Ellen Burstyn received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, September 7, as a new short film presenting the 93-year-old actor as an imagined 100-year-old Marilyn Monroe made its world premiere. The honor and screening placed one of American cinema's longest careers at the center of the 83rd festival in Venice, Italy, before an international film audience.
The 17-minute Flesh Impact was written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and created around the centenary of Monroe's birth. Dakota Johnson plays Monroe at the height of her fame, while Burstyn portrays the older life the star, who died at 36, never had. The cast also includes Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi, according to the Venice Biennale.
The Associated Press reported that the project began after Genesis chief marketing officer Amy Marentic approached Gyllenhaal about making a work connected to the Monroe anniversary. Gyllenhaal conceived an elderly Monroe auditioning alone on a stage, an unusually vulnerable setting for an actor, and said Burstyn was her first choice for the role.
Burstyn told AP that she never met Monroe personally, although they shared a massage therapist who lent her Monroe's copy of The Thinking Body. She recalled once seeing Monroe at a nightclub and receiving a nod from her. Burstyn described Monroe's public image as a deliberately created persona, an idea that became central to Gyllenhaal's film.
Festival director Alberto Barbera said Burstyn's performances across more than five decades brought depth to women reflecting social change. Her roughly 150 screen credits include The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Requiem for a Dream and Interstellar. She won the best-actress Oscar for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and has also received a Tony and two Emmys.
The ceremony accompanied a particularly active Venice appearance for Burstyn, who also appears with Taika Waititi in Kornél Mundruczó's festival feature Place to Be. Burstyn credited her Actors Studio training and mentor Lee Strasberg for sustaining her career, while reflecting on the greater presence of women behind the camera since she began. The festival continues through September 12, keeping the city at the center of the international film calendar.
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