Oscar winner Patricia Arquette: ‘It’s rare to have a powerful female lead in a cop show’
Oscar winner Patricia Arquette: ‘It’s rare to have powerful female lead in a cop show’
Follows up Oscar win with starring role in latest ‘CSI’ franchise
At the 2015 Oscar Awards night, veteran actress Patricia Arquette won the Best Supporting Actress trophy for her emotional performance in the film, “Boyhood.”
Her acceptance speech, however, stole the most thunder from the year’s biggest gathering of Hollywood’s best and brightest stars. In appreciation of the recognition, Ms. Arquette thanked the other nominees, her co-workers on the set and all the people close to her then concluded her short message with a call for wage equality and equal rights for American women.
She proclaimed, "To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America."
High-profile support
It received the evening’s loudest and longest standing ovation from a jubilant audience who included Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez.
In Sir Elton John’s Oscar after party, actress Rose McGowan told a reporter that Arquette’s call is a needed shot in the arm for an industry that employs women of every race, color and creed who deserve to be treated and rewarded equally.
Hillary Clinton also voiced her support for Patricia Arquette’s call in a keynote address to a women’s technology conference in Silicon Valley. Clinton said it’s about time to deal with wage and rights equality.
Powerful role
So to have the 47-year-old Oscar winner play the lead in “CSI: Cyber,” the latest in the hugely successful TV franchise, is a source of pride for the actress.
“My character is a cyber psychologist (engaged in a fight against cyber-terrorism.). For me it was very interesting to see a powerful female lead in a television show about law enforcement,” she said in a phone interview with Yahoo Philippines and other Asian media outlets.
It's still “very rare,” she added to have an actress star in a cop show.
Women of a certain age
As rare, she mused, is having women of a certain age bag good roles.
“I think, there are a lot of great women working who are, you know, over 40, but I also think there are not that many roles for them. If you see how many male leads there are compared to female leads, you'll see a big difference.”
While winning the Oscar became her platform for expressing her sentiments, she is just as grateful for the recognition.
Meaningful
“The Oscars mean a lot to me because it's about actors voting for actors. I'm a fourth generation actor. For a hundred years, there have been actors in my family so the Oscar is very meaningful,” she said a week before she bagged the coveted statuette. Arquette’s siblings, all actors, include Rosanna (“Desperately Seeking Susan”), David (“Scream”), Alexis (“Pulp Fiction,” “The Wedding Singer”) and Richmond (“The Fight Club,” “Se7en”).
“It really means a lot to be nominated for an Academy award. It's something I never expected and it's an incredible honor.”
With “CSI: Cyber,” Arquette might be returning to the smaller screen after her big Oscar win but it’s a, um, medium she’s familiar with. She played the title character in the TV series “Medium,” for all seven seasons of the show, from 2005 to 2010.
‘TV is more exciting’
She also sees how, unlike the movies, TV has become more exciting.
“When I started, there were a lot more small movies being made. Now they're spending lots of money making giant movies than much smaller films,” she said.
“Now, television has also changed in the opposite way. Television changed from kind of boring and not that interesting to being really interesting and very inventive and creative. So some great things are happening in that field entertainment as well.”
Patricia Arquette stars as Special Agent Avery Ryan in “CSI: Cyber,” which premieres on March 5, airing Thursdays at 10 pm, on the same day as the US telecast, on AXN.
