Ed Burns talks about his Irish American roots with 'The Fitzgerald Family Christmas' - VIDEO

Cahir O'Doherty sits down with actor Ed Burns

“Yet for whatever reason I have been very lucky that I get to make them.”

His modesty is remarkable in an industry not known for it. But Burns insists the work is the thing for him.

“My films are not cool, they’re not hip, and I’ve never aspired to be. What I’m interested in is being as honest as I can possibly be. These characters are real, they feel like characters you know, and I’ve been lucky to enjoy a pretty nice life from them.”

Every two years Burns finds the money, he gets his films made. Even finding the right locations can be a family affair.

“I asked my mother whose house could we use as the Fitzgeralds for the film.  She called up some friends and eventually they allowed us to shoot in their homes,” Burns reveals.

“So I’m sitting in a dining room that I can remember from the third grade. And there’s my real family meeting my screen family.”

Out on Long Island, where Burns is from, the Irish are still reeling from Hurricane Sandy, and he knows all about it.

“Two of my cousins live out in Long Beach. Their homes were severely damaged and one of them looks like it’s going to be all right and the other one is just waiting to see,” he says.

“They’re all now living at my parents’ house in Rockville Center. Gerritson Beach, Breezy Point and the Rockaways, all these Irish enclaves have all been so hard hit.”

It’s the landscape of his childhood. It’s still the map Burns is connected to in his head and his films. 

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Nster.com