Susan Sarandon Movies
Simply by growing old gracefully, actress Susan Sarandon has defied the rules of Hollywood stardom: Not only has her fame continued to increase as she enters middle age, but the quality of her films and her performances in them has improved as well. Ultimately, she has come to embody an all-too-rare movie type -- the strong and sexy older woman. Born Susan Tomaling on October 4, 1946, in New York City, she was the oldest of nine children. Even while attending the Catholic University of America, she did not study acting, and in fact expressed no interest in performing until after marrying actor Chris Sarandon. While accompanying her husband on an audition, Sarandon landed a pivotal role in the controversial 1970 feature Joe, and suddenly her own career as an actress was well underway. She soon became a regular on the daytime soap opera A World Apart and in 1972 appeared in the feature Mortadella.Lovin' Molly and The Front Page followed in 1974 before Sarandon earned cult immortality as Janet Weiss in 1975's camp classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the quintessential midnight movie of its era. After starring with Robert Redford in 1975's The Great Waldo Pepper, Sarandon struggled during the mid-'70s in a number of little-seen projects, including 1976's The Great Smokey Roadblock and 1978's Checkered Flag or Crash. Upon beginning a relationship with the famed filmmaker Louis Malle, however, her career took a turn for the better as she starred in the provocative Pretty Baby, portraying the prostitute mother of a 12-year-old Brooke Shields. Sarandon and Malle next teamed for 1980's superb Atlantic City, for which she earned her first Oscar nomination. After appearing in Paul Mazursky's Tempest, she then starred in Tony Scott's controversial 1983 horror film The Hunger, playing a scientist seduced by a vampire portrayed by Catherine Deneuve. The black comedy Compromising Positions followed in 1985, as did the TV miniseries Mussolini and I. Women of Valor, another mini, premiered a year later.
While Sarandon had enjoyed a prolific career virtually from the outset, stardom remained just beyond her grasp prior to the mid-'80s. First, a prominent appearance with Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1986 hit The Witches of Eastwick brought her considerable attention, and then in 1988 she delivered a breakthrough performance in Ron Shelton's hit baseball comedy Bull Durham, which finally made her a star, at the age of 40. More important, the film teamed her with co-star Tim Robbins, with whom she soon began a long-term offscreen relationship. After a starring role in the 1989 apartheid drama A Dry White Season, Sarandon teamed with Geena Davis for Thelma and Louise, a much-discussed distaff road movie which became among the year's biggest hits and won both actresses Oscar nominations. Sarandon was again nominated for 1992's Lorenzo's Oil and 1994's The Client before finally winning her first Academy Award for 1995's Dead Man Walking, a gut-wrenching examination of the death penalty, adapted and directed by Robbins. Now a fully established star, Sarandon had her choice of projects; she decided to lend her voice to Tim Burton's animated James and the Giant Peach (1996). Two years later, she was more visible with starring roles in the thriller Twilight (starring opposite Paul Newman and Gene Hackman) and Stepmom, a weepie co-starring Julia Roberts. The same year, she had a supporting role in the John Turturro film Illuminata.
Sarandon continued to stay busy in 1999, starring in Anywhere But Here, which featured her as Natalie Portman's mother, and Cradle Will Rock, Robbins' first directorial effort since Dead Man Walking. On television, Sarandon starred with Stephen Dorff in an adaptation of Anne Tyler's Earthly Possessions, and showed a keen sense of humor in her various appearances on SNL, Chappelle's Show, and Malcolm in the Middle. After starring alongside Goldie Hawn in The Banger Sisters, Sarandon could be seen in a variety of projects including Alfie (2004, Romance and Cigarettes (2005), and Elizabethtown (2006). In 2007, Sarandon joined Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg in The Lovely Bones, director Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel of the same name. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 2004
- Add Ethics and the World Crisis: A Dialogue With the Dalai Lama to QueueAdd Ethics and the World Crisis: A Dialogue With the Dalai Lama to top of Queue
Buddhist leader His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet is the focal point of this panel discussion, in which a group of political, environmental, and spiritual activists discuss the dangers and dilemmas that face the global community at the dawn of the 21st century. Ethics and the World Crisis: A Dialogue With the Dalai Lama features discussions of ethical issues and how they relate to the media, global economics, the peace movement, and the environment. In addition to the Dalai Lama, panelists include U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Rev. Al Sharpton, Susan Sarandon, Russell Simmons, Amy Goodman, Ben Cohen, and more; the discussion is moderated by Robert Thurman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Dalai Lama (XIV), Robert A.F. Thurman, (more)
- 2004
Gini Reticker and Lesli Klainberg direct the 74-minute documentary In the Company of Women, a production of the Independent Film Channel. The film offers an introduction to the major women of independent filmmaking, starting in the 1980s. It includes commentary from directors Allison Anders, Lisa Cholodenko, and Nicole Holofcener. Actresses Patricia Clarkson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Rosie Perez also offer insight and comments. In the Company of Women was shown in a special screening at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival before making its broadcast premiere on the Independent Film Channel. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allison Anders, Lisa Cholodenko, (more)
