DistantNews
Support us
🇮🇹 Italy /Culture & Society

Ellen Burstyn receives career Golden Lion: ‘Hollywood is a hamburger factory’

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Ellen Burstyn received the second career Golden Lion at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, following George Clooney’s award at the opening.
  • At a press conference, she described Hollywood as a “hamburger factory” and said opportunities for women in filmmaking have changed enormously, although equality has not yet reached 50-50.
  • Burstyn is appearing in two out-of-competition films, including a short imagining Marilyn Monroe living to 100.

Ellen Burstyn arrived at Venice with a career Golden Lion, two new performances and a lifetime memory of Marilyn Monroe.

The actress, born in 1932, received the second career award at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, following George Clooney’s honor at the opening. She is also appearing in two films screened out of competition: Flesh Impact, a short directed by international jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Place to Be by Kornél Mundruczó. Gyllenhaal will also present the tribute to Burstyn.

Hollywood is a hamburger factory.

· Ellen BurstynBurstyn’s criticism of the industry’s effect on filmmakers.

In Flesh Impact, Burstyn plays “Marilyn imagined if she had reached 100,” she said with a smile. Burstyn never met Monroe at the Actors Studio, because Monroe had already died when she began attending. But she once saw her in a nightclub, seated nearby. Monroe looked at Burstyn and nodded, a moment the actress said she still carries in her heart.

Burstyn said conditions for women in Hollywood have changed enormously since she began working. At first, she said, women were absent from sets, behind the camera and in film crews, apart from actresses. The change began gradually, helped by people such as Gloria Steinem, and women moved from roles such as script secretary and camera assistant toward broader integration. The industry has not yet reached a 50-50 balance, Burstyn said, but it is getting closer.

Marilyn imagined if she had reached 100.

· Ellen BurstynHer description of the character she plays in Flesh Impact.

She also spoke warmly about staying connected with younger filmmakers. Talented directors, she said, are often at their most creative at the beginning of their careers. After making several films and passing through what she calls Hollywood’s “hamburger factory,” they can lose some of their innocence and spontaneous creativity, becoming disillusioned and professional.

Asked which stories deserve to be told today, Burstyn pointed to the United States. “My country is offering many stories to explore from an artistic and political point of view,” she said. “I would start there.”

My country is offering many stories to explore from an artistic and political point of view. I would start there.

· Ellen BurstynHer answer about which stories deserve to be told today.
About this summary

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog