Ellen Burstyn Stays Open to the Universe
Tony and Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn has spent a lifetime doing great work in film and on television. Monumental roles in films like “The Last Picture Show”, “The Exorcist”, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”, “Resurrection”, and “Requiem for a Dream” are only a few of her great performances that have won her numerous accolades, awards and nominations. She stopped by the SiriusXM studios recently to talk about her role in the new miniseries Political Animals. Excerpts of that interview follow below.
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Ron Bennington: What a kind of a strange series this is with a place for us to go. (Ellen laughs) Your character, probably less political than the other people in the family, but I think every family has that one person who’s ready to throw the truth back at everybody else.
Ellen Burstyn: That’s right. That’s my function in the family. I’m the truth teller.
Ron Bennington: What do you think of that family? I know that you get into your roles a little bit, but what is the motivation for that family that stays going after power?
Ellen Burstyn: I think Sigourney’s character Elaine, my daughter, really has the idea of being of service. And that she’s motivated by that, of being of service. And this is how she can best be of service. I don’t know that there are that many people in politics who are motivated by that. But I feel that this character is.
Ron Bennington: When you get involved in a character like this and it’s a series that could go on for awhile, do you start bringing that home with you? Or can you leave it at work?
Ellen Burstyn: Well you know, once you’ve done a film like “The Exorcist”, you certainly learn how to not bring your work home with you. (laughs)
Ron Bennington: Wow.
Ellen Burstyn: I know how not to do that. Although I have to say, Margaret has a very foul mouth. And I have found that I’m starting to get a little looser in my expression than I used to be. (laughs)
Ron Bennington: Really?
Ellen Burstyn: So I kind of have to watch it. So if any 4-letter words fall out of my mouth during this interview.
Ron Bennington: But that language is not comfortable for you.
Ellen Burstyn: Not initially. It took awhile for me to get comfortable with it. And I’m okay with it now. But it had a lot of discomfort at first.
Ron Bennington: That’s interesting knowing that you were here in New York City during the 50’s and 60’s where that language I think started to become more socially acceptable.
Ellen Burstyn: Well, I don’t mean that I object to language. Anybody can talk however they want. That doesn’t bother me. It’s me expressing myself that way. And there are certain swear words I’m more comfortable with than others. I mean Greg (Berlanti), the creator, had some swear words I’ve never heard of before. (laughs) So he had to first of all, explain them to me. And then we had to discuss whether or not I could actually deal with saying them. And we negotiated. I said I’ll give you one of these if you give me one of those, so we worked it out. So I found a level now that I’m comfortable with.
Ron Bennington: That’s also another thing about you Ellen, is that there’s always been so much creativity in your life…
Ellen Burstyn: Well I was gifted with a lot of creative energy. And it took me a lot of years to figure out that that’s what I was dealing with. So the first part of my life, I was always drinking or smoking grass or doing something to quiet myself down. And I finally got hip to the fact that this was creative energy I was killing off and if I use it, I don’t have to quiet down. So then I started taking up other things when I wasn’t working acting, so I got into photography and writing and other areas so that I use that energy. And it’s much more fun than just getting high.
Ron Bennington: But I think it down, we’re almost embarrassed about the fact that we feel drawn to different things. Like people – the feelings themselves overcome people so I think they start to party to try to get over it.
Ellen Burstyn: Oh I know, that’s what I did. I know that the amount of creative energy I was given was too much for me to live with unless I used it. If I use it, if I transform it into some kind of art then it’s a great gift. If I don’t, it backs up on me and I have to kill it off.
Ron Bennington: And the interesting thing is you don’t have to do all these things as great as you’ve done acting. You don’t need accolades for everything that you do. Yet for some reason, I think we’re afraid to do art unless we feel like we’re fantastic at it or perfect at it.
Ellen Burstyn: Yeah, for instance I just, when I came home from Philadelphia where we shot “Political Animals”, when I got home I went around my garden and picked baskets full of flowers and spent a day arranging flowers and putting them all over the house. Now that’s a creative act. And I built an altar with my friend who was visiting me. We made the whole dining room table, a big beautiful altar with crystals and flowers and candles. There’s any number of things you can do and be creative. You don’t have to get high to be creative.
