June Squibb was first at Cannes back in 2013 for Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, a role that earned her an Oscar nom for playing Bruce Dern’s spitfire wife. She’s back this year for Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, this time as the star — the 95-year-old’s second leading role after last year’s Thelma. Squibb plays Eleanor Morgenstein, a feisty Jewish widow who lives with her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar), a Holocaust survivor, in Florida. The two share a room and sleep in matching twin beds, spending their days shopping for just the right brand of pickles or sunning themselves on the boardwalk. But when Bessie dies very early on in the film, Eleanor is thrown into a sort of existential crisis — who is she without her best friend of 70 years?
Eleanor decides to move back to New York and live with her harried daughter (Jessica Hecht), who doesn’t quite know what to do with her mother. One afternoon, Eleanor accidentally wanders into a Holocaust survivors’ group at the JCC, where, caught off-guard and lonely, she finds herself telling Bessie’s story as if it’s her own. Sitting in on the group is Nina (Erin Kellyman), an NYU journalism student who asks to interview Eleanor for a school project. The two become close, with Nina encouraging Eleanor to continue to share her tragic tale as a form of catharsis. Calamity, of course, ensues, but Squibb, as she always does, keeps her performance grounded and touching and funny as Eleanor navigates an increasingly wild set of circumstances.
A few days after the film’s premiere, I had lunch with Squibb in her hotel room, and we talked about the movie, her experience converting to Judaism, her love life, and matzo-ball soup.
This is your second time at Cannes. What do you remember about the first?
The first time, I was so naïve. I had no idea what I was doing. [Laughs.] I remember they pushed us around on the red carpet: “Look here, look there.” I remember those long red stairs, and I had Will Forte on one side and Alexander Payne on the other, and they literally dragged me up the stairs. I was already in my 80s! So it was a problem. But they were determined I was going to get up those stairs. And I did. The whole time I just sort of like, had my mouth open. No idea what was going on. But we received a beautiful reaction. We would go into bars, a group of us, and everybody would applaud. I was taken aback by everything. But now I know what to expect, so it’s all much easier.
How do you feel different this time around?
Oh, wow. It’s been ten years. And a lot has happened to me. I feel so much easier with it all. And able to do it all without thinking too much about it.
You were more anxious then?
Oh, God, yes. I simply did not know what to do. And now I do.
Are people stopping you in the street again?
No, we haven’t been in the street! We’ve been in the hotel and in a car. And the theater.
And a yacht! You told me earlier you went on a yacht.
Well, that was a party! That wasn’t work.
The Eleanor the Great script was written for you by Tory Kamen, right?
She wrote it in college and told everyone, “June Squibb is going to do it.” And everybody said, “Oh, you’re nuts. This film will never get done.” And then, after looking at the script, one of the producers also decided it was for June Squibb. Which I didn’t know until the other night. I was presented with the script about two years before we shot it.
Photo: Anne Joyce/Sony Pictures Classics
When did Scarlett come on?
About six months before we shot. And she wanted to shoot it right away. I wrote her a letter, and she was very touched by it. I talked about how I was a fan of her acting. She knew I was connected with it, and she said that she wondered what script I would sign up for. “What would June Squibb say yes to?” She said, “It fascinated me, and I wondered.”
Because you’re very picky. I know you turn things down all the time.
Yes. I do. When I say yes, there’s a reason. The script was great. And I felt very strongly about the Holocaust. Because I was alive! I was a child, and I was in Illinois, and I remember looking at Life magazine when they found all of the camps.
How old were you? What was your reaction then?
I think I was 10. I still remember all of it. I was appalled, even as a child. I understood enough. And there were pictures of the war with Japan, too.
Do you know any Holocaust survivors?
Yes, I do. There was a gentleman who lived in my apartment complex. Which you’ve been in. He was a Holocaust survivor. And I went on a date with him! And he took me to a Jewish delicatessen.
Which one?
It’s gone now. That big one. Sardi’s. He talked about the Holocaust all the time. A friend of mine worked for the Holocaust Museum, and I was talking to her about it. I said, “It amazes me how much he talks about it.” And she said, “They all do. We have them in the museum all the time. They have to keep talking about it.” Every Holocaust survivor she’d ever met, they always wanted to talk. And in the movie, the guy who I have a few lines with says, “When you talk about it, you feel better.”
You went on just one date with this guy?
[Laughs.] Yeah. But he would bring me food all the time.
You should call him up!
Well, he’s dead.
Oh no! Did you stay friends?
We did. But he knew I didn’t want to go out anymore. His daughter used to come to see him and I’d see her outside and she’d look at me. She knew who I was. And I thought, He told you, didn’t he …
Are you pickier with men or with scripts?
Oh, God. With men. I’m pretty picky with both, though.
