Erin Kellyman on Starring in Scarlett Johansson's Directorial Debut ‘Eleanor the Great': ‘This Job Has Changed the Way I See Myself as an Actor'
When Erin Kellyman arrived in New York City to shoot Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, 'Eleanor the Great,' she couldn't help but cry.
'You know when you feel like you've arrived home?' the 26-year-old asks Variety over Zoom from her living room in Birmingham, England. 'But I'd never been there before. It was such a surreal experience, like it felt so familiar but so new.'
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The 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' and 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' star plays Nina, a 19-year-old born-and-raised New Yorker who strikes up an unlikely friendship with 90-year-old Eleanor, played by June Squibb. The two bond over grief, with Eleanor having recently lost her best friend and Nina mourning her mother. The film, which shot in New York City over eight weeks, will premiere in the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section on Tuesday.
For Kellyman, 'Eleanor the Great' marks a 'monumental' moment in her career. 'I feel like this job has changed the way I see myself as an actor and the way I see work,' she says, praising Johansson for fostering an environment where she could 'fully be in Nina's head.'
Below, Kellyman tells Variety more about working with June Squibb, Johansson as a director and teases her '28 Years Later' role.
I entered auditions expecting it to be a few months before I'd be hearing, but it was just so fast. And then all of a sudden I was in New York. [Scarlett and I] had another Zoom just before I went out and I had assumed it was going to be her telling me what she thought of the character, but she was actually just asking a bunch of questions about what I thought. I was like, 'Wow, this is already such a collaborative piece,' which I really appreciated because I had my own ideas already, but in past experiences I've kind of waited for somebody to direct me in a certain way. But it wasn't like that — the first few conversations were just so collaborative and I really appreciated having that input.
It was genuinely probably one of the most calm and respectful sets that I've ever been on. Not to say that the other sets I've been on have been disrespectful in any type of way, but everybody just went above and beyond to kind of make sure everybody was able to do the jobs that they needed to do. The thing that sticks out the most is [Johansson's] ability to be in every department constantly, but with 100% enthusiasm and commitment. It wasn't like she was ever half talking to anybody. And she's also an actor, so the way that she would communicate with me and June was so helpful because she's already done it for so long.
One thing that I really appreciate about June is that even when the camera's off, she's still giving 110%. The days were long and it was a lot, but she was still giving absolutely everything that she could, which is exactly what you want in a scene partner. And she was also so eager to be friends too, like off-set. She's 95, she has so many friends, she didn't need to get to know me very well. But she seemed invested in that and we actually became friends and still are now.
Honestly, Scarlett and everyone in the crew created an environment that enabled me to fully be in Nina's head. And I never felt like I wasn't fully in her. I've done roles before where I've got outside noise and I'm just distracted, but this felt like the first time that I was able to fully commit to Nina and I think that was probably the environment of the set. Also, I have a big family and with big families comes a lot of loss so I guess I could pull on that. But for the most part, it was just feeling like I was Nina and reacting to what was around me, you know? I think it's easier to do your thing when everyone else around you is so incredible — it becomes an act of reacting rather than performing.
One thing I was super nervous about was the fact that she was born and raised in New York and I've obviously never been. So I had a few days, like a week maybe, before we started shooting and I was speaking to as many random people as I could on the street and going into local spots and trying to fit 19 years of experience into a week. I made a playlist for Nina as well and I just tried to kind of live as her for a little bit. Not in a super Method way — I was still very much Erin — but just trying to soak up the New York experience.
In terms of her finding herself and her confidence, I think anyone who knew me as a kid, this career path is not expected. I was such an introvert, if I was walking on the street my head would just be down. I was so unbelievably shy. And I think I've found my voice a little bit just from working and being forced to meet new people all of the time. So I think that journey of kind of finding her voice I really relate to.
I think the main thing is to trust myself. Scarlett would ask all the time, 'Are you happy with that?' And she wouldn't move on without asking me that. And I was always like, 'I don't know, are you happy? Because if you're happy then I'm happy.' But I think by the end of the shoot, she would ask me and I would be like, 'Yeah, actually I am happy.' I think I felt almost awkward to say that I felt good about it, but I realized that I was going home and not hating myself for the performance that I'd done so I was like, 'I must be happy with it.' I just started to own that a little bit towards the end and trust what I was doing.
I'm under lock and key. I watched some of it in ADR and my jaw has never been on the floor more in an ADR session in my life. I was like, 'I cannot believe this is a real thing that people are about to see.' It was so insane. And I did ADR with a group of people too, and they paused it and it was just silent. We were like, 'What the hell is this?' Like, in a good way.
