NEW YORK -- Marcia Gay Harden is another actor whose name is being tossed around as Oscar bait for her work in Mystic River. Harden plays the wife of a man (Tim Robbins) she fears may be capable of violence.

"Clint didn't sensationalize the tragedy," says Harden, who is animated and enthusiastic in conversation. "It wasn't about the get, it wasn't about the chase, it wasn't about the ACTION!" she hollers. "It's a character piece, like a good old-fashioned drama. Thank God I'm ready for films that are about other than being blonde or something in Legally Blonde 10. I want to see films that reflect the suffering and the joy of human beings."

Harden -- who is also in the critically acclaimed Casa de Los Babys -- won an Oscar three years ago for her performance as Lee Krasner, wife of Jackson Pollock in the film Pollock. Did that change her professional life?

"No, except now I have to answer that question all the time," she says, laughing. "But it was a personal honour and a pleasure. And of course, you dream about it as a young actor when you're getting off the bus in your character shoes when you first come to New York. I waited so many tables. I was a Kelly Girl temp for so long. After Miller's Crossing I went back to babysitting and catering. So it was that classic dream: You too, if you work and put your mind to it and with a little bit of luck and a little bit of talent, can come to this place. And you're thrilled that you get to play such a rich, full character."

She adds, "Still, however, most of the rich, full characters are offered to the same four actresses who seem to have a record of putting bums in seats. What matters is if you make a lot of money, and then you get certain kinds of offers. I was already kind of established by the time I won, I'm the same kind of actor I was before, I do the same kind of movie I did before, I'll still do a low-budget/no-budget role, I still do a small role in the big-budget Julia Roberts film, and in Mystic River, I had the pleasure of being a real ensemble player.

"So. Darn it! I'm the same!"


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