Ellen Burstyn On Pieces of a Woman And Why She Won't Retire [Interview]

Despite being snubbed by both the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, humor us as we hold out hope that Ellen Burstyn earns the Oscar recognition she deserves for her work in “Pieces of a Woman.” 88 years young, Burstyn gives one the most searing performances of the year. And the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award winner is more than worthy of what would be her seventh Academy Award nomination.

READ MORE: Vanessa Kirby and how a “Euphoria” edit room visit led to “Pieces of a Woman” [Interview]

Inspired by events in the lives of director Kornél Mundruczó and screenwriter Kata Wéber, the drama finds Burstyn as a mother fixated on punishing a midwife (Molly Parker) who is potentially legally responsible after her daughter (Vanessa Kirby) has a miscarriage. The film features some impressive scenes with both Burstyn and Kirby. What’s more remarkable about those moments is that many of them came together on set with almost no rehearsal. Something the legendary actress, who began her career on the stage, feels much more comfortable with.

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“In the seventies, when we were making all those wonderful films, we were rehearsing. For instance, for ‘The Last Picture Show,‘ we went to the Texas area where we were going to shoot. Two weeks ahead of shooting we rehearsed every day in the sets where we would be shooting,” Burstyn recalls. “All of the actors were in one hotel by the side of the road with nowhere to go, except with each other. So we had dinner together and we hung out in each other’s rooms and sang songs and told our stories and cried. I mean, of course, [Cloris] Leachman and I were both going through divorces and so we related our marriages and our difficulties in tears, but always in our Texas accents. ‘The Exorcist‘ we rehearsed for two weeks before in the sets. And that was usual. That’s gone. You just don’t get to rehearse anymore. I had the experience once of doing a film where there was a scene in bed with my husband and they scheduled that as my first scene. So, I got in bed with my husband and I introduced myself before we made love. That’s not my favorite way to work.”

READ MORE: ‘Pieces Of A Woman’ Filmmakers Reflect On Their Own Miscarriage, Shia LaBeouf & Casting Benny Safdie [Interview]

Over the course of our interview, Burstyn reveals why she won’t stop acting, her thoughts on miscarriages being more public, her surprise over being the first choice for the role, and much more.

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The Playlist: When I spoke to the directors, they told me that you were their dream actor to play this part and they never in a million years thought that you would say “Yes.” First of all, I’m wondering if you knew that…

Ellen Burstyn: No.

Oh, you didn’t know that?

No.

What was it about the script that made you want to commit to the project?

Well, three things. First of all, I just generally liked the script. I thought it was really interesting and interesting characters. I didn’t know Kornel’s work and they sent me “White God,” have you seen that?

Yes.

Oh, God. I just love that film and that last shot in that picture, I still don’t know how he did it with all those dogs. And I got really excited about him. And then I asked, “Well, who’s playing Martha?” And they’ve told me Vanessa and I had seen Vanessa in “The Crown” and at the time I went, “Who is that?” Because I was so impressed with her work. And so that was three wins: script, director, actress. So I said. “Yeah, sure.”

How did you see your character, Elizabeth, in the context of the story? Do you feel that she’s justified in her feelings over the court case?

Well, first of all, I always feel my character’s feelings are justified otherwise I couldn’t play them even when they’re crazy. I wouldn’t be able to justify them because I’d have to be in sympathy with the character in order to get into their heads and hearts and point of view. She describes her birth as, which is a really traumatic birth and she somehow managed. We don’t know the whole backstory of Elizabeth, but from that very difficult birth, she has gotten to America and gotten a nice home and a nice family and obviously made a life for herself. And I think somehow that people who overcome hardship and trauma early on strengthened themselves. I think she’s a strong character and Kata wrote this beautiful metaphor for her introducing her as someone who’s staging, staged as all of her friends’ homes. Not for money, just for fun and demonstrates. You see this chair. It’s just a boring chair, but then you put a cushion on it, and it livens it up.
She’s somebody who wants to improve things, fix problems, make things better than they are. And I think that seeing her daughter withdrawn and in pain and not relating and turned inward, she wants to fix her. She wants her to not hurt so much. She wants her to take action. Get up, step out of yourself and improve the situation and she’s challenged by that. So from her point of view, she wants the best for her daughter. So that’s how I’m in sympathy with what she wants, how she sees is the best for her daughter. But her daughter has another point of view, which is not this. She doesn’t share it with her mother. So that happened very often with mothers and daughters and there’s a conflict.

And her character also has this need for, I don’t want to know if revenge is the right word, but she wants…

Justice.

Yes, she wants justice in her mind. She can’t let it go. Where did you feel that came from in her? Is she a very morally, sort of black and white sort of character?

I felt that she needed her daughter to speak out, take action, not just smolder with her pain. And so taking action, in this case, was confronting the problem. Obviously, this woman did something wrong, otherwise is the baby wouldn’t have died. So she wants her to challenge her and have her admit that she did something wrong. That’s Elizabeth’s point of view.
She’s trying to fix it to make it put the blame on the other person, not her daughter. So her daughter will be free of all this pain. She can blame someone and that makes sense to her. So then I have to be committed to her point of view.

I spoke to Vanessa a couple of weeks ago and she had said that there wasn’t a time for a lot of rehearsal in your guys’ scenes together. As an actor, especially in a film like this, is that something that’s important to you, or are you more of someone who just rolls with the punches and “We’ll work it out on set”?

All of the above. I love to rehearse. I come from the theater where we rehearse and then we keep on tinkering with a performance throughout the run and finding new levels and new depths and surprises, so that’s my background and that’s what I’m comfortable with. And in the seventies, when we were making all those wonderful films, we were rehearsing. For instance, for “The Last Picture Show,” we went to the Texas area where we were going to shoot. Two weeks ahead of shooting we rehearsed every day in the sets where we would be shooting. All of the actors were in one hotel by the side of the road with nowhere to go, except with each other. So we had dinner together and we hung out in each other’s rooms and sang songs and told our stories and cried. I mean, of course, [Cloris] Leachman and I were both going through divorces and so we related our marriages and our difficulties in tears, but always in our Texas accents. “The Exorcist” we rehearsed for two weeks before in the sets. And that was usual. That’s gone. You just don’t get to rehearse anymore. I had the experience once of doing a film where there was a scene in bed with my husband and they scheduled that as my first scene. So, I got in bed with my husband and I introduced myself before we made love. That’s not my favorite way to work.

I can imagine. Kata noted that this was a personal story for both her and Kornel as it was based on something that happened to them. Did you sense that from them while you were making the film?

Absolutely. We spent four days together at my apartment before they left for Montreal to shoot, Kata, and Kornel, and Vanessa and Shia [LaBeouf] and myself, and talking about the characters and the script and the story and relationships and reading the script and working on it. And there, Kata told us that it was similar to an experience of hers. I did not ask her to talk about it, which now that I’ve done the film I’ve seen probably would have been an all right thing to do because one of the things that they all hope will happen is that people will be able to talk about birthing experiences that didn’t turn out well, because there is a sort of feeling of not wanting to intrude on a tender place in someone, I didn’t know if it was the death of a baby or a death of a child young. It turns out it was a miscarriage, but I didn’t learn that until after we were finished shooting, but I did sense that they’re both very tender people and Kata’s had her family trauma of the Holocaust. And I think all of their personal experience was feeding into this story in various ways to my character and through Vanessa’s.

I think one of the more interesting aspects of the film is that we think the world is in a more progressive time, but this issue isn’t talked about very often in public. And I don’t know if you know this, but Chrissy Teigen was very public about her miscarriage in the fall. People were sort of surprised about it, and but it started a conversation. Is this something that surprises you that people are still so quiet about? Or is there something inherent about it that makes it that way?

I don’t know this firsthand. I didn’t read the articles, but that some people were very critical of her having talked about it publicly. Yeah. So that’s one reason why people don’t want to talk about it, but also I think that the feeling is that it’s a very personal and private thing and unless you know the person very well, you don’t want to intrude into that area. As it turns out, it’s better that they do talk about it, but it has to be in their own time when they’re ready for it.

Pieces, Vanessa Kirby, Ellen Burstyn, Kornél Mundruczó Pieces of a Woman,

Before I let you go, Ellen, I just wanted to ask you. Your career is amazing and many actors would be envious of it and you are still acting today and I’m sure no one wants to be reminded of that, but it’s sort of amazing. What makes you still want to act?

Well, I think artists of all kinds love to do their art. Painters don’t stop painting at a certain age and musicians don’t stop playing their instrument at a certain age, so it’s just what I like to do. I mean, after all, when you’re good at something you like to do it. It gives you satisfaction, and I feel like I got birthed with some ability in that direction and then I studied hard with a great teacher and who taught me the art of acting, not just what I could do because I knew how to get out there and tap dance and please the people, but he really taught me how to go into the depth of a character and that’s a very interesting exploration. Now, what would I do if I retired? Sit and look at television? I mean, that’s who I am. I’m an actress and that’s how I define myself.

“Pieces of a Woman” is available worldwide on Netflix.