thenationofartists.com

By Elliot V. Kotek
(Moving Pictures Special Politics issue, fall 2008)

With two performances onscreen in Toronto – for Jodie Markell’s film from a Tennessee Williams screenplay, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, and opposite Martin Landau in Nik Fackler’s charming-yet-subtly powerful Lovely, Still – the inimitable Ellen Burstyn dropped into the Moving Pictures Media Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival for a chat and a cup of tea.

Moving Pictures: Welcome to the Moving Pictures Media Studio in Toronto. Having seen the film last night, I think the appreciative audience got something unexpected from an unexpected director. What was it like working with Nik?
Ellen Burstyn: Well, he’s unique, you know. He’s young and wrote it when he was 17. And he directed it when he was 23. He’s very bright, but he’s also very innocent in a way. He’s a remarkable combination of mature and pure. He’s a musician. He’s also a painter. And I looked at some short films he made before I agreed to do the film, and they were just brilliant and showed real depth and strange story twists, an unexpected take on things. I know he’s going to have a wonderful career. And I’m curious how long that innocence can last as he passes through the meat grinder of Hollywood.

By the way, Nik managed to get the mayor of Omaha to turn off all the Christmas tree lights that night and to turn them on for us when we needed them to go on. Only in a small city can you prevail upon the mayor to turn out the lights of the city. I’m sure, when people look at it they’ll think, “Oh, it’s done digitally or something.” But it wasn’t. The lights of Omaha went out!

MPM: Is it a different acting experience working with someone new? Does it feel more collaborative?
Burstyn: I always tend to collaborate whether I’m asked to or not. I don’t mean to say that I impose my desires on a director, but I offer ideas, usually. And so does Martin Landau. So it was pretty collaborative, although I don’t want to take anything away from his writing of the script, because the script was there and we loved it and went to work with that. But then, of course, in the moment things would occur. Scripts grow as they’re filmed.

MPM: Last night at the premiere, did anything surprise you or hearten you about the way the audience received the film?
Burstyn: Well, of course, one is very relieved to hear those laughs and see people crying and responding the way they did then, and again at today’s screening. They obviously really loved the film, and that made me very happy. And there were less friends and family at this screening today! So I think, even though it’s a film about love between older folk, that there’s a young sensibility to the film itself.

MPM: Speaking of a young sensibility, Martin Landau labeled you both old farts last night.
Burstyn: Yeah, I wish he would stop that.

MPM: You’ve obviously known each other for a long time, connecting back to the Actors Studio. What does it feel like when you come here and get to reunite with the film’s family - Martin, Adam Scott, Elizabeth Banks?
Burstyn: You know, after I left, I worked with Elizabeth again, because we did [Oliver Stone's] W. together. She plays Laura Bush and I play Barbara Bush. So, she was my daughter in this one and my daughter-in-law in that. So it was really exciting, and, of course, to be reunited here was great fun.

MPM: Has being involved in W. heightened your senses around this time of year when things are getting pretty political?
Burstyn: Well, I’m pretty political. I was at the Democratic Convention in Denver. And I’m a big Obama fan. And I just hope that the young people go and register to vote – and vote – because I feel confident that if young people vote, that Obama will get in. I think it’s time for a change in our country. 

Photo by Scott McDermott.