Tony Winner Ellen Burstyn Set to Star in New Independent Coming-Of-Age Film Scout

Tony, Oscar and Emmy winner Ellen Burstyn, along with Broadway alums Danny Glover and Jane Seymour, have signed on to star in Laurie Weltz's forthcoming coming-of-age film Scout. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film, about an unlikely friendship between an anarchistic girl and a depressed teenage boy, has already begun shooting in Los Angeles.

Written and directed by Weltz (1998's Wrestling with Alligators), the indie dramedy follows a rebellious goth girl named Scout (India Ennenga) who convinces Sam, a suicidal young man (James Frecheville), to go on a road trip with her across Texas to track down her little sister (Onata Aprile) who’s been taken from her great-grandmother’s (Burstyn) home by their father (Tim Guinee) and his girlfriend (Nikki Reed). Seymour will play Sam’s mother, who has hired a man (Glover) to track him down.

Burstyn is a stage and screen veteran, having won Emmys in 2009 and 2013 for Law & Order: SVU and Political Animals, respectively, and an Oscar for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (she was also nominated five more times). Her numerous Broadway credits include Picnic, 84 Charing Cross Road, Shirley Valentine, Sacrilege and Same Time, Next Year (for which she won her Tony).