Ellen Burstyn, whose credits include “The Last Picture Show,” “The Exorcist” and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice Intl. Film Festival, the festival said Tuesday.
The festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera described Burstyn as “an actress of rare intensity and truth,” adding that she had brought “depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters embodying the contradictions and transformations in the contemporary woman.”
Barbera continued, “Revealed in Peter Bogdanovich’s ‘The Last Picture Show,’ which portrayed the twilight of small-town America, and elevated to global stardom by the success of William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist,’ Burstyn won the Oscar for best actress for Martin Scorsese’s ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,’ the film manifesto about women reclaiming their identity and their freedom.”
He noted that “she worked with some of the most important film directors of the time,” listing Alain Resnais in “Providence,” Paul Schrader in “Hardcore,” Bob Rafelson in “The King of Marvin Gardens,” Paul Mazursky in “Alex in Wonderland” and “Harry and Tonto,” Darren Aronofsky in “Requiem for a Dream” and Christopher Nolan in “Interstellar.”
He also said, “Burstyn made fragility and methodical discipline the tools of an approach to acting grounded in emotional truth, attentiveness and generosity toward one’s characters. Her artistry, which could illuminate pain and everyday resilience with dignity, irony and courage, remains an absolute model of authenticity in performance and civic engagement within the craft of acting.”
Burstyn said in a statement: “Wow! I not only get to travel to one of my top most favorite cities in the whole world, I get to return home carrying a Golden Lion in my arms! The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Venice Film Festival! I feel so honored— so happy — so filled with gratitude! Wow indeed!”
The Golden Lion will be awarded to Burstyn on the occasion of the screening of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s short film “Flesh Impact.” Dedicated to Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth, the film showcases Burstyn’s “uncommon talent as a performer,” the festival said.
The cast also includes Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi. Johnson portrays Monroe at the height of her fame, while Burstyn stars as a version of Monroe the world never got the chance to see. “Flesh Impact” takes its title from a phrase once used to describe Monroe’s aura – that she looked so real and luminous on camera that viewers felt they could touch her through the screen.
Burstyn will next star alongside Taika Waititi in Kornél Mundruczó’s “Place to Be.”
The 83rd Venice Film Festival runs Sept. 2-12.
Source: variety.com
