Sharp Objects star Patricia Clarkson's real life nightmare

Foxtel's Sharp Objects holds many secrets. At first Adora Credlin (played by Patricia Clarkson) comes across as your typical southern matriarch: beautiful, swanlike, a little neurotic here and there, but the perfect mother nonetheless.

But don't let that swing in her hips fool you for one second.

She's also complex, damaged and could very well turn out to be a killer.

Clarkson elaborates on the role she was happy to say goodbye to.

Were you aware of the dark nature of Sharp Objects before you accepted the role?

No. I'd only read Gone Girl at that point.

When they offered me the part, the very first thing I said was, 'I want to talk to [author] Gillian Flynn' because I felt like I needed to come clean.

When we met and I told her I hadn't read Sharp Objects, she said, 'Good, good. good! Don't, don't, don't!'

"Don't worry, darling. Momma's gonna make it all better." Photo / Supplied

She liked the idea that I had no preconceived notions of Adora, which everyone has if they've read the book. I walked into this with absolutely no armour. I was defenceless.

You don't get many characters like Adora.

No. I mean, look, there's a lot of bad mothers out there, and I've played a few already, but Adora is something else. She's terribly complex.

I've seen and done a lot over the years and it takes a lot to pull me into the mud, but I like the idea that at 58 things are still shocking me.

Playing Adora, at times, was like losing my mind.

Was it a shock when you read the final scripts?

Oh, yes. Once the real, deep darkness became apparent, I realised I wasn't playing the character I thought I was playing.

That's when I had to dive deep and go to places that are very painful.

And the Emmy goes to ... Photo / Supplied

But Sharp Objects is full of really hurt, damaged people.

The sad thing is these tragically damaged women could have had an extraordinary life together, had they not needed … well, drugs or therapy.

The good thing was I wasn't alone — we were all on a dark journey into hell.

Sounds like it was easy to leave Adora behind when all was said and done.

Absolutely. I didn't want Adora coming home with me.

It's bad enough that my dog had to deal with her onset.