Shelley Duvall On Her Return to Acting After 20 Years (Exclusive)

Shelley Duvall returns to the screen this year after a two-decade hiatus from acting. ET spoke with Duvall, best known for her role in The Shining, ahead of the release of writer-director Scott Goldberg’s new horror film, The Forest Hills. 

“I know it’s been a long time,” 73-year-old Duvall said, “but it’s been great. It really has, it feels good. Makes me want to do more acting.” 

The film also stars Edward Furlong, Chiko Mendez, Dee Wallace, and Felissa Rose and follows “a disturbed man who is tormented by nightmarish visions, after enduring head trauma while camping in the Catskill Mountains,” per the press release.

Duvall plays the mother of the mentally and emotionally disturbed Rico (Mendez), who serves as his inner voice.

“It’s actually so much fun to act in a movie,” she said of the return to set. “I should appreciate every minute of it.” 

Duvall’s co-stars also spoke up about their excitement to work alongside her. “I could not have done it without her,” Mendez said. “We need each other because acting is not acting, it’s reacting.” 

Duvall smiled at the compliment, and then said that when she first saw Mendez in the film’s trailer, she thought he looked similar to Robert Deniro. “Big competition for DeNiro,” she said. 

“I am a really emotional actress,” Rose said. “I just try to immerse myself in the scene and really believe the situation, but when you work with someone like Shelley Duvall who lights up a room and is so freaking honest and genuine, when you look at her all you have to do is be honest right back and connect and the scene is so fun.” 

Rose also referred to her co-star as a “legend,” adding that she could “sit there and listen to [Duvall] talk about anything.” 

It may have been a long break, but Duvall is confident she’s making her return with the right role and cast. “You don’t want to have to take every role that comes along, every movie that comes along,” she said. “You want to be able to choose.”

Duvall made her acting debut in Brewster McCloud in 1970 after being discovered by director Robert Altman. She had acclaimed leading roles in films like Popeye and The Shining and won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the 1977 drama 3 Women. In the 1980s, she went into producing television programming for children and youth, earning two Primetime Emmy Award nominations

In 2002, Duvall appeared in her final film, Manna From Heaven, before announcing her retirement from acting.

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