I'm genuinely really open to any project to come through. 'Eleanor the Great' and '28 Years Later' are so different from each other, and I really enjoyed the complexities that were in both. But to play a character that just wore jeans and was my age was really fun. Nina was the first one in a while where I just got to be a girl in her 20s going through something and making new relationships. And so I don't know, anything super naturalistic and real. I want to make people feel something.
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘She Who Dared' lovingly fact-checks civil rights history
At what point does history become hagiography? Composer Jasmine Barnes and librettist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton tackle that question in 'She Who Dared,' Chicago Opera Theater's world-premiere retelling of the 1950s Montgomery bus boycotts—the real story, that is. It also may be making history itself: COT has advertised 'She Who Dared' as the first professionally staged opera written by two Black women. As we're reminded — or taught — more or less immediately in the opera, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin (soprano Jasmine Habersham), brainy and brash in equal measure, was actually the first arrested for refusing to give up her seat to white bus riders, in 1955. But local activists decided she was too risky to prop up as a martyr. Colvin (by then also pregnant) was too young, too untested, too dark. Instead, the boycott coalesced around Rosa Parks (soprano Jacqueline Echols), a light-skinned seamstress respected by Black and white Montgomery residents alike. 'Let the flame burn like Claudette, but keep it inside,' activists sing to Parks at one point in the opera. The movement's dismissal of Colvin — still very much alive, at 85 — in favor of Parks is usually a one-liner in history books, if that. 'She Who Dared' elevates it to the status of a secondary conflict, using the decision as a cipher to address colorism, classism, sexism, and other stigmas within the movement. Quite like last month's fabulous 'Treemonisha: A Musical Reimagining' at Harris Theater, 'She Who Dared' ends up being not just a history lesson but a trenchant satire of respectability politics. While its thesis is serious, the opera manages to strike a consciously light-hearted tone without making light of its subject matter. The opening to Act 2 is just as biting as it is amusing, with Echols, as Parks, hammily cavorting around Montgomery. At one point, a police officer tips his hat and offers Parks the crook of his arm. The opera's principals further represent the nuance of the movement in Montgomery. Susie McDonald (mezzo-soprano Leah Dexter) is a wealthy, white-passing widow; she was in her 70s at the time she was arrested. We follow Jeanetta Reese (mezzo-soprano Cierra Byrd) — an original plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the resulting 1956 Supreme Court ruling striking down segregation on public transportation — as she decides, agonizingly, to withdraw from the case, representing those who stepped away from activism out of fear for their lives. 'She Who Dared' is already strong, but it's further vaulted by COT's strong cast. Habersham's explosive, easily combustible soprano captures Colvin's fire. Like Parks herself, Echols is a master of reserve and release, stoking her big Act 2 aria like a slow burn. As McDonald, Dexter is pointed and iridescent. Meanwhile, Byrd's wide dramatic palette and flexible voice make the most of thankless roles as the movement's deserter and Montgomery's white power brokers. Filling out the cast were mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams, bringing poise and chutzpah to the role of Aurelia Browder, Browder v. Gayle's lead plaintiff; lightning-bright soprano Lindsey Reynolds, another singer with local credits, as Mary Louise Smith, another young voice in the boycotts; and mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel as Jo Ann Robinson, a calm anchor through the opera's storms. Barnes has already marked herself as a composer to watch at other city institutions like the Chicago Symphony and Ravinia. In her first evening-length opera, she's already a natural, grazing gospel, tango and even klezmer in an ever-lively orchestration, guided with lyricism and grace by pit conductor Michael Ellis Ingram. Whether crackling with humor or invoking prayer, Mouton's text says what it means — not a subtle libretto, but one which drives the action forward well. In a marked improvement over October's 'Leonora,' 'She Who Dared's' set, designed by Junghyun Georgia Lee, was a stirring example of minimalism done right. Its centerpiece is a faithful rendering of a 1950s Montgomery bus, rotated by stagehands dressed as repairmen. Likewise, Yvonne L. Miranda's costuming embraces the show's scale, rather than working against it. In some scenes, characters donned just one extra piece of clothing to temporarily step into another role: a suit jacket to turn Robinson into Fred Gray, the boycotters' attorney, or a hat, shades and nightstick to turn Reese into a Montgomery city cop. It gave the opera the feel of reminiscing among friends — an appealing and deft way to handle historical retelling. Timothy Douglas's insightful direction supported this reading, squeezing as much characterization as possible out of the seven principals while keeping the action buoyant. The opera needs some TLC to land its ending. 