--- title: Patricia Clarkson Says White Men In Hollywood Can't Complain description: "Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously!" canonical: https://time.com/4364149/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-10T14:25:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:42.534Z og:title: Patricia Clarkson Says White Men In Hollywood Can't Complain og:description: 'Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously!' og:url: https://time.com/4364149/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a42600e54d23b60/6988973dfb4eac713288dddb/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' 7th Annual Governors Awards - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Patricia Clarkson Says White Men In Hollywood Can't Complain twitter:description: 'Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously!' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a42600e54d23b60/6988973dfb4eac713288dddb/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Patricia Clarkson Says White Men In Hollywood Can't Complain by [Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly Jun 10, 2016 2:25 PM UTC  Actress Patricia Clarkson attends the 7th annual Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on November 14, 2015 in Hollywood, California. Actress Patricia Clarkson attends the 7th annual Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on November 14, 2015 in Hollywood, California.Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jessica Derschowitz / Entertainment Weekly Jun 10, 2016 2:25 PM UTC Patricia Clarkson says women “have risen” in Hollywood but are “still underpaid” and “still a vast minority” — and she’s shared some more candid thoughts about sexism in the industry. Speaking to [_The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/09/patricia-clarkson-learning-to-drive-interview) while promoting her film _Learning to Drive_, the conversation turned to the outcry over the female-led_Ghostbusters_ reboot. “There are still so many movies made starring 50 men and one woman!” Clarkson said. “A white male actor should never be allowed to complain about anything. Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously! The odds of us having films made which star women… Everyone still references one movie: _Bridesmaids_! _Ghostbusters_ is a great thing and I love these actresses. I can’t wait to see it.” She also noted a double standard in the pressures a film like _Ghostbusters_ faces to be successful. “Men make bad movies that bomb all the time but they’re like, ‘Oh, well, we didn’t do the marketing right,’” she told _The Guardian_. “Eat me!” Clarkson touched on her personal experience with wage disparity in the film industry during the interview, revealing she discovered eight years ago that a male costar was being paid more than her and she “absolutely” demanded the gap be rectified. “When I was younger, of course I had people act inappropriately to me,” she added. “I’ve had certain directors yell at me. But I didn’t stand for it and I didn’t let it go far enough for it to be in any way abusive to me. People didn’t speak up as much as they do now.” Clarkson also described seeking out challenging roles to play among the “desexed, matronly” ones she’s offered. “We always tend to want to soften female characters,” she explained. “Well, unless it’s some ridiculous caricature like a dominatrix or a one-dimensional boss with no life and bad hair. These archetypal older women in movies can sometimes make my skin crawl. It’s about the one dimension, it’s about the lack of any texture.” Read more from Clarkson’s interview at [_The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/09/patricia-clarkson-learning-to-drive-interview). _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/10/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism-interview) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://EW.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4364149/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4364149/patricia-clarkson-hollywood-sexism/"},"headline":"Patricia Clarkson Says White Men In Hollywood Can't Complain","datePublished":"2016-06-10T14:25:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:42.534Z","description":"\"Shut up and sit in the corner. 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