“I don’t know that any Hollywood executive of the 40s would have considered doing a story like this for a moment,” said Burstyn. “Can you see Joan Crawford, or Bette Davis, or Lana Turner giving birth onscreen? We’re going through a big cultural transition, both in terms of women and in terms of the races in this country, and I think around the world. . . so we’re growing up. Painfully in many places, but we’re maturing.”
For Kirby, it was just as vital to accurately depict Martha’s grief.
“This story hasn’t really been told onscreen before in the way that it is here,” said Kirby. “The responsibility of that, we didn’t take lightly. ”
Kirby said that she spoke at length to a friend who has suffered three miscarriages, bereavement midwives, and a woman named Kelly, whose real-life story of losing her baby paralleled Martha’s.
“I almost felt like the film was more for Kelly than anything,” said Kirby. “Because she talked a lot about how people found it extremely difficult to talk to her about [losing her baby]. Women find it very hard to talk about. So in a way, it’s opened up a conversation about how we, as a society, can support women through things like this.”
Kirby said that she, LaBoeuf, and Burstyn were so united in this vision that they became especially close during filming.
“Ellen talked about how sometimes with actors, there’s this synergy. . .something magical happens and sort of aligns. It was like that with us three,” said Kirby. The first time that Kirby and LaBeouf met Burstyn, they came bearing presents—chrysanthemums from Kirby, and a white unicorn planter from LaBeouf that Burstyn kept in her bedroom until recently. Before filming, Kirby said she and LaBeouf went baby shopping for their characters’ nursery to get into the headspace of expectant parents. Kirby, who is based in London, also spent several nights with Burstyn at Burstyn’s New York apartment so that the two could bond before playing mother and daughter.
“Vanessa and I bonded very quickly, and I felt very maternal toward her,” said Burstyn, who was a fan of Kirby’s portrayal of Princess Margaret. Before the actors began filming Pieces of a Woman in Montreal, Burstyn gave Kirby a gift appropriate for a co-star of The Crown.
“I had a stamp of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret from 1939, when they visited Canada and I was in a boarding school in Canada,” said Burstyn. “It has had been hanging on all my various walls. And I gave it to Vanessa.”
“She gave it to me in a little frame and wrote, ‘My princess, I can’t wait to do this with you. Love, Ellen,’” remembered Kirby. “I have it on my wall now in my bedroom. It was unbelievable, really.”
“We have a real connection because I respect her so much and love her,” said Burstyn. “She’s such a darling girl, and so talented and so bright. And I think the world of her.”
Kirby said that, after making Pieces of a Woman, she considers Burstyn family.
“We call each other most days,” said Kirby. “During lockdown, I checked up on her all the time and we just chatted about everything. When I stayed over at her house, we talked so much about her days in the Actors Studio. . . we talked about theater. . . Oh, and she read me all her favorite poems. It was beautiful.”
Burstyn did not travel to Venice for the film’s premiere, but has been in close contact with Kirby—and has insisted that her on-screen daughter call her after immediately after the film’s premiere. “I have a pact with her that she’s going to call me after the screening and tell me the audience’s reaction,” said Burstyn.