Shelley Duvall Does Rare On-Camera Interview About Her Return to Acting

In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, the reclusive 73-year-old actress opens up about getting back in front of the camera for writer-director Scott Goldberg's next indie horror film, "The Forest Hills."

"20 years, I know, it's a long time," she says in the footage, which you can watch here. "But it's been great. It really has, it feels good. Makes me want to do more acting."

"It's actually so much fun to act in a movie, it really is," she adds. "I know there's a lot of people who want to be in the movies and you wanna be in good movies. You don't want to have to take every role that comes along, every movie that comes along. You want to be able to choose."

Duvall hasn't acted since the 2002 film "Manna from Heaven," effectively retiring at the time. "Shelley was amazing to work with," Goldberg told TooFab about her appearance in his film, adding, "Directing her was a real treat because I am a huge fan of 'The Shining.'"

Per Deadline, who first broke the news of Duvall's casting in the film, the movie revolves around a "disturbed man who is tormented by nightmarish visions, after enduring head trauma while camping in the Catskill Mountains." Duvall will play the man's mother, reportedly serving as his "inner voice."

The film also stars horror vets Edward Furlong ("Terminator 2," "Pet Semetary 2") and Dee Wallace ("The Howling," "E.T.").

"I made sure to cast and connect with talent that I truly love and all have been amazing to work with," added Goldberg. "Dee Wallace and Edward Furlong are both very talented as well and I am thankful for their interest and roles that they have played in the film."

Duvall has been pretty reclusive since stepping away from the spotlight, aside from a highly-publicized appearance on "Dr. Phil" in 2016. Viewers quickly condemned the talk show host for "exploiting" Duvall's mental state at the time; as Dr. Phil said he attempted to get the actress professional care. The Hollywood Reporter, however, tracked down Duvall in 2021, with the goal of not allowing that one TV appearance to "be the final word on her legacy."

"I found out the kind of person he is the hard way," Duvall said of Dr. Phil last year. "My mother didn't like him, either. A lot of people, like [longtime partner Dan Gilroy], said, 'You shouldn't have done that, Shelley.'"

"He started calling my mother. She told him, 'Don't call my daughter anymore,'" she claimed, accusing McGraw of repeated attempts to contact her after her initial appearance. "But he started calling my mother all the time trying to get her to let me talk to him again."