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Putting Celebrity to Good Use
RD: You and Tim are still not married, right?Sarandon: Maybe we're saving that for old age -- and a good party. Part of my reason for resisting is there's still so much of a tendency to treat married people as a couple, not as individuals. We certainly would get more of a tax break, wouldn't we?
RD: Is it difficult for your kids to have two famous parents?
Sarandon: I say to my kids, "On a scale of 1 to 10, what are the perks? You get to meet the Rangers after a game. You get to go to the Star Wars screening." And they say, "Maybe 8." "What's the downside?" "5." I say, "So we're still up by 3." Yes, it's a drag to be eating [at a restaurant] and have someone come over and say, "I never do this" and then interrupt your dinner. Or to have a problem in public, and people are watching you. Or to not know if people like you because of who your mother is. But I tell them, "Your job in life is to find people who like you for who you are. There are people who will like you for the wrong reasons -- not just because you have a famous mother, but because you have big breasts or a fancy car or whatever."
RD: Has celebrity been hard for you, personally, to deal with?
Sarandon: I don't feel guilty about being a celebrity because I use it. My youngest, Miles, who's ten, said to me the other day, "One of the things I like about you, Mom, is that you use it -- it doesn't use you." I'm glad that he could figure that out without my having to explain it.
RD: Do you worry much about the pressure put on actors to stay young in Hollywood?
Sarandon: I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't matter. If you're aging on a screen that big, it's harder to make your peace with it. But I've been incredibly lucky to have a career that actually became more interesting as I got older. I have no idea how I managed to do this.
RD: Are there enough roles in Hollywood for women, especially those over 40?
Sarandon: No. But are there good roles for men either? No. If [the writers, directors and producers in the business] told stories they were interested in instead of following the polls, there would be more roles for all kinds of people, including minorities.
RD: What are your thoughts about Hollywood's fare in general?
Sarandon: Dead Man Walking made a lot of money, but no one expected that. The debate that film started cut across into the mainstream. And I'm still seeing the ramifications. So imagine the ramifications of films that reinforce women liking violent sex, or war films that say the only way to become a man is to kill in cold blood.
The movies I just did all had writer-directors with a story they felt they had to tell. If that was how [films were] made instead of just trying to duplicate a previous hit, you'd have entertainment at its finest. You just don't find original pieces very often. My daughter, Eva, who's 17, has just started to do films, and with most of the scripts she gets, she can tell what's going to happen after the first five pages.
RD: How do you feel about Eva going into this career?
Sarandon: What's always worried me as a person blessed with privileged children is having a child who's not interested in anything. I've seen kids of famous people who grow up and are just bored. So any time a kid of mine has a passion for anything, I'm there. If she'd wanted to be a soccer pro, I would have been there.
And the pressure is on these kids. I'm asked to visit high schools sometimes and talk to them. They have this fear of making a mistake. It's not about finding your passion, your strength or voice. They want a guaranteed job. And the scary thing is, the world the way it is today, there are no guarantees. So you might as well follow your heart.
RD: What about your sons? Do they feel that pressure?
Sarandon: When I had children I knew what the problems were for a girl and was set to deal with that. What I didn't understand was how the socialization process steals those sweet boys from us, tries to turn them into people who are uncomfortable and unfamiliar with their emotions.
RD: As a mother, how can you combat that?
Sarandon: It has so much to do with listening and watching and giving them the opportunity to be comfortable with who they are, encouraging them to be thoughtful and respectful, and probably limiting TV.
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