Ellen Burstyn: “Marilyn made ‘flesh impact’ her own instead of seeing it as an insult”

At 93, Ellen Burstyn is still taking on new roles. Venice has awakened to the force of her performance as a centenarian Marilyn Monroe in Flesh Impact, an emotional short film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, the president of the Biennale jury. Dakota Johnson plays the younger Marilyn.

In the film, the older Monroe auditions for a role. Burstyn is also appearing in Place to Be, directed by Kornél Mundruczó, where she forms a friendship with a younger man played by the “adorable” Taika Waititi. The festival is honoring her with its Golden Lion for a career that includes more than 150 films, from Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show to The Exorcist and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the 1975 film that won her the Oscar.

“

But we saw each other, so to speak.

Burstyn rejects the idea that she knew Monroe at the Actors Studio. Monroe had already died when Burstyn began studying there, although Burstyn says they did meet briefly. At a nightclub, Monroe sat across from her, then looked at her and waved. Burstyn remembers thinking, “Did Marilyn Monroe just recognize me?” She says she carried that moment with her forever.

“

Did Marilyn Monroe just recognize me?

Burstyn also heard extensive stories from Ralph Roberts, a masseur who had worked with Monroe. Her favorite story concerned the construction of Monroe’s persona. Roberts told her that Monroe could travel without makeup and with a scarf over her head without attracting attention. But when Monroe wanted to become Marilyn Monroe for a moment, she could trigger horns, shouts and a sudden crowd reaction simply by appearing as herself in public.

“Ralph told me that she created that character,” Burstyn says. Monroe had the effect on humanity that Billy Wilder called “flesh impact.” Burstyn says Monroe took the phrase for herself rather than treating it as an insult.

“

Ralph told me that she created that character.