Ellen Burstyn is the real deal. I read her memoir, Lessons in Becoming Myself, when it first came out (which math is telling me was 20 years ago, inexplicably). The book is honest and spiritual; Ellen is a seeker of truth, in life and art, always on the path. I have no doubt it’s why she still works so much at 93-years-young. Case in point: Ellen has two projects screening at the Venice Film Festival this year. The first is a short film, Flesh Impact, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, in which Ellen shares the role of Marilyn Monroe with Dakota Johnson. The second film is Place to Be, another collaboration with her Pieces of a Woman director Kornél Mundruczó that also stars Taika Waititi, Pamela Anderson, Édgar Ramírez, Lena Waithe, and Murray Bartlett. What a cast! But that’s not all; Venice also took the opportunity to honor the living legend with their Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement. The ceremony took place on Monday, with Gyllenhaal — who’s also serving as jury head this year — introducing Ellen:
“Ellen asked me to let you know that she recently took a fall,” Gyllenhaal said from the podium. “She’s OK, but she is moving more slowly — which is fine because it’ll give us more time to clap.”
Indeed, the room burst into applause as Burstyn, clad in a vibrant yellow gown, sauntered onto the stage with a walker. Burstyn cried and wiped away her tears with a tissue as she was greeted with a heartfelt, minutes-long standing ovation.
“You’re making me cry!” she said, which did little to stop the enthusiastic claps and cheers. “You’re overwhelming me, you know! I don’t know how to recover from that generous greeting.”
…“You can’t imagine how meaningful this is to me. It’s one thing to win an Oscar, a Tony or an Emmy — all of which I’ve won,” she said, prompting laughter from the crowd. “But this … it’s a lot.”
Since she learned she’d receive the Golden Lion, she said she’s been reflecting on her life — and what it means to get a career tribute.
“At 93, it means you have a fair amount of lifetime to look back on,” she said. “I thought, maybe it’s not just a record of what you’ve accomplished, but what you’ve learned.”
During her speech, she recalled that while shooting Martin Scorsese’s 1974 romantic dramedy “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” she was required to film a nighttime driving scene while the director and the cinematographer were on the hood of the car, blocking her view of the street.
“I couldn’t see the side of the road; I could go off and kill all of us,” Burstyn said. “But then I noticed, this is a two-way road. There’s a white line in the middle of the road, and I can see that. So all I have to do is look up to the left, and follow the white line. And that’s how I managed to not kill Martin Scorsese.”
She then drew a parallel between the funny story and the fraught state of the U.S. right now, saying: “I wanted to close out saying how deeply appreciative I am of this Golden Lion and I hope — no, pray — that my own country will find its own white line.”
Ellen’s not crying, I AM! What a lovely speech. The bit about reminding everyone she’s a triple crown acting winner (Oscar, Tony, and Emmy; she’s only a Grammy short of full EGOT) was hilarious. And then she was just so elegant in how she wove the anecdote from filming Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore into a metaphor for the sh-tshow the US is today (clearly I’m not as elegant as Ellen). And bless her, Ellen had already worked a press conference on Monday before attending this ceremony. In that talk, Ellen described her own brief encounter with Marilyn Monroe in real life, paid tribute to the late great Gloria Steinem, and shared some truly priceless advice Bette Davis gave her when she was starting out. (And for those keeping score, this marks the second Bette Davis-mentor story we’ve gotten this week.)
I think perhaps my favorite comment, though, which is so quintessentially Ellen, was her saying that it’s not merely what you’ve accomplished, it’s what you’ve learned along the way. In that vein, permit me to share a moment from Ellen’s memoir that’s stayed with me (and I’m paraphrasing): she’s in a Sufi camp in the Alps being led in a meditation outside, and the teacher says, “Feel your connection to the earth and look up into the sky.” Then the teacher continues, “Now, remembering the earth is round and we’re looking out at all different directions at any moment, feel your connection to the earth once again, and this time look DOWN into the sky.” I don’t know why, but this story delights me, and I thank her for sharing it! A little reminder that perspective is fluid, not solid; that what we think is down might actually be up.
Brava, Ellen, on a career well-crafted and a life well-lived.
Photos credit: Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon, Imago/Dave Bedrosian/Avalon, Izumi Hasegawa/Avalon, IPA/INSTARimages, Roger Wong/INSTARimages, Getty
Ms. Burstyn is charming and unique in her many roles, I am glad that her actual personality is this admirable.
A great and legendary actress. Congratulations. Well deserved
Bette Davis had a mentor the actor george a r l i s s. He discovered her and insisted she co star with him in the film the man who played God. And she co starred with him in other films. He was an academy award winner and when he called her to offer her the co starring role she thought someone was playing a prank on her pretending to be arliss. She found out it was no prank. It was commendable of her to pay it forward and advise aspiring actors and actresses.