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In the movie, Eleanor talks about how she still thinks about dating and love and sex. But when we first met, you said, “I don’t need a man in my life.”
I think at this point in my life, I don’t really need a man. But I still think about those things! I do. It’s not that nobody’s good enough. I just have such a full life. I don’t have time!
You converted to Judaism for your first husband — how old were you? Was it a big deal for you at the time?
I was in my 20s. It was a bigger deal for my family than it was for me. It just seemed like the thing to do. I was really pleased to do it. The rabbi was great. He was a young man. And he and I just had so much to talk about. We’d go off on tangents and he would say, “June, we gotta get back to Judaism!” We would keep talking about God knows what. But the wonderful thing was, he officiated our wedding. He didn’t know my husband; he’d met him. But he knew me really well. And afterwards, my husband Ed said, “Oh my God, he was marrying you! He wasn’t marrying me at all.”
What did you connect to about Judaism?
The temple itself. And the meals. His mother, who we tended to see on Jewish holidays. And the food was unbelievable that she’d put out on the table. I was proud of being Jewish.
What is your favorite food?
Matzo-ball soup. I love matzo balls.
Do you ever host the holidays at your apartment?
I don’t, but I go to some. The same friend who worked at the museum has Seders. I go there. I used to go more. But I did go this year.
And you had to learn a Torah portion for your bat mitzvah in this movie!
Oh, yes. That was wonderful. I had to study it. I really did study it. When we were shooting, I was performing it in this gorgeous temple, just going to town. And everybody was like, “Oh my God. Listen to you!” They said, “Your voice is gorgeous!” Because I did that singsong thing, you know? And I just had a ball. And one morning after we’d shot it, I woke up spouting the Torah. I had dreamed it. And I yelled for my assistant Kelly. I said, “Kelly! I’m doing the Torah in my dreams!” And she said, “For God’s sake, forget it! You’ve already done it. You can forget it now.”
Do you still remember it? If I think really hard, I can remember the first few lines of mine.
Oh, God, no. It’s gone. But I could do it for a while.
Did you actually become friends with Erin Kellyman?
Oh, yes. Erin came from Britain. She’d never been in New York before, but we were staying in the same apartment complex. So I said, “Come in for dinner tonight.” Then she came over all the time. And then we started working, and I was having dinners — because I’d lived there for so long — at Joe Allen with my friends every Saturday night. and I said, “Come to those!” And Fred Hechinger from Thelma would come, too. It was funny because Erin just became part of our family, and she was always welcome.
And the funniest thing happened. Somebody on the production end decided Erin and I needed to bond. They sent us to a restaurant way downtown in Soho. They wouldn’t let the driver or Kelly come eat with us. We said, “We have bonded! This is ridiculous!” So we demanded they come in and have lunch with us. I said to Scarlett, “What is this shit?!” She said, “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me!” And we laughed about it.
Why do you think you have so many younger friends?
I don’t know! If I don’t like them, we won’t become friends. It’s not just because they’re young. But if I like someone, it doesn’t make any difference what age they are.
Do any of your younger friends ever ask you for life advice?
No, no. Because I don’t think I project, I need to tell you about your life.
You’re very wise, though.
If somebody asked me something specific, I would answer it. But certainly not about acting. I’d never tell a young actor how to act.
Why not?
I think it’s a very personal thing. If somebody asked me, then that’s different. I’d answer. But I think in terms of people’s lives, who am I to tell people what to do?
The movie has a lot to say about grief and death. What’s your relationship with grief like now, at this point in your life?
I have, of course, by now lost a lot of people. I realize that old truism that they’re kept alive by talking or thinking about them. I do that.
What else are you working on after this?
I’m doing voice-overs. I’m doing Zootopia 2. The leading lady is a bunny rabbit. And I’m the leading lady’s mother. The picture of her is wonderful. She’s in a tracksuit with ears drooping down. It’s so funny.
I know you’re always reading a Scandi mystery. What’s the latest?
Åsa Larsson. She’s a new one for me. It was big. Very thick. I liked it a lot. She writes about a young lawyer, a female lawyer, who gets involved in different crimes and everything.
Have you, like Eleanor, ever told a crazy lie?
Nothing that big. I remember lying in grade school once. And I was so upset with myself afterwards. Because I think I’ve established myself as someone who doesn’t lie. But theater people, we all always laugh — when you’re going backstage after a friend’s performance to tell them how it was, if it was bad, I always say, “What a gorgeous costume!” That’s how I get around it.
That’s incredible. Do you think they know?
Oh, sure. We all do it! If you get a bunch of theater people together, they all laugh about it: “Your socks are gorgeous,” or something that’s so completely not about your performance. What are you gonna say, “You stink?”
