Isabella Rossellini

Episode notes

(Photo by Chris Delmas via Getty Images)

Isabella Rossellini was born into European film royalty–the daughter of director Roberto Rossellini and actor Ingrid Bergman. She’s probably best known as an actor, having acclaimed parts in movies like Blue Velvet, Death Becomes Her, and Big Night. 

She’s undeniably a multi-hyphenated icon. She’s also a model, a performance artist, an accomplished singer, and even an academic, earning a Master’s Degree in Animal Behavior from Hunter College in New York City. 

More recently, Rossellini stars in the brand new Italian thriller La Chimera–it’s out now. It centers on a young British archaeologist who gets involved in an international network of stolen artifacts in the 80s. 

When Isabella Rossellini last joined Bullseye, she’d just starred alongside Jenny Slate in the animated film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Slate plays the film’s title character: a tiny, talking seashell with red shoes and a single googly eye. Rossellini plays Marcel’s forgetful nana, Connie. 

She spoke with guest host Louis Virtel about her role in Marcel the Shell with Shoes, some of her past roles, and why she is attracted to working in experimental films.

This interview originally aired in July 2022.