Officially based on two of Frank Herbert's science fiction novels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, this three-part, six-hour miniseries was actually a sequel to the Sci-Fi Channel's multipart adaptation of the original Dune. The story was set in the year 10,103: Having deposed the evil emperor of the desert planet Arrakis, the messianic Paul Atreides (Scott Newman) was firmly installed as the planet's supreme "Muad'Dib," as well as the guardian of Arrakis' life-enhancing spice supply. Unfortunately, Paul's efforts to unify his kingdom have had the residual consequences of bloodshed and tyranny. It fell to Paul's twin children, Ghanima (Jessica Brooks) and Leto II (James McAvoy), to thwart the villainous machinations of the planet's deposed matriarch, Princess Wensicia (Susan Sarandon), and the beautiful but insane Princess Alia (Daniela Amavia). Like the previous Dune miniseries, this one was decked out with superlative special effects, excellent performances, on-target direction, and (most vital for any Herbert adaptation) a thoroughly logical and coherent teleplay. First telecast on March 16, 2003, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune was clearly designed as the pilot for a weekly Dune series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Newman, Julie Cox, (more)
- 2003
It is during the final months of 1999 that 46-year-old physician Jerri Nielsen (Susan Sarandon) finds herself stranded at the Amundsen-South Pole Research Station along with a tiny staff of researchers and technicians. Although, at first, there is little love lost between the somewhat aloof Nielsen and her more down-to-earth colleagues, a strong bond develops among them as the extreme Antarctic winter progresses. Nielsen, in particular, grows quite close to two of the "Polies": Big John Penny (Aidan Devine) and Claire Furinski (Cynthia Mace). It is Big John to whom Nielsen confides that she has discovered a lump in her breast, which, with the e-mailed assistance of her fellow physicians back in the States, she diagnoses as a cancerous growth. After a self-administered biopsy, Nielsen and her new friends construct a crude chemotherapy unit to treat her ever-growing cancer. Supplies are periodically air-dropped by the Air Force and both Big John and Claire are given a crash course in the treatment of Nielsen's affliction; but will she be able to survive her ordeal until the rescue party arrives? Inspired by a true story, as written by Nielsen herself in a best-selling autobiography, Ice Bound: A Woman's Survival at the South Pole was filmed on location near Ontario's frozen Lake Simone. This made-for-TV production originally aired April 20, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon, Aidan Devine, (more)
- 2003
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Host Susan Sarandon explores the common sense diet methods of Norris Chumley in this video designed to cut through the fads and get straight to the facts. By eschewing diet pills and starvation methods in favor of a sensible diet, embracing movement, and discovering a transformational self-love by surrendering himself to a higher power, Chumley shed 160 pounds and has kept the weight off for nearly a decade. In this release, Chumley shares his spiritually oriented approach to weight loss and offers a look at five ordinary people who successfully won the battle against obesity through practicing the methods that he prescribes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norris Chumley, Susan Sarandon, (more)
Shortly after graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara, filmmaker Tom Peosay and his wife Sue (an Asian Studies major) set out on a tour of Asia that culminated in an extended stay in the Chinese-occupied nation of Tibet. With that formative visit, the Peosays became actively interested in the small Himalayan nation's tempestuous history and, over the course of the next decade, made a number of return visits to document Tibet's story, as well as interview a number of its residents and higher-profile participants of the "Free Tibet" movement. Their completed documentary, entitled Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, encompasses a brief history of China's invasion and subsequent five decades of rule, as well as the various uprisings that have occurred over the years -- with particular emphasis on the 1987 riots. A number of high profile Hollywood actors lent their voices to this project, including Martin Sheen (who narrated the film), Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Ed Harris. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen
Filmmaker Liz Garbus (The Farm: Angola, USA) documents the extraordinary story of Edith Hahn in The Nazi Officer's Wife. Using old newsreel footage, personal photos, and interviews with Hahn, her daughter Angela, and various acquaintances, with narration by Susan Sarandon and Julia Ormond (who reads excerpts from Hahn's autobiography), the film explores how Hahn, a Jewish woman living in Vienna during the Nazi takeover of Austria, survived. The film begins the tale with Hahn's childhood, including her education, the death of her father, and her college romance with a half-Jewish intellectual. As the Nazis grew in power, and Hahn's sisters fled for Palestine, he insisted that they would be safe in Vienna. Soon, Hahn, a law student, found herself in a slave labor camp. By the time she returned to Vienna, her mother had been sent to a concentration camp in Poland. Certain to be deported herself, Hahn chose instead to remove the yellow star from her clothing and go into hiding. Finding help from the unlikeliest of sources (including two prominent members of the Nazi party,) Hahn took on a new identity as a young Aryan woman, and left Vienna, traveling to Munich, in the heart of the Third Reich, where she got a job working as a nurse's aide for the Red Cross. There, visiting a museum, she met a bright and well-spoken Nazi, Werner Vetter, who approached her. Soon, against Hahn's better judgment, the two had started a romance, which eventually led to an unlikely marriage and a child. All the while, Hahn kept up her disguise to all but her husband, even suppressing her own vital personality, and taking on the role of a subservient Aryan housewife. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon, Julia Ormond, (more)
