Actress and model Isabella Rossellini is opening up about how the younger generation is not aware of her famous parents.
The 72-year-old was born in Rome to iconic actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini.
While she ultimately broke out on her own as a model for Lancome and an actress in films such as Blue Velvet, she acknowledged coming up as what’s now called a, ‘nepo baby.’
She spoke about her new movie Conclave, becoming a sheep farmer on Long Island and much more in a wide-ranging interview with Variety.
Rossellini admitted struggling with being known largely for her parents at first, but now she wishes more young people appreciated her parents.
Actress and model Isabella Rossellini is opening up about how the younger generation is not aware of her famous parents
The 72-year-old was born in Rome to iconic actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini
‘I used to be introduced as “Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini’s daughter,” and it bothered me, because I would think, “I am my own person,”‘ she admitted.
‘But now, the younger generation doesn’t know them, and it breaks my heart. Their reputations outlived them, but fame is very brief,’ she added.
Her parents met on the set of the 1950 film Stromboli and engaged in an affair, since Bergman was married to Petter Lindstrom at the time.
The affair was scandalous at the time and she was essentially run out of Hollywood for many years before returning to win Oscars for Anastasia and Murder on the Orient Express.
‘She followed her heart, but she also paid a terrible price for being so emancipated. It’s complicated,’ Rossellini said of her mother, who passed in 1982 at 67.
She also spoke of her new movie Conclave, a thriller set at The Vatican where several Cardinals are tasked with selecting the new Pope.
Rossellini plays Sister Agnes, who tends to these Cardinals as they go through the arduous selection process.
‘It’s a very difficult role to nail. Because you need that special extra something that not a lot of people have, and you need an actor who has confidence in their quietness,’ said Conclave director Edward Berger.
‘I used to be introduced as “Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini’s daughter,” and it bothered me, because I would think, “I am my own person,”‘ she admitted
Her parents met on the set of the 1950 film Stromboli and engaged in an affair, since Bergman was married to Petter Lindstrom at the time
She also spoke of her new movie Conclave, a thriller set at The Vatican where several Cardinals are tasked with selecting the new Pope
Rossellini added that while she may be in service to the cardinals, she is still quite intelligent
‘It would be easy to do too much. But Isabella is that rare person who can deliver a masterful performance with minimal expression,’ he adds.
Rossellini added that while she may be in service to the cardinals, she is still quite intelligent.
‘She hasn’t been squashed down. She may have taken a vow of silence, but she’s not subservient. She’s very wise,’ Rossellini says.
Conclave had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last week, and will be screening at TIFF, BFI and other festivals before arriving in theaters November 1.
