Ellen Burstyn, an Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner for projects like ““Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Same Time, Next Year” and “Political Animals,” marvels that she’s still able to act as a nonagenarian.
“When I was in my 30s and I thought about how long my career would last, I was sure I’d be finished by 40. I didn’t think it would go on much longer than that,” Burstyn said during a press conference for “Place to Be,” a quirky drama that debuts at Venice Film Festival on Wednesday. “The fact that I’m 93 and still working is a miracle of some kind that I’ve attracted into my life. I’m totally amazed, and at the same time, deeply grateful.”
“Place to Be” stars Burstyn and Taika Waititi as a no-nonsense elderly woman and arrogant divorced man who form an unlikely friendship as she ventures from New York to Chicago to return a lost racing pigeon to its owner. Anderson and Murray Bartlett play Brooke’s concerned children, while Edgar Ramirez and Lena Waithe have cameos. Anderson skipped the press conference, which was attended by Burstyn, Waititi and Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó. Burstyn has been using a walker because she recently took a fall, so Waititi gently helped her to her seat before the presser began.
Mundruczó said he developed the role of Brooke for Burstyn and noted that he rewatched much of her filmography as he wrote the part.
“It was very beautiful to create a love story for her,” Mundruczó said of the platonic relationship between Burstyn and Waititi’s characters.
“Pigeons are the losers of history. At the beginning, they were so important as messenger birds during war, and [they delivered] a ton of love stories,” Mundruczó said. “And then they became city rats. I found something very touching from these little birds.”
“They shit a lot. Every minute. And that’s a scientific fact,” Waititi said. “Physiologically, there’s something not right with them.”
Plus, Waititi chimed in, “nobody wants to take off a pigeon’s diaper…”
“And then I met her and thought, ‘Oh, for sure, she could be my daughter.’ I felt immediately loving toward her,” Burstyn said. “She’s a wonderful person.”
Burstyn is having a busy festival. The acting legend was in Venice for two movies (the other was Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Marilyn Monroe-inspired short “Flesh Impact”), and she received the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. At the ceremony for her career honor, Burstyn got emotional and broke down in tears as the audience greeted her with a standing ovation.
“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,” Burstyn said on Monday at her Golden Lion tribute, prompting laughter from the crowd. “But this … it’s a lot.”
