The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 11, 1999 - 17 A
don relaxes witnew
The Aijeiown Morsing Call
TurE"6n the TV news and you might a
see he. along the barricades. At 53, s
Susan~Sarandon is still a cause celeb.
She as in front of the microphones
l menkh at a rally to protest New York
M orudolph Giuliani's attacks on the
Broo Museum of Art for the contro-
versia hibit, "Sensation."
Federa Judge Nina Gershon, in issu-
ing a emporary injunction Monday
against -iuliani's cutting off of city
fundir for the museum, said that the n
mayors action violated the First
Amendent. Giuliani said he will
appeal y
Sav sarandon, "I think it's terrifying
th .overnment can tell you what
c tsee and what you can't see. The g
premieof censorship - the whole idea
of thi paternalistic 'We'll protect you i
from rself' thing - is y very
dange ii. Free speech is what this FA
countiyas based on."
Sar on certainly has exercised her
igh otre speech. In March, she was 4 f
arrest dor disorderly conduct during a
protes ;ver the unarmed shooting of r
an immigrant Amadou Diallo by S
oir New York policemen. In 1993, she d
and long-time partner Tim Robbins used
podium time as Academy Award presen-
ters to speak on behalf of Haitian a
refugees. _ :it
"Living with myself- if I hadn't said v
something, if I hadn't taken those 28 p
seconds - would have been much Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox I
worse,' says Sarandon of the Oscar out- Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman star in Wayne Wang's "Anywhere But Here."
burst for which she and Robbins were s
taken to task. career. And that is a funny balance. But and then husband Chris, recent gradu- s
I'm somebody who's media-con- I didn't start off needing my career. ates of Catholic University in
nected and I can give a voice to people "I never studied acting. So it goes to Washington, D.C., were working on e
don't have a voice," she says. show you how difficult acting really is," scenes together. Sarandon, who became
Friday, Sarandon returns to the big she says with a laugh. a Ford model, was in New York for only
screen as star of "Anywhere But Here," Her daughter Eva is studying acting. a week when she auditioned for the low-
directed by Wayne Wang ("The Joy And, when Eva was asked to work on a budget "Joe" (1970) and landed the role R
Luck Club"). She plays an overly pro- scene in high school drama class, of the daughter of a bigot (Peter Boyle). i
tective single-parent/school teacher who Sarandon recounts: "She was assigned The film was a sleeper hit and v
moves-to Los Angeles so her daughter my monologue in 'Bull Durham.' She Sarandon's career was on its way. t
(Natalie Portman, Queen Amidala in said she couldn't do it. 'It's my moth- Five years later, Sarandon played
" .Wr Wars: Episode I The Phantom er's.' I thought that was pretty funny." Janet Weiss in 75's cult hit, the horror- p
ace")can attend Beverly Hills High Sarandon stumbled into acting. She film spoof "The Rocky Horror Picture d
School and break into acting.
Over the course of55 films, Sarandon
has balanced family, career and causes,
yet maintains a healthy sense of humor
about herself.
"I've managed to have a life and a
Jay.
film Anywhere but Here'
Show." It was another five years and
nother splash for Sarandon, courtesy of
ome well-placed lemon juice, i Louis
Malle's "Atlantic City," opposite Burt
Lancaster, that yielded her first
Academy Award nomination.
Sarandon garnered additional raves
for the lesbian-themed "The Hunger,"
opposite Catherine Deneuve, and for the
'arcical romp, "Witches of Eastwick,"
opposite Jack Nicholson, Michelle
Pfeiffer and Cher, and another Oscar
omination for"Bull Durham,"opposite
Kevin Costner. Her romance with
Robbins, who played the ungainly
oung pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh in the
ilm, began then.
Her role opposite Geena Davis in the
irls-on-the-run-with-guns themed
"Thelma & Louise" burnished her
mage as a feminist icon and brought
another Oscar nomination, as did
Lorenzo's Oil" and "The Client," the
atter based on John Grisham's best sell-
er.
Robbins directed Sarandon's
Academy Award-winning portrayal of
eal-life anti-death penalty advocate
Sister Helen Prejean and counselor of a
death-row inmate (Sean Penn) in "Dead
Man Walking"
"The great thing about acting is it's
lways shaking you up and putting you
n someone else's moccasins, and kind
f forcing you into this position of com-
assion even when you're lazy about it.
t's so educational."
Sarandon is pleased to have portrayed
o many independent-thinking, spirited,
trong women. Growing up, there
weren't many women actors she emulat-
d.
"Certainly, Katharine Hepburn and
Bette Davis had careers that everyone
would like now. They were making dif-
erent kinds of movies before we got
into the '50s and the women had to be a
ictim and vulnerable. But I don't know
hat I'd want their private lives.
In "Anywhere But Here," Sarandon
lays Adele August, a blousy mom who
rives a vintage gold Mercedes, wears
cat-framed sunglasscs, flashy tops and
capri pants and is unlucky in love. Call
it "Louise & Louise's Daughter."
Sarandon says the film is more than all
that.
"It's so important to have somebody
who at their core was healthy, because I
didn't want to beat up on somebody on
screen for two hours. I wouldn't have
wanted to see that. This mother, for all
her eccentricities, has managed to turn
out OK.
"The other problem was: How do you
get her centered without making her
less fun? I hate movies when you're
asked to root for somebody who
becomes normal and boring. 'Cure
them of their eccentricities' is just such
a horrible premise to have for a film."
Sarandon says she didn't have a prob-
lem with a man directing a women's-
themed film. "I've worked with women
I haven't liked and (who) have not been
as generous to other women (as Wang).
He (Wang) loves women.
"Some people read this script and
said, 'Why do you want to do this?
She's an obnoxious, ugly, politically
incorrect boor and nothing happens:
Wayne (Wang) didn't think that. Wayne
got it."
Sarandon says one of the attractions
of"Anywhere But Here" for her was the
opportunity to put on some "paint."
"That was really fun because I hadn't
been in makeup for so long. I hadn't
had a part that was frilly clothes and
makeup in many moons."
Another reason she agreed to star in
"Anywhere But Here," Sarandon says,
was because the filmmakers agreed'to
wait for her until she finished a small
role in the Robbins-directed "Cradle
Will Rock" and promised that they'd
complete shooting before the start of
her children's school year
I
1 AM biology lab
2 PM kickboxing class
9 PM movie with Jeff
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