Ellen Burstyn spent years hearing stories about Marilyn Monroe from a man who knew her closely. Those conversations took place on a massage table, long before Burstyn was asked to portray the star.
Now 93, Burstyn plays an imagined 100-year-old Monroe in Flesh Impact, a short film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The role extends the life of a woman who died at 36, allowing her to grow old and keep pursuing work.
In an October 18 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Burstyn explained that her masseur had previously treated Monroe and been her confidant. Ralph Roberts began working with Burstyn after Monroe’s death, and she regularly asked him about his former client.
Burstyn joked that Gyllenhaal had few working actresses in their 90s to choose from. The filmmaker also told her she had long admired her work.
Monroe Could Choose When to Become Recognizable
Speaking to PEOPLE in September, Burstyn recalled two of Roberts’ stories. On an airplane, Monroe went unnoticed while wearing no makeup and a headscarf.
During a separate Beverly Hills walk, the pair initially attracted no attention. Then motorists began honking and calling Monroe’s name. Roberts asked whether she had deliberately made herself recognizable.
“I just felt like being Marilyn Monroe for a minute,” she replied, according to his account. Burstyn interpreted those memories as evidence of a carefully constructed persona, combining innocence and sexuality.
Burstyn Revisited Her Monroe Connection in Venice
Burstyn never formally met Monroe, but she once saw her sitting in a nightclub audience. Early in her own career, she found herself staring at the established star, who caught her eye and gave her a nod.
“She was so startlingly beautiful,” Burstyn told The Associated Press in Venice. She felt that Monroe had recognized her, a possibility that left the younger actress feeling honored.
Roberts also gave Burstyn a more tangible connection to Monroe. He lent her the actress’s own copy of The Thinking Body, which still contained old receipts. He even told Burstyn that she reminded him of his late friend.
Flesh Impact Sends Monroe to an Audition for a Much Younger Role
In the film’s official synopsis, Burstyn’s character enters a small New York theater to audition for a role intended for a 25-year-old woman. When the casting director questions her age, she begins explaining her life and experience as an actress.
The panel gradually realizes who is standing before them. Scenes featuring Dakota Johnson as the younger Monroe interrupt the audition, moving between the familiar screen star and the older woman making her case for another job. Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi also appear.
Genesis commissioned the project to mark the centenary of Monroe’s birth. Its title refers to a description of her screen presence, she appeared so physically immediate that viewers felt they could reach through the screen and touch her.
In her director’s statement, Gyllenhaal said researching Monroe led her through the actress’s performances, relationships and training. The resulting film also became a reflection on working in public as an actress, drawing on the experiences of Burstyn, Johnson and Gyllenhaal herself.
The Premiere Coincided With Burstyn’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Flesh Impact premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival on September 7. Burstyn received the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement that day, with the presentation accompanying the screening.
The honor recognized a career spanning films including The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Requiem for a Dream and Interstellar. Burstyn won her best actress Oscar for Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
Burstyn and Gyllenhaal Traced Their Training to Lee Strasberg
Burstyn told Entertainment Weekly that she recently watched an old western appearance with her son and laughed at herself in a cowboy hat on horseback. She said her early performances relied on instinct; training at the Actors Studio taught her to use her ability consciously.
Lee Strasberg taught both Burstyn and Monroe, although Monroe had died before Burstyn joined the studio. Gyllenhaal studied with Penny Allen, another Strasberg student.
At an earlier Sundance breakfast, Gyllenhaal mentioned Allen, prompting Burstyn to say, “Oh, that’s why you can act.” Directing Burstyn later helped Gyllenhaal recognize their shared approach to performance. As Burstyn put it in their PEOPLE interview, “We’re from the same stream.”