A part in Alexander Payne’s new film "The Descendants" was the break of a lifetime for Hawaii actress Patricia Hastie, but it came with a wrinkle unlike any you could imagine.

Payne, one of the most thoughtful directors in Hollywood and an Oscar winner, too, cast Hastie as the wife of the film’s leading man, George Clooney. During filming last year in Honolulu, Hastie spent a lot of time opposite the handsome star.

And the catch for the mother of three?

Her character is in a coma.

"It’s a Catch-22," Hastie said. "You’re elated to get the part but at the same time disappointed as an actress that you don’t get to show your range. But what an opportunity. And I was very happy to have it."

If it wasn’t the range Hastie would have liked, it was still exactly what Payne sought. Hastie did such a good job that the director considered her a principal performer despite the fact that she had no dialogue and spent almost the entire film as a motionless hospital patient.

"It’s much more difficult than I think people realize," she said, lounging on a couch at the hilltop home in Hawaii Kai she shares with husband, Dale, a senior vice president at Title Guaranty Escrow.

Local moviegoers have their first opportunity to see "The Descendants" tonight when it screens as the closing-night selection at the Hawaii International Film Festival. It arrives in Hawaii, the setting for its emotional tale of love and loss, after generating praise at film festivals in Telluride, Colo., Toronto and New York.

The film from Fox Searchlight Pictures and Ad Hominem Enterprises has already been dubbed Oscar-worthy.

Hastie’s performance has received praise as well. During a panel discussion at the New York Film Festival, both Payne and actress Judy Greer, who has a powerful scene in the movie, said Hastie took a seemingly ordinary part and made it special.

"Looking at her, I was so moved by this woman," Greer said. "She was like a prop but she was real, and I guess that is what it is like to look at someone in a coma. It was so moving to see her there and see how hard she had to work to be that character."

Clooney is the star of the film, but as the comatose wife, Hastie’s character is the reason for much of the story line.

Based on the acclaimed first novel by Hawaii author Kaui Hart Hemmings, "The Descendants" follows attorney Matt King — a descendant of a 19th-century Hawaiian princess and a white banker — as he deals with a mounting family crisis.

One of the state’s largest landowners, King must address the reality that his comatose wife is about to die from a brain injury — and that she was also having an affair.

t the same time, he is trying to reconnect with his two rebellious daughters and negotiate the sale of his family’s extensive land holdings.

Hastie’s previous acting experience is notably brief.

Although she modeled in her teens while growing up in California, she was sidelined after being hit by a drunk driver and would go on to raise three sons — now all in college — before the acting bug bit in 2006.

A Hawaii resident for 10 years, she has acted in a few short films and has been a stand-in and body double for Cate Blanchett, Cameron Diaz and Cecile De France. Twice she shot scenes in ABC’s "Lost," and both times the scenes were cut.

Hastie’s audition for the part of Elizabeth King was unusual: There were no lines to read. She simply sat with Payne and casting agent John Jackson, who pointed a camera at her and talked story.

"They did ask me to relax and close my eyes, but it was only for a moment," Hastie said. "I think it was a test of my nerves."

The part required a physical transformation for Hastie, a small, wispy woman with short blond hair and piercing blue eyes.

Several weeks prior to filming, Payne told her to start ignoring much of her personal hygiene. She couldn’t have her nails done, shave her legs, trim her eyebrows or color her hair. And while Hastie won’t say how old she is, she noted that the gray returned.

"It was very freeing," she said. "Being a woman is hard. There’s a lot of upkeep."

To complete the look of a frail, bedridden patient, Hastie lost 12 pounds. For several days she drank a mixture of cayenne pepper, syrup, sea salt and lemon juice. After that, she ate only salads until production was done.

"It’s the first time in my life I looked at a McDonald’s commercial and was hungry," she said.

The real work, though, began when she closed her eyes. Hastie had to remain relaxed for extended periods but not fall asleep, she said. To relax, she rubbed lavender oil on herself for its soothing effect and consumed a drink made with ingredients that would calm her down.

And she would meditate while keeping an ear tuned into the dialogue and the director’s voice.

"You don’t want to react to the dialogue that’s going on around you," Hastie said. "People think it’s easy to lay there and ignore that your nose is itching or that you’re afraid your eye might twitch. Your movement can ruin a scene for someone."

But dozing was inevitable. Once, during a serious, silent moment, Hastie thought her work was finished even as she started to drift to sleep.

"I forgot where I was and I jumped up, and they were coming at me with a camera," she said. "Suddenly it was very, very quiet in the room."

Hastie spent about two weeks on the set, much of it with Clooney nearby.

"He’s very unpretentious and very relaxed, which helped me relax," she said. "He’s very much a gentleman."

She wasn’t there to admire his good looks or charm and took the experience in stride, she said. Besides, she’s already hung out on sets with Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood.

"You’re not there as a fan," she said. "It’s your responsibility as an actor. But of course, it’s hard not to wiggle your toes."