Isabella Rossellini

Episode notes

(Photo: Mike Coppola / 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.

Most recently, Isabella was nominated for best supporting actress at this year’s Academy Awards for her part in Conclave, the Papal drama directed by Edward Berger.

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 correspondent Louis Virtel about her role in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, her collaborations with David Lynch, and why she is attracted to working in experimental films.

This interview originally aired in July 2022.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Guests

Isabella Rossellini

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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