Ron Bennington: Now what was the turning point where you just said I’m going to kind of serve just straight creative energy? I’m going to keep this involved in my life all the time. Did something happen? Or did you discover something?
Ellen Burstyn: I think as I went along it started to dawn on me. And then, when I decided to write my memoirs, I wrote a book called “Lessons In Becoming Myself”. I went back and read my diaries from the very beginning, which I hadn’t read at all. And I was able to see how many mornings I woke up with a hangover. And how much drinking was going on in my life. And I finally said what was that all about? Thank God I was going to a therapist at the time. I said – look it, read this, this is what I said. And he said – yeah, alcohol is poison for you. And I heard that sentence. I heard it. And I went it is. And I just stopped that day. And the moment I did, then all of this creativity started to be available to me. Not that I hadn’t been creative before, but not as much.
Ron Bennington: And the fact is that you had been acting for a long time before you started to get the awards and the kind of roles that we know you for. Was the alcohol kind of holding you back at first or did you just grow into it?
Ellen Burstyn: Well, I don’t know if I was ever held back. When I decided to be an actress, the first audition I got, the first time I walked on a stage was an audition for a lead in a Broadway play. And I got the part.
Ron Bennington: Wow.
Ellen Burstyn: So that was encouraging. So my career really, I never really struggled at the beginning. I’ve struggled more in the last 10 years than I did in the first 10 years. (laughs) So I always had enough success, but the point is that you – it can’t just be when you’re working that you use your energy. You have to do it when you’re not working.
Ron Bennington: No matter what’s happening, you do it all the time.
Ellen Burstyn: Yeah, no matter what’s happening. You have to be doing something to use your gift.
Ron Bennington: Yeah. And so many things and it’s not just alcohol or drugs, but I think we use so many things that turn our minds off. You can use the TV. You could either use it for good and get stuff out of it or just veg out. The same with the computer. You can actually become involved in stuff or you can just kill time. It’s up to you. It’s up to each person.
Ellen Burstyn: That’s right. Sex. A lot of people use sex to kill off their energy. There’s any number of ways to be addicted. Food. Talk. (laughs)
Ron Bennington: One of the things too in your book when I read it a couple of years ago was your spirituality which I think is phenomenal because there’s no definitive “this is it”. This is the place to follow. You’re letting yourself go out and follow all different kinds of things.
Ellen Burstyn: Well, one of my heroes of the past was a woman named Margaret Fuller who was a friend of Thoreau and Emerson. And when she was asked what her philosophy was, she said I accept the universe. And I have to say that really is the right attitude. The universe is so huge and there’s so much going on and there’s so much we don’t know. To narrow it down and say okay, I’m going to believe just in this and close off everything else, doesn’t make sense to me. I’m open to it all. And I go to all of the great teachers like Jesus and Buddha and the “Bhagavad Gita”, the “Koran”. They’re all to me a source of wisdom and spirit, so I find being open to all possibilities is the most nourishing for me.
Ron Bennington: I was talking before you got here about the body of work and the great directors that you’ve been through and worked with over the years. Is it surprising to you when you look back over your career of some of the great work or is this something you thought as a young person you would be able to achieve?
Ellen Burstyn: I always had a sense of adventure of what was before me. And I always thought I would be an actress when I was ready for it. And it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be successful. It’s always surprised me when I’m not successful which has happened a lot. (laughs) And each time, I’m very surprised because I always think everything I do is wonderful. I don’t mean my work, I mean the piece that I’m working on, so whenever something doesn’t work or isn’t accepted, it’s always like – hmmm, where did I go wrong here? But I’ve enjoyed my work so much and my recipe for happiness is to find something to do for a living that you would be happy to do for free. And then you’ll be happy.
Ron Bennington: It’s so great to have the opportunity to see you and just say thanks too for all the stuff.
Ellen Burstyn: And thank you for reading my book.
Ron Bennington: Oh yeah. I’m a big fan. It’s “Political Animals” this Sunday, July 15th at 10 o’clock on the East, 9 o’clock Central, the USA Network.Thank you so much Ellen. We’ll see you next time.
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You can hear this interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio. Not yet a subscriber? Click here for a free trial subscription.
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You can learn more about Ron Bennington’s two interview shows, Unmasked and Ron Bennington Interviews at RonBenningtonInterviews.com.
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