The actress says her curiosity is what attracts her to so many unique and varied roles.
And she’s not done yet.
She sang inThe Rocky Horror Picture Show, she spoiler!
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Despite only lasting one year on the air, Sarandon’s character went through a lot.
“I was the girl that everything happened to,” Sarandon recalls with a laugh.
But working with a Hollywood legend also came with its challenges.
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“He directed us with a stopwatch,” she says of Wilder.
“He’d say, ‘Okay that was 30 seconds.
Let’s get it down to 22.'”
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It all started when she saw Tim Curry do theRocky Horrorstage show.
But when she was asked about the film, she wasn’t so sure.
“I always was incredibly self-conscious to the point of almost phobia about singing.
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I’d grown up in a household where I was told I couldn’t sing.
But even after tackling her fear of singing, it wasn’t an easy shoot.
“The studio was freezing.
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It was a hard shoot because the budget was, I think, a million dollars.
It was nothing.”
A few months later I get to LA and I discover that I’ve been switched.
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At first I wanted to leave, but they didn’t let me.”
Sarandon’s struggle continued throughout the shoot.
I also didn’t have wardrobe.
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The part of Annie wasn’t originally intended for Sarandon.
I was in Italy when I first read the script.
There was one other thing Sarandon added in.
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And I said to [director] Ridley [Scott], ‘I want to kiss her.’
And I told Geena [Davis], and that happened.
By that time they had earned the right for them both to be together."
Susan Sarandon, Liam Aiken, and Jena Malone in ‘Stepmom’.Columbia Pictures/Everett
Ultimately, the movie became a huge success and both Sarandon and Geena Davis were nominated for Oscars.
“When I was makingThe Client, I read the book,” Sarandon says.
We had a great dinner, we shook hands, and that’s the way the deal went."
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The movie would go on to bring Sarandon her Oscar win for Best Actress.
Stepmom(1998)
InStepmom,a divorced couple is struggling to co-parent their children.
Sarandon plays the mother who, on top of her divorce, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
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“The story was just such a heartbreaking situation,” Sarandon says.
“I was taken by the generosity of both women trying to figure out that situation.
I’ve had so many people approach me saying they’re in similar situations.”
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The movie went on to gross more than $159 million at the worldwide box office.
“When they called me, I said, ‘I’d love to do it.
“So they got me a really good big wig.”
Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange in ‘Feud’.Suzanne Tenner/FX
“I’d sleep withMatt LeBlancagain,” Sarandon says jokingly.
It put me at ease immediately.
Everybody watched everybody else’s scenes.
Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins on ‘Monarch’.fox
Bernard and Doris(2006)
InBernard and Doris, Sarandon played infamous heiress, Doris Duke.
But I loveBernard and Doris, it’s one my favorite things I’ve ever done.”
And it wasn’t easy.
“We did it for $500,000 in something like 21 days,” Sarandon continues.
We had to figure out how to shoot around the Christmas trees."
Her favorite part in the movie?
The epic Times Square scene.
“We were in Times Square at two in the morning,” she recalls.
“And they never got a script and I wasn’t in a position to develop it.”
And yet, when Ryan Murphy called her years later, “I was terrified,” she says.
“Because she’s so big.
But the more that I saw interviews, she was saying things that I’ve said.
So I felt that we were kindred spirits in a lot of ways.”
“So I loved the opportunity to jump in and learn about it.”
