Oscar-nominated actor discusses role as legendary Alabama activist: ‘A true American hero’

When veteran character actor Patricia Clarkson got the news that she was cast as “a true great American hero,” she knew she’d reached a pinnacle in her career. To share the news that she’d be starring in the biopic “Lilly,” Clarkson called her own hero – her mother.

“The first person I called when I said yes to playing Lilly Ledbetter was my mother because my mother raised five daughters so Lilly Ledbetter was a hero in my house – we all were working women,” said Clarkson, who is best known for the TV show “Six Feet Under” and films such as “The Untouchables” and “Pieces of April.” Clarkson gave video interviews last week from her hometown of New Orleans while on a press tour.

“My mother was like, ‘Oh my God, Patti’ – she started crying – you’re going to play Lilly Ledbetter. You’re going to play a true great America hero… It thrilled her to no end.” Her mother, Jackie Clarkson, served as a Louisiana state legislator and a member of the New Orleans City Council. She died in 2024.

The film “Lilly,” out in theaters May 9, tells the story of the Jacksonville, Ala., native who famously fought for equal pay for women. In 1998, when Ledbetter was 60 and nearing retirement from her job as a shift supervisor at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Gadsden, she discovered she had not been paid the same as men with the same responsibilities. She took the company to court and a jury ruled in her favor (due to further legal wrangling, Goodyear never had to pay Ledbetter). Ledbetter continued to lobby for equal pay and President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law in 2009.

The real-life Ledbetter was consulted on the film, which debuted at Hamptons International Film Festival on Oct. 10, 2024, but she died two days later at the age of 86. “I made the conscious choice not to meet her before [filming] and she understood that,” Clarkson said, explaining that she did not want to “imprint” on Ledbetter and influence her performance. She told Ledbetter: “I owe you everything and I want to do the best I can, I want to bring the best of me to you.”

Clarkson was scheduled to meet Ledbetter at the festival but the older woman was too sick to attend. “I felt the best gift I could give this remarkable human being was not to try to play her or create a character but to try to just be her,” Clarkson said. “She said ‘we’re going to meet at the end.’ I said, ‘Yes, Lilly, we’re going to meet at the end.’”

Although Clarkson regrets she didn’t get to meet Ledbetter, she said she is in touch with Ledbetter’s daughter, Vicky.

The movie, set in Alabama, was filmed in studios in Atlanta and in several small Georgia towns. Rockdale County Courthouse in Conyers doubled as Anniston Federal Courthouse in Alabama where Ledbetter’s case was heard. BPS Cores Inc. allowed the film crew to temporarily turn factory buildings into a Goodyear Tire plant.

“We brought in 1,800 tires,” Toby Corbett, the film’s production designer, told the Georgia Film Office. Watch that interview here.

Clarkson said she got a true sense of working in a factory. “It brought you right close to the bone,” she said, “…the smell, the soot, the dirt.”

Still, portraying the tenacious Ledbetter wasn’t easy. “It was a very difficult part to play but I loved every minute of it because I want people to know Lilly,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be an intellectual performance. I wanted her emotional journey to be true. I wanted people to see the sacrifices this remarkable woman made for our country.”

Working on a set with so many women – led by director Rachel Feldman – was a treat, she said.

“Rachel is a wonderful director,” Clarkson said. “She took on the Lilly Ledbetter story and got to know Lilly deeply… It was a fabulous set to work on, there were a lot of women on the set, a lot of women, which was very powerful.

Clarkson has won two primetime Emmys for “Six Feet Under” and another for “State of the Union,” and a Golden Globe for “Sharp Objects.” She was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress in “Pieces of April,” and for a best actress Tony for the play “Elephant Man.”

Ledbetter, who was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, once said, “I told my pastor when I die, I want him to be able to say at my funeral that I made a difference.”

Ledbetter certainly made a difference for pay equality, just as this role made a difference in Clarkson’s life.

“All of the characters I play … they stay near and dear to my heart because I’ve taken a journey with them but I would say playing Lilly has been, for me, one of the highest points in my career,” Clarkson said. “Playing Lilly Ledbetter has been one of the greatest moments I’ve had in my lifetime.”