Patricia Clarkson has played sinners, saints, and now, the singularly most impactful equal pay activist, Lilly Ledbetter.
Clarkson leads eponymous biopic “Lilly” about the hard-working Alabama tire factory supervisor whose goal was to lift her impoverished family into the middle class. As Lilly endures harassment in her work environment for the sake of the best paycheck in her county, she later realizes that she has been duped — and paid significantly less than her male counterparts — just as her retirement approaches. Lilly earned less than half of what her male colleagues received for 20 years, and she begins a historic fight toward justice to remedy the sexist practice.
As the official synopsis teases, Lilly “discovers that the system has been cheating her, paying her close to half of what the men with the same job were earning. Outraged, Lilly fights this injustice to the Supreme Court, the corridors of Congress, and eventually The White House — all while powerful forces try to shut her down. ‘Lilly’ follows the transformation of an ordinary citizen into the face of an issue, illuminating the impact a single courageous person can have.”
John Benjamin Hickey and Thomas Sadoski co-star. The trailer debuts on Equal Pay Day, which raises awareness of the gender pay disparity.
“Lilly” is directed by Rachel Feldman, who co-wrote the script with Adam Prince. Feldman also produces along with Allyn Stewart, Kelly E. Ashton, Kerianne Flynn, Jyoti Sarda, Simone Pero, J. Todd Harris, Christine Schwarzman, and Julie Kaufman.
Clarkson has been outspoken about her support for gender equality across her career. The actress told The Guardian in 2016 that women are still “underpaid” in Hollywood.
“When I was younger, of course I had people act inappropriately to me,” she said. “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…Women have risen, but we’re still underpaid and we’re still a vast minority in this business.”
She added, “Men make bad movies that bomb all the time but they’re like, ‘Oh, well, we didn’t do the marketing right.’ Eat me!”
“Lilly” premieres in theaters May 9 from Blue Harbor Entertainment. Check out the trailer below.
