“When you're having a glass of wine with a friend, those are the sort of things you talk about,” she said. “The point of what we were talking about was, ‘Remember how easy it was to be single ... and you could just be whoever you wanted to be?’ When you're in a relationship, you owe it to that person to talk over every single thing. Sometimes you just want to give your husband a fake phone number and say, ‘Don't call me.’”

Aselton was looking for something to sink her teeth into after not getting the kind of experience she wanted to as an actress. Her husband, Mark Duplass (writer/director of Cyrus, with brother Jay Duplass), suggested taking his approach — if you’re not getting the projects you want, come up with your own.

“I was just a frustrated actor who was just sitting around,” said Aselton, who may be exaggerating a bit — she and her husband co-star FX’s fantasy football TV show “The League.” “My husband, who’s a big do-it-yourselfer just said, ‘You should just do it on your own!’”

Aselton said everything fell into place from there, with Aselton in the lead actress role, but casting her male counterpart proved more difficult after the first actor didn’t work out. Dax Shepard of “Punk’d” fame came on board at the 11th hour. His addition proved crucial, as his performance has been garnering rave reviews after the film aired at Sundance.

“I met Katie for the first time about five hours before we started shooting,” Shepard said. “Our second day of filming was all of our intimate, bedroom scenes. I have no explanation as to why we had good chemistry, but I know that if we hadn't, the movie would have been very flat.

“We got lucky. She's awfully cute though, so that certainly helps.”

The situation for The Freebie’s Annie (Aselton) and Darren (Shepard) doesn’t quite go as planned, but Shepard thinks it could work for some couples.

“There are a couple billion relationships happening around the world, and I'm sure every conceivable permutation is being played out somewhere,” he said. “I don't think there is a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to love someone.”

Despite coming up with the concept, Aselton is dubious of the prospect of infidelity working to strengthen a couple’s relationship.

“Beyond that first night, it's work after that,” Aselton said. “One night away from what you have now is probably not worth it, especially if you like what you have. The idea of exploring this couple that is sort of over-therapied in their own minds, where they think they are the couple who could completely sort of challenge tradition and monogamy and social ideas and they’re the ones who could rise above and beyond all that — I liked watching them fall on their ass.”

Of the DVD release, Aselton said home video means “everything” to independent films such as this one.

“Most of these small films, that’s where their life is,” she said. “It's hard to do well theatrically in the market today. For the most part, most of us do a theatrical release so we can get great reviews for a DVD release because that really is where we will find our audience. I think if people are going to be spending $14 for a movie, you're going to want to go see big productions … you're gonna see Inception.

“Unless you are a part of the small few who want to support independent film, you're going want to get your money's worth and then you'll save these small movies for the small screen.”

The Freebie DVD includes a commentary with Aselton and Shepard.
 

‘Handsome Harry’ Explores Gay Issues in Military

Steve Buscemi is an actor who knows how to make an impression. Though he appears at the beginning of Handsome Harry, coming to DVD Dec. 28 from Screen Media Films ($24.98), the celebrated character actor’s shadow hangs heavy over the film about an aging ex-Navy man who finds his old buddies to atone for an unfortunate attack they inflicted upon their friend.

“My work is the same whether it’s one scene or many scenes,” says Buscemi, who recently has seen his profile raised even further as the lead in Martin Scorsese’s Atlantic City crime drama “Boardwalk Empire,” on HBO. “I knew it was an ensemble-type film. I like those kinds of films. Bette Gordon, who directed, is an old friend, and she was one of the directors from the East Village days of the ’80s that was doing independent film before it was labeled independent film.”

The film stars Jamey Sheridan (“Trauma,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”) as Harry, a man who can’t shake a past event involving his old navy crew beating one of their own when they find out he’s gay. Buscemi stars as the friend who brings it all back when he calls Harry out of the blue, to say that he’s dying and wants to make amends. The film also stars Aidan Quinn and Campbell Scott as members of the ex-Navy crew Harry visits.

“It’s timely with the whole — hopefully — repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because a lot of the argument seems to be about the culture of the military and ‘will they be able to adapt,’” Buscemi says. “I just think at the heart of it, it’s bigotry.

“I think it’s ridiculous that gay men and women are not allowed to serve openly. I know this film doesn’t address that in an obvious way, but it does address the culture of certainly not all the military but especially back when this film takes place, that this male-dominated culture could not tolerate even a hint of homosexuality, and that to me is a pretty sad and tragic story.”

Sheridan, who also serves as a producer, says the film does have an anti-DADT message, but it also works on many other levels.

“It was, for us, a cross between film noir and Greek tragedy,” Sheridan says. “It was about a guy who has erased himself and has hidden himself from himself, and succeeded. I saw him as a man in a blackout, like a drunk can go into where they don’t even know where they’ve been or six months or two weeks. And then, slowly, the psyche comes up, with Steve Buscemi and a fateful phone call and then slowly the layers are peeled away from Harry’s eyes.

