Veteran American actress and film producer Shelley Duvall appeared for a rare interview with The New York Times which was published on April 25 and got candid about her career, making a comeback after more than two decades, and life in between.
Explaining why she disappeared from the limelight for so long, Shelley Duvall stated,
“I was a star; I had leading roles. People think it’s just aging, but it’s not. It’s violence. How would you feel if people were really nice, and then, suddenly, on a dime they turn on you? You would never believe unless it happens to you. That’s why you get hurt, because you can’t really believe it’s true.”
For the unaware, Shelley Duvall’s last screen appearance was in a 2002 indie comedy film Manna From Heaven as Detective Dubrinski. Now, 22 years later, she is set to make a comeback with the movie The Forest Hills in the role of Mama, the mother of Chiko Mendez’s character Rico.
Shelley Duvall owes her career to late filmmaker Robert Altman
Recently, Shelley Duvall sat for an interview with The New York Times’ Saskia Solomon which was published this Thursday under the title, Shelley Duvall Vanished From Hollywood. She’s Been Here the Whole Time.
During the heart-to-heart conversation, the Texas native shed light on her “downfall” story, from having back-to-back work one day to being completely overlooked the next.
She recalled how she was once a “star” with “leading roles,” but all of a sudden the people who used to be “nice,” turned on her. Shelley Duvall added how it “hurt” her because for a long time, she couldn’t accept it happened to her the way it did.
Her partner of 35 years, musician Dan Gilroy, who joined her in the chat explained how Duvall’s struggle with physical and mental health over the years made her take a step back from her career. However, it was a 2016 appearance on the show Dr. Phil that worsened the situation.
Gilroy explained how Duvall announced on the show that she was “very sick” and needed “help” among other statements, which were deemed as bizarre. As a result, the episode which was titled, “A Hollywood Star’s Descent Into Mental Illness: Saving The Shining‘s Shelley Duvall,” did more harm than good.
The former lead singer of the band Breakfast Club also mentioned how the Dr. Phil interview happened without his knowledge, and although it never aired fully, the damage was done, as the Nashville star was put “on the map as an oddity,” forcing her to further withdraw from public life.
“Everyone’s always interested in downfall stories… It’s all over the internet. ‘Look at her now’ and ‘You won’t believe what she looks like now.’ Every celebrity gets that treatment,” Gilroy noted about the continued speculation about his partner’s well-being.
Shelley Duvall remembered how her brief disappearance after the success of The Shining was influenced by the 1994 Northridge earthquake that destroyed her Los Angeles home and temporary move to Texas to help take care of her ill brother.
She explained how at the time she began to “age out,” and being famous just wasn’t enough anymore. Hence, back then, she shifted her focus to producing and founded the production companies, Platypus and Think Entertainment.
“It’s like being a captain of a ship – you have to steer it in the right direction. I had great people to work with, and of course, I got Robert Altman to direct an episode. He was always there for me,” she observed.
The 74-year-old mentioned how the late legendary filmmaker was “real fatherly,” and she owed her career to him, who gave her breakthrough film Brewster McCloud in 1970 and later cast her in several films, including 3 Women for which she won the 1977 Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Shelley Duvall also talked about her new project The Forest Hills which according to IMDb initially released in 2023, but is set for a worldwide release soon.
The former Saturday Night Live host credited the cast and crew for adjusting to her and even traveling all the way to Texas to film her scenes, due to her mobility issues arising from an injured foot.
“I wanted to act again. And then this guy kept calling, and so I wound up doing it… If you ever do a horror film, other horror films are going to come to you, no matter what you do,” she quipped.
Directed by Scott Goldberg, the horror drama revolves around a man “tormented by nightmarish visions” after suffering a “head trauma” while camping in the Catskill Woods. Edward Furlong, Dee Wallace, and Felissa Rose are among the few other notable cast members.
Shelley Duvall also shared about her love for animals, growing old together with Dan Gilroy, and not focussing too much on the lows of her life.
