At 92 years of age, Ellen Burstyn could be forgiven for wanting to stay home in her native New York, but instead, the Oscar winner has touched down in Australia to shoot the new movie Place to Be, alongside Taika Waititi.
Filming began in Sydney this week at Disney Studios in Moore Park, with five-time Cannes laureate winner Kornél Mundruczó directing. The drama documents the unlikely friendship of an elderly woman (Burstyn) and a middle-aged man (Waititi) as they travel from Chicago to New York to return a racing pigeon to its home.
Ellen Burstyn and director Kornél Mundruczó as the cameras roll at Disney Studios in Moore Park.Credit: Simon Harsent
For Burstyn, a long-time critic of US President Donald Trump, the film not only provided an opportunity to revisit Australia (she made her Australian stage debut in the play 33 Variations in 2019) but also a timely escape from the president’s second term.
“Oh, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be away from what’s happening in my country right now, there is no better time to escape America,” says Burstyn, whose film credits include The Exorcist, Requiem for a Dream, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Interstellar.
“It’s just heartbreaking for me to see what’s going on, and I hope somehow there’s some divine intervention that will save us from the path we’re on right now under Trump.”
Thankfully, the chance to reunite with director Kornél Mundruczó has been a helpful distraction. The pair last worked together on the Oscar-nominated Pieces of a Woman, which also starred Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Benny Safdie and our own Sarah Snook.
Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky with Ellen Burstyn.Credit:
Burstyn spent only four days shooting on that project, but according to Mundruczó she made quite an impression. “She was so unbelievable that I knew we had to work together, so my wife Kata [Weber] wrote the Place to Be screenplay with Ellen in mind,” he says.
“She is one of the greatest actresses of all time, and you know in Hollywood there are not many roles for older women, let alone at [Ellen’s] age, which is a travesty.”
Burstyn is equally effusive in her praise of Mundruczó. “I’ve worked with many legendary directors and Kornél is undoubtedly one of them,” she says. Quite an endorsement considering her CV includes films with Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, Jocelyn Moorehouse and, of course, Martin Scorsese.
In fact, Burstyn is often credited for helping launch Scorsese after tapping him to direct the 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore following the success of his independent film Mean Streets.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore landed Burstyn an Oscar for her role as a widow who travels across America with her teenage son, and it cemented Scorsese as a bankable director.
Ellen Burstyn and Martin Scorsese on the set of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.Credit: THE RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE
“In my experience from working with the likes of Marty [Scorsese], the most important quality for a director is that he isn’t wildly temperamental,” Burstyn says. “Kornél is like that. He also understands the importance of partnership.”
Produced by Jomon Thomas (Monkey Man, Hotel Mumbai), Megan Wynn (Poker Face, Together) and four-time Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning producer Alexander Rodnyansky (Loveless, Beanpole), Place to Be received funding via Screen NSW’s Made in NSW fund and features a largely Australian production crew, though the film itself sees Sydney doubling for New York and Chicago.
“Normally, you shoot New York in Montreal, Toronto or Atlanta, but Sydney is very versatile,” Mundruczó says. “We’ve been scouting this week, and it has pockets that feel so different.”
While Burstyn has already touched down in Sydney, Waititi will arrive later this week, with the film due in cinemas in 2026. “I consider him a bona fide genius,” Burstyn says. “There are very few people in this business who have multiple talents in one package. So I’m very excited for him to get here and for us to start.”
Find more of the author’s work here. Email him at thomas.mitchell@smh.com.au or follow him on Instagram at @thomasalexandermitchell and on Twitter @_thmitchell.