“I must say there is a part of me that wanted to speak to the gay community, but I think it was on a much deeper level than Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I wasn’t thinking that specifically. I was reaching to much deeper things I think.”

He and Gordon did commentaries for the Handsome Harry, which appear on the DVD alongside a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Patricia Clarkson’s Craft Shines in ‘Cairo Time’

Actress Patricia Clarkson has a knack for playing complicated and often-unsympathetic characters who are rendered so real you can’t help but feel there’s a reason to every one of their actions. Whether it’s been as a manipulative drug addict in a reoccurring role on “Six Feet Under” or as a mother whose caustic nature is mirrored by the cancer destroying her body in Pieces of April, for which she was nominated for the best supporting actress Academy Award, Clarkson has never shied away from difficult roles.

Her latest is as a woman waiting for her husband’s delayed arrival in Cairo who embarks upon an unexpected romance with an old friend of his (Alexander Siddig) acting as her guide, against a vibrant Egyptian background, in MPI/IFC’s Cairo Time, on DVD ($24.98) and Blu-ray ($29.98) Nov. 30. Clarkson took time out from acting as a judge for the London Film Festival to speak with me.

IndieFile: What drew you to this project, and what generally draws you to specific films?

Clarkson: I'm drawn to the script first and foremost. I really think a script begins and ends with its content. With Cairo Time, it was the lack of words that drew me, oddly. There was the still simplicity of the script and a character I really haven't played before. I'm always looking for something that will take me in a new direction and truly challenge me. I'm looking for something that's going to transport me and wile me.

IndieFile: Your roles often encompass women who are quite difficult in an unflattering way, while other times you have played more angelic, wifely roles (The Green Mile). To what do you attribute that?

Clarkson: I don't know, I guess maybe the character for me comes first. We seek what we want. I want to play a complicated character, I am drawn to women that are complicated — whether they’re sympathetic or unsympathetic doesn't matter to me.

IndieFile: Your career seems to have been on an upward trajectory for the past 15 years or so. Do you think the rules of Hollywood have changed or are changing for women over the age of 40 and 50?

Clarkson: We keep hoping. I mean, look, I think Hollywood will always have a certain amount of ageism. In essence it will always be a youthful medium, but I do think independent film has helped radicalize and shaken the industry. With the rise of independent film — even though right now it's in a different place, with a lack of distribution — I do think with the rise of independent film, people realize, oh, there is an audience, and these films are incredibly exciting, and these films take people to a different place when you allow women of a certain age to carry them and when those characters are really truly a large part of the film and are integral to the film and are the most colorful part, and not secondary. That's what's shifting I think, hopefully. It's still somewhat difficult.

IndieFile: Even as you’ve starred in more mainstream Hollywood films, your career still seems at least in part devoted to independent film — I’m thinking of movies like this one and Blind Date. Is that something important for you to maintain?

Clarkson: I don't really care about the labels, independent or studio. I do love making independent films, obviously. It's given me a great career path. High Art really shifted everything for me, really placed me into the independent film world. But it was just serendipitous. I just walk into this audition and I didn't know it would really change my life in this single film. It can happen. That's what we always dream of happening, and I was one of the lucky ones that it did. But I didn't set out thinking, oh my goodness, I’m going to make independent films. But I did get swept into this independent film world that I am very much proud to be a part of. I have more opportunities in the independent film world, and I'm drawn to a lot of directors that work in that world. But I do like making studio films. Don't get me wrong.

IndieFile: What’s a film of yours on DVD that you think people who enjoy your work should check out?

Clarkson: I've done so many beautiful films. I want people to see Blind Date. It didn't have a wide release. I want people to see Elegy. I think there's a beauty and power in these films, and maybe not a lot of people saw them. And I loved working with these directors. Married Life, a beautiful film I did with Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan and Rachel McAdams. It's got a beautiful style and some people have really found it on DVD lately.

IndieFile: Regarding Cairo Time, how was it filming in Egypt? Had you been there before?

Clarkson: No, I'd never been to the Middle East, I'd never been to that part of the world, so it was sort of art imitating life, my character experiencing this city for the first time. So it was an awakening, a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I was there for seven, almost eight weeks, and I fell in love with the city. I think it's hard not to. I miss the Nile. I recently saw the American Ambassador to Egypt, I saw her in Cairo and in New York, and just we just talked about the power of the Nile and the power of Cairo. The Cairenes who worked on the film will always be a part of me in some ways because it was just a beautiful experience from beginning to end.

IndieFile: Did you do anything special for the Cairo Time DVD?

Clarkson: I have mixed feeling about actors being on DVDs. I love commentaries, I love the extras that come with the DVD, but this movie is so quiet and reserved, I love the fact that Alexander and I aren't a part of it. It's [director] Ruba [Nadda] and the DP talking about this canvas and this completely different world we were a part of. It's such a delicate, quiet film.

(The Cairo Time DVD/Blu-ray also includes an alternate ending, making-of featurette, Toronto Film Festival Q&A and short films by Nadda.)