'She Who Dared' loses its narrative drive in the final two scenes, defaulting to platitudes ('We brought a movement to Montgomery!') and cloying tunes. After reenacting the initial district court trial — in which Colvin, Browder, McDonald and Smith testified—the opera skims over the Supreme Court decision upholding the ruling. But it was that court which ended the boycott and desegregated public transit systems nationwide, not the district courts. (Plus, the appeal process alone almost doubled the length of the boycott — a significant sacrifice by the protestors.) That ending also evaded a darker coda to the bus boycotts, acknowledged in the show's comprehensive program notes: Black commuters faced vicious harassment once they resumed riding city buses. Some even maintained the old bus rules, just to avoid trouble. 'She Who Dared's' finale tries to nod at this, but it's too heavy-handed: The woman wait for the bus, then sing another number aboard it, noting there's 'so much change left to make.' A lighter touch would go further: boarding that bus, but acknowledging that we, to date, still don't know where it's going. Save a slightly racy account of Colvin's affair with an older man, 'She Who Dared' carries a kid-friendly approachability. In this political climate, that's an asset. I could see future stagings — and let's hope there's many more of those — inviting school groups to runs. With civil rights education under attack nationally, the arts are poised to step in, even as they wear new targets themselves. In fact, 'She Who Dared' itself received $30,000 from an NEA grant that has since been canceled. But general director Lawrence Edelson struck a note of defiance in his opening remarks on Friday, to cheers. 'We've already received the money,' he told the audience, 'and, as I've said before, they're not getting it back.' Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic. Review: 'She Who Dared' (3.5 stars) When: Through June 8 Where: Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave. Tickets: $60-$160 at
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Why the Talking Heads are still making more sense than ever 50 years later
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Getty Images for BAM Later adding keyboardist/guitarist (and Harvard grad) Jerry Harrison, the band would become 'the most original, musically ambitious, and rigorously creative rock group of their time,' writes Jonathan Gould in his riveting new biography, 'Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock' (out June 16). The book deftly interrelates New York City's cultural, social, and economic history (from its bankruptcy and the downtown art scene to Son of Sam and the '80s boom) as the band evolves into an expanded group of both African-American and white musicians, ambitiously exploring ever-more innovative sounds. A former professional drummer and the author of well-received biographies of the Beatles and Otis Redding, Gould says that 'having grown up in New York, a big part of my attraction to the subject involved the chance to write about the change in the city's social life and geography over the past fifty years.' 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He was crucial in helping to refine and define the band's embrace of African-American musical traditions. ©Cinecom Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection In 'Burning Down the House,' Gould explores how Byrne's Asperger's syndrome affected his relationships, as well as how it 'exerted a strong influence on his creative sensibility, beginning with his tendency to approach most aspects of music-making without the sort of preconceptions that most of us accept as a way of trying to show other people that we know what we're doing.' Gould adds, 'David's Asperger's also contributed to his remarkable powers of concentration and observation, in part because people on the spectrum learn to pay very close attention to things as a way of navigating an unfamiliar and sometimes incomprehensible world. At the same time, I think it's important to put this in context. David's Asperger's was one of many influences on an artist who sought out and absorbed influences like a sponge. It was not the be-all-and-end-all of his personality or of his creative sensibility.' 7 'Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock' is written by Jonathan Gould. 7 Author Jonathan Gould finished the project even more of a fan of their music than when he began his book some five years ago. Richard Edelman In a gripping narrative, Gould traces Talking Heads' journey from their hometowns to their art schools, Chrystie Street loft, and eventual global stardom. He sharply analyzes their work and includes rich portraits of individuals, art movements, and music scenes in their orbit. While Gould interviewed the band's longtime friends and colleagues, all four declined to speak with him. 'Though I was initially disappointed that they chose not to cooperate with my research,' he says, 'I've come to regard it as a blessing in disguise. I have the feeling that not speaking with them insulated me enough from their conflicting personal narratives to enable me to gain perspective on the formation and musical evolution of the band.' Gould finished the project even more of a fan of their music than when he began his book some five years ago. 'Initially, I was drawn most strongly to the trio of albums — Fear of Music, Remain in Light, and Speaking in Tongues — that had the greatest ambition and intensity,' he relates. 'As a drummer, I have a great appreciation of Chris's playing, beginning with his steadiness and solidity. And I consider David to be a genius — a word I don't use lightly — on account of the utterly distinctive nature of his singing, guitar playing, and songwriting. Simply put, I can't think of anyone else in popular music who sounds like him or writes like him.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
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Shreveport Native headlines two cultural events
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