Patricia Clarkson Joins Martin Scorsese’s ‘What Happens at Night’

The wonderful Patricia Clarkson has joined Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence in Martin Scorsese’s “What Happens at Night.” Mads Mikkelsen is also rumored to be part of the cast. Apple Studios is producing.

The Apple-produced “What Happens at Night” is based on Peter Cameron’s novel of the same name, with the screenplay adapted by Patrick Marber (“Closer”).

The film is being described as a “dream-like story” involving a married American couple who travel to a small, snowy European town to adopt a baby. While staying in a nearly deserted hotel filled with enigmatic figures—a flamboyant singer, a corrupt businessman, and a magnetic faith healer—they confront a strange world that challenges both their marriage and their sense of reality.

Clarkson, who remains an underrated actress after all these years, has always thrived in the margins of American indie cinema. “Pieces of April” remains the touchstone of her career. In “The Station Agent,” “Dogville,” “Far from Heaven,” and “Good Night, and Good Luck,” her talents shone bright. Clarkson will bring an indie soul—intelligent, skeptical, unsentimental—to Scorsese’s film.

This will be Clarkson’s second collaboration with Martin Scorsese. She previously appeared in his 2010 psychological thriller Shutter Island as Deputy Warden McPherson, a supporting role.

“What Happens at Night” is expected to begin production next month in Prague and will complete its nine-week shoot in New York City sometime in March. Rodrigo Prieto will serve as DP. More casting announcements are expected in the coming weeks, with several key supporting roles still left to be filled.

We’re getting a new Scorsese film—he hasn’t been on a film set since “Killers of the Flower Moon” wrapped production in 2021. One imagines Apple is eyeing a 2027 release.