Susan Sarandon

Emmanuel Itier: How was the set?

Susan Sarandon: We hung out a lot, but we didn’t all live together. We were in the older boutique hotel, and the guys were in the wild hotel with the sauna. Ask Emile [Hirsch] about the sauna room at the Intercontinental. And Christina [Ricci] was somewhere else too, but we had dinners together and we hung out. Also, there were so many actors from different cultures. It was really cool to get to know Rain and Hiro[yuki Sanada]. Benno [Furmann] was fabulous, and Kick [Gurry] did some stuff and he was fabulous. And then my son came in and there was another whole focus. And Matthew [Fox] and I went and saw some music together.

EI: Did you meet Nina Hagen?

John Goodman: Yes, she was the tour guide. She’s very nice. She’s very shy.

SS: Yeah, she was very sweet and very gorgeous. I think it’s hard to come into a film when there is a group and you are coming in every now and then for a day or so, and all the guys are trying to pick you up. I don’t know that.

EI: How was Kick?

SS: Kick was the best!

JG: We called Kick “Radar.” He knew what was going on at all times.

SS: But he has such a positive energy. I love Kick and he was lots of fun.

EI: Were you fans of Speed Racer?

JG: I was. I’m an animation junkie. I knew Speed Racer and I used to watch it. They asked me and for some reason, it just sounded right–a movie about Speed Racer. Yeah, I’m down; I’m in because of the combination of the Wachowski brothers–I knew there’d be some crazy computer stuff. And this is like the first live-action anime film–photo-anime.

EI: Was this fun?

SS: It’s fun because of the people. I was a huge Matrix fan. I just thought what it had to say and the way they did it was just amazing, and my son has been giving me books explaining The Matrix, and it was just huge in our family. So when they called me, let’s face it, I didn’t have a lot to do in the movie, and I thought, “Yeah, I’ll go in for a couple weeks.” And it was like the whole summer! I thought, “What? What am I going to be doing?” And then when I started talking to them, we had a few phone calls and they explained to me how important family was, and the challenge was to hope they could deliver this emotional core for the movie in the midst of all this other amazing stuff. And I knew they would do the amazing stuff great, and if you are going to do something where you surrender your ego to the bigger picture, do it with the Wachowskis because they really are passionate and they have this vision, and they are cutting-edge about everything. So the second phone call, about an hour and a half in, I said, “I don’t understand anything you are talking about, but I’m in.” I thought, I’ll just jump and do it. Well, everybody says we had a good time, but really, if it hadn’t been a good group of people, and it starts at the top–if they had been diva-ish or mean or something, it would have been miserable. It was raining in Berlin the whole summer, and we really had a family kind of feeling, and it started with them and their family that was there the whole time.

JG: I would venture to say that without the root of our characters or the core of the family, what we’d be looking at would be very expensive, moving wallpaper. It would mean nothing.

SS: And everybody looked out for each other because you do have to have a lot of patience in something like this, and you have to surrender to the chimp every now