Ellen Burstyn can no longer make a living from Hollywood.
Ellen Burstyn
The 83-year-old screen icon is a Best Actress Oscar winner - earning the prize for her performance in Martin Scorsese's 1974 film 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' - but she has revealed that she can no longer support herself by making movies, because the movie business in America has become risk averse and is focused on making action movies with a young cast that are virtually guaranteed of making a splash at the box office.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph newspaper, 'The Exorcist' star said: "Young boy jumps out of a window, goes through an explosion and is saved by a dragon, or something. And [these films] make a million dollars. Then you have the indie movies that need you to work for a scaled down fee. I can no longer make a living as an actor doing these kinds of movies. With all the awards I've won you'd think that I'd at least be able to make a living. It's a really terrible situation."
Instead, the 'Interstellar' actress has turned her attention to television drama, most recently portraying Elizabeth Hale in Netflix show 'House of Cards'.
Talking about her role as the mother of Robin Wright's character Claire Underwood - the wife of Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) - Ellen said: "I felt that my job was to explain Claire, so that you knew where she got her steely grit from, and her coolness, and reserve, and toughness."
Ellen also claims she was responsible for developing 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' before getting Martin Scorsese on board, but she never got a producer's credit for her work.
Speaking about getting Scorsese involved, she said: "(I told him) I liked your film very much, but this is a film I want told from a woman's point of view. I can't tell looking at your film if you know anything about women."
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