Frequent television director Brad Silberling directs the romantic drama Moonlight Mile. Set in a Massachusetts town in the early '70s, Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) is distraught after the death of his fiancée. He moves in with her parents, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and JoJo (Susan Sarandon), while trying to sort out all of the legal troubles and painful details of the wedding cancellations. While trying to locate the wedding invitations in the mail, Joe meets Bertie (Ellen Pompeo), whose boyfriend has been MIA in Vietnam. Despite his growing relationship with his late fiancée's parents, Joe begins to foster a romance with Bertie. Also starring Dabney Coleman and Holly Hunter. Moonlight Mile is based on Brad Silberling's real-life situation following the murder of his TV-star girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, (more)
For some folks, the 1960s never really ended, and one woman still cheerfully stuck in the Summer of Love discovers her one-time best friend has left that decade as far behind as humanly possible in this comedy. In the late '60s and early '70s, Suzette (Goldie Hawn) and Vinnie (Susan Sarandon) were two of Southern California's most celebrated groupies. Affectionately nicknamed "The Banger Sisters" by Frank Zappa, best friends Suzette and Vinnie partied hearty with practically every rock star of the era who mattered, and kept a collection of Polaroid snapshots documenting their randy exploits. In 2001, Suzette is still her free-spirited self, and after losing her job as a barmaid at an L.A. rock club, she decides to look up Vinnie, whom she hasn't seen for 20 years. Suzette hits the road for Phoenix, AZ, to pay Vinnie a surprise visit, and en route picks up Harry (Geoffrey Rush), a novelist with writer's block who can't drive and hasn't had sex for a decade. Upon her arrival, Suzette discovers Vinnie isn't quite the same person who used to chase any man with long hair and an electric guitar. Now going by her given name of Lavinia, she's a straight laced social worker with a lawyer for a husband, Raymond (Robin Thomas), and two teenage daughters, Hannah (Erika Christensen) and Ginger (Eva Amurri), none of whom know a thing about her wild and crazy past, and have a pretty hard time imagining Lavinia even attending a rock concert. Eva Amurri comes by her role as Susan Sarandon's daughter naturally enough -- Amurri is Sarandon's daughter in real life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, (more)
- 2002
Filmmakers Phillip B. Kunhardt III, Nancy Steiner, and Peter W. Kunhardt explore the eternal struggle for liberty in America while simultaneously illuminating the hypocritical underlying factors that undermined the colonist's bold "experiment in freedom," in a revealing documentary featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Michael Caine, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins , Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford and many more. As the newly arrived British subjects staged the revolution that would cut loose their ties to Great Britain and give birth to a new era of freedom, a new hope for liberty emerged - but how then does one justify the presence of slavery in a society founded on the claim of all men being "created equal?" A blight on the quest for liberty and freedom that literally divided a struggling young nation right down the middle, slavery would be the last true obstacle in ensuring that the land of the free would truly live up to the ideals set forth by the founding fathers. As the north and the south set the stage for a bloody four-year war that would go down in history as one of the most brutal internal struggles ever waged, the resulting Civil War showed the willingness of Americans to actually stand up and fight to protect the rights of others as stated in the Constitution. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Susan Sarandon is the narrator for this documentary, which takes a close and compassionate look at children with multiple physical handicaps, and the parents who love and care for them. In addition to chronicling the lives of six families caring for severely challenged children, For Love of Julian also examines the medical facilities designed to help treat kids with handicaps. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon
The cynical son of an upper-class New York family bedeviled by booze, pills and mental illness strikes out on his own in this caustic, darkly comic drama. Igby Slocomb (Kieran Culkin) and his older brother, Oliver (Ryan Phillippe), are are in the process of killing their mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon). Flashbacks delineate Igby's troubled childhood: Speed-freak Mimi and her depressed husband, Jason (Bill Pullman), snipe at each other endlessly until Jason attempts suicide before Igby's very eyes and takes up residence in a mental hospital. Igby grows into a rebellious youth, gets kicked out of several boarding schools and ends up in a hellish military academy. After one failed escape attempt, he heads to New York City and hides out in the apartment of Rachel (Amanda Peet), the heroin-addled mistress of his godfather, D.H. (Jeff Goldblum). Oliver locates the young scoundrel and informs him that Mimi is suffering from cancer. Unperturbed, Igby continues his slacker existence -- and his romance with Sookie (Claire Danes), a hipper-than-thou undergraduate who finds herself torn between Igby and Oliver. As Igby gets drawn further into the mind games and hypocrisy of the adult world, his already jaded outlook grows even darker. He takes to dealing smack and hanging out with a cross-dressing performance "artist" (Jared Harris). Ultimately, though, Mimi's impending death draws him back into the family fold for unexpected revelations and realizations. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Burr Steers, Igby Goes Down features Rory Culkin, Kieran's brother, as the young Igby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieran Culkin, Susan Sarandon, (more)
