Michael Clayton (2007)

Tilda Swinton: Karen Crowder

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Karen Crowder : Who's this guy they're sending here? Clayton? I never heard of him.

  Maude : Michael Raymond Clayton. Born September 9, 1959 St. Joseph's Hospital, Bronx, New York. Father is NYPD patrolman Raymond Xavier Clayton. Mother, Alice Mary Clayton. Graduates Washingtonville Central High School, Orange County, New York in 1977. Graduates St. Johns University 1980. Fordham Law, '82. Eighty-two through Eighty-six he's ADA with the Queens District Attorney's office. And 1986 he's with the Joint Manhattan Queens Organized Crime Task Force. And then in 1990 he starts with Kenner Boch and Ledeen.

  Karen Crowder : So he's a partner?

  Maude : No. He's listed as "special counsel." Says he specializes in wills and trusts.

  Karen Crowder : He goes from criminal prosecution to wills and trusts? He's been there seventeen years and he's not a partner? This is the guy they send? Who is this guy?

• Karen Crowder : You don't want the money?

  Michael Clayton : Keep the money. You'll need it.

  Don Jefferies : Is this fellow bothering you?

  Michael Clayton : Am I bothering you?

  Don Jefferies : Karen, I've got a board waiting in there. What the hell's going on? Who are you?

  Michael Clayton : I'm Shiva, the God of death.

• Karen Crowder : This is a three billion dollar class action lawsuit. In the morning, I have to call my board. I have to tell them that the architect of our defense was arrested for running naked in the street. What sickness is he talking about?

• Interviewer : So, with all that pressure and workload, how do you keep a balance between work and life?

  Karen Crowder : Balance?

  [laughs] 

  Karen Crowder : I think that's, um, that's something that you search for your whole life, isn't it? Um,

  [Scene cuts to Karen getting ready] 

  Karen Crowder : It's a shifting balance, really. It's, um, you know. You try to, um...

  [She stops, rubs her temples, then the scene cuts again to when she's more fully dressed, looking in the mirror] 

  Karen Crowder : When you really are enjoying what it is you do, who needs balance? There's your balance! There's your balance. When you're really enjoying what it is you do, there's your balance.

• Michael Clayton : I don't know. It could be a number of things.

  Karen Crowder : Well, give me one.

  Michael Clayton : Frostbite.

  Karen Crowder : [shocked]  You think this is funny!