You've said that Patty is smarter than you. Do you really think that?
Well, if you're a lawyer and you're that good a lawyer then you have to have the capacity to assimilate thousands of documents, you have to have a certain kind of brain. Not smarter, just different.

One of the most impressive women I met before I started was top of her field, a litigator, she reads up to ten thousand documents in any case and then when she delivers her statement to the jury it's all extemporaneous, there are no notes. And then with the summation, she said she'll have certain key words or certain key phrases but she thinks it's important to maintain eye contact with the jury so she doesn't read anything. And I think that's a mind! I have the mind of an artist; it's a different kind of intelligence. And I wanted Patty to have that kind of a mind, that ability to go through all that information and find that little tiny thing.

People always talk about women reaching a certain age in this business and then finding it difficult to get major roles. Do you still look for Hollywood roles?
Well we have a great idea for a third Cruella movie but I don't know if we're going to do it. That's a part I could do forever. I love playing characters that are so far out there but you have to be careful that people don't forget that you can do other stuff.

Anyone who's been in this industry as long as I have has to really want to do something if it comes up. I mean, you've sacrificed so much of yourself to your career, being away from the people you love, it has to be worth the time away. I don't want it the same way you do when you're young and you're hungry.

So it comes back to power a little bit.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know if they would have done Damages in New York if I hadn't been a part of it.

So is Hollywood ageist?
Oh, you know the answer to that! More women than men for sure, but the world is ageist, especially for women.

What's the difference for you then?
Well, having people come to me and say do Damages. I don't know, there'll be fewer and fewer as time goes on!