Actors and political activists come together to take a long, hard look at the State of the Union during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election in this documentary, a follow-up to 1993's The Last Party, in which actor Robert Downey Jr. followed the 1992 presidential campaign. In The Last Party 2000, with Robert Downey Jr. unavailable due to drug convictions (he does make a brief appearance, and his legal problems as well as the current state of American drug laws are discussed), Philip Seymour Hoffman takes his place as he visits the 2000 Democratic and Republican National Conventions and talks to politicians and activists both famous and obscure as a pitched battle is fought between supporters of democratic candidate Al Gore, republican nominee George W. Bush, and the many voices who believed neither candidate represented a worthwhile or reasonable choice. Along with Downey and Hoffman, celebrities speaking out on the issues in this film include Courtney Love, Rosie O'Donnell, Reese Witherspoon, and David Crosby; the rock band Stone Temple Pilots also appear at a political rally. The Last Party 2000 was directed by actor and musician Donovan Leitch, who served as a producer on the first film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
This talking-animal action comedy from Lawrence Guterman, the co-director of Antz (1998), follows on the heels of the Babe and Dr. Dolittle films. Unknown to humans, a secret war has been raging between cats and dogs for eons, but a fragile truce has long held the order of the animal kingdom in place. Now the balance of power has tipped, as a researcher, Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum), is about to invent a vaccine that will erase all human allergies to dogs. This is too much for the autocratic Mr. Tinkles (Sean Hayes), a white Persian kitty bent on world domination. The Brody home becomes ground zero for the renewed conflict between feline and canine, with a young Beagle puppy named Lou (Tobey Maguire) caught in the middle as the new point man for his species' cause. Cats and Dogs co-stars Elizabeth Perkins and Alexander Pollock, as well as the vocal talents of Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jon Lovitz, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Joe Pantoliano. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins, (more)
- 2001
In the third of four special 40-minute Friends episodes which originally ran in February 2000, Susan Sarandon guests as Jessica Lockhart, one of the stars of Days of Our Lives, the TV soap opera in which Joey (Matt LeBlanc) has returned in the role of the comatose Dr. Drake Ramoray. Under normal circumstances, Jessica and Joey -- who are clearly quite attracted to one another -- would have hit it off immediately, and everything would have been coming up roses. But alas, the daytime drama's plotline requires that Jessica's character be killed off, whereupon her brain is to be transplanted in Joey's head! ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon, Eva Amurri, (more)
- 2001
The inspiring documentary The Joy of Weight Loss profiles five people who have lost a great deal of weight via original and healthful alternative methods. Susan Sarandon and Norris Chumley provide thoughtful commentary, detailing stories of once obese men and women who turned to spirituality and practical nutrition, not fad diets, when they set out to lose pounds and reinvent their lives. Each of the five success-story interviewees have kept their weight off for more than two years. The subjects share nutrition tips and suggest smart weight loss approaches. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide
In the wake of the attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001, many figures in the entertainment community stepped forward to offer their talents to raise money towards relief efforts for the victims and their survivors. On October 20, 2001, some of the biggest names in popular music appeared at New York's Madison Square Garden in a special marathon concert to raise funds, and to pay tribute to the firefighters and police officers who gave their strength, their courage, and in some cases their lives to help the victims of this tragedy. The Concert for New York is a video that documents this historic evening. Musicians include Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bono, and many more. The long list of celebrity presenters includes Rudy Giuliani, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Halle Berry. And several filmmakers contribute short films on New York, including Woody Allen and Kevin Smith. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Nova explores the serious consequences of eating disorders in Nova: Dying to Be Thin. Anorexia and bulimia have become mainstream maladies, with open discussion of the millions of cases throughout the U.S. Anorexia alone accounts for the highest death rate of any psychological illness. If patients survive, the effects of self-imposed starvation can be extreme, from bone loss to heart damage. Nova goes behind closed doors to explore experimental treatments for these eating disorders. ~ Sarah Ing, All Movie Guide
