Susan Sarandon: On Movies, Men and Motherhood

Our intrepid reporter travels to Italy to talk to Susan Sarandon about what's needed in romantic relationships, why her kids don't watch her movies and where she puts her hands during sex scenes.

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When I was asked if I'd travel to Rome to interview Susan Sarandon, I said, "Are you kidding? I'd interview anybody if it meant a trip to Italy." While that's mostly true, it's no reflection on my admiration for Sarandon.

With over 30 films since her 1970 debut in Joe, she is one of Hollywood busiest actresses, one of its most versatile, and perhaps the most outspoken. Certainly she-along with here companion since 1988, Tim Robbins - made more headlines for her speech about the plight of HIV positive Haitians on the 1993 Oscar telecast than all the ink she received each of the three times she's been nominated for an Academy Award (for Atlantic City, Thelma & Louise and Lorenzo's Oil). She could yet cop the prize; give her time. Sarandon is one star who seems to be finding better parts as she matures, and this year along she has three possible shots with roles in the client, Little Women and Safe Passage.

When I showed up at her hotel suite, I noticed right away that Sarandon looks much younger in real life than she does on-screen. What I discovered as we talked is that she's more relaxed in person--easier, quicker to laugh--than she often seems in interviews.

MARTHA FRANKEL: First things first. Pronounce your last name for us, since I've heard it pronounced quite a few different ways.

SUSAN SARANDON: It's Sarandon, like abandon.

Q: I'm thrilled to be in Rome, but why are you here?

A: My daughter [Eva, nine] came to see her father [Italian director Franco Amurri] and then after she was here for three weeks, we joined them. Tim and I and the boys [Jack Henry, five, and Miles, two] went to visit a friend in Ravello, then we went to Sardinia and hung out. and then we came here.

Q: You've been with Tim Robbins since making Bull Durham in 1988. Are you two getting married? That's what all the papers in America are saying.

A: I can't believe they're interested. I can understand why people are interested in Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie, but why would they care about me and Tim? First of all, I would never give a great party when I had to chase around a two year old. So I would wait until everyone could have a good time. That's my answer.

Q: Speaking of children, women I know found it heartbreaking that in The Client you played a recovering alcoholic who doesn't have contact with her own children.

A: It's always much more interesting to play ambiguous characters. I know that all these guys like |Arnold] Schwarzenegger and [Sylvester] Stallone always play these heroes who are heroic from the moment you see them, but for me it's much more interesting to play an ordinary person who, under some circumstance, in spite of all her pain and damage and frailty, does an extraordinary thing. And really, that's everybody. As I tell my kids. "Making mistakes is your job in life. You're supposed to make mistakes. You're supposed to learn from them and you're supposed to go on until you die. Make them faster than I made mine, but you will definitely make them."

Q: And try not to make them in public.

A: I never thought of that, but that's another good advisory.

Q: You were the oldest of nine children, right? What was your role in the family?

A: I was the mother of everybody. And it took me a long time to understand that I didn't have to mother every guy I was with. When I stopped doing that, things got better. When I became a mother, all of these things I had been practicing with grown men made sense, because this was the right time to do it.

Q: Much has been written about how you've given motherhood a good name. Which I don't really understand...

A: When I had my daughter, people said to me, "You're not gonna be independent, you're not gonna have your freedom, you're not gonna have all the time you're used to.'' And I thought back on my life and thought, that was freedom? It's been a nightmare. I've had enough freedom to last two lifetimes.

Q: Why is it that people cannot deal with actresses when they get older, and they feel they have to write them off as mothers or...

A: Maybe it's because we're such a young country that we haven't resolved the issue of our mothers, and so many men trade in their women for younger versions. It seems to be all right to have sex with very young women, but not with someone you own age. Of course, the minute that a woman's with somebody younger ...

Q: Like you and Tim?

A: Yes. which I don't even think about. It only exists in the United States. Because here, in Italy, they saw White Palace as a movie about class, not age. In other countries they allow women to be so many more things, and motherhood doesn't suddenly end it for you.

Q: Can your children watch any of your movies?

A: My kids don't want to watch any of my movies! They tried--Eva watched about 30 seconds of Lorenzo's Oil-- forget it, that was it. They've gone with me when I've done "Sesame Street," so they watch that. For two seconds they expressed an interest in Bull Durham and we started to think about it, but we're not ready for that yet.

Q: When you first started making films, it seems like you were always photographed naked or making love...

A: Not true. If you look back on it, my first love scene was with Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger. In Atlantic City, there are those scenes where I'm rubbing lemons on my breasts, but that's just a voyeuristic thing. And in Pretty Baby, I don't have a love scene and I'm not completely naked. I just show my breasts.

Q: Didn't Playboy say something like you had the best tits in the movies?

A: "The celebrity breasts of the summer." Which made me wonder what was coming in the fall! There are people who have taken off their clothes and done a lot more. In White Palace, there was an incredibly sexual scene which I was very nervous about,..

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