Director puts his friends first

Clarkson is on something of a roll. She's already received considerable praise for her supporting performances in "Far From Heaven" and "All the Real Girls," and is now getting awards-talk for two films, the upcoming "Pieces of April" and "The Station Agent."

"I'm just fortunate to know Patty," McCarthy said, "and fortunate that she's chosen to make a career out of appearing in smaller movies like mine. She deserves every bit of praise she receives, and then some."

Clarkson already won a Special Jury Prize award at this year's Sundance Film Festival for her performances in three films that were shown at the event — "The Station Agent," "All the Real Girls" and "Pieces of April." "The Station Agent" also won two other major prizes, the Audience Award for best dramatic feature and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

"To get that sort of reaction to my first movie was just unbelievable," McCarthy said. "To be honest, I was happy to even get my film in there in the first place." He said Sundance also provided his first real-audience reaction to the film, "with regular people, not the typical festival audiences." That was after the Saturday night awards banquet, on the festival's final Sunday, when out-of-state festivalgoers are heading home and local audiences attend screenings of award-winners.

"I think that was the moment when I really started believing in the film, in myself," he said. "It was as close to a perfect moment, career-wise, as you can get."

McCarthy said he's been hesitant to undertake any other projects since "The Station Agent" wrapped, because of the tremendous emotional and time investment a movie requires. "I've spent four years of my life on this film, and I want to be able to give it all of my attention. I'm not ready to let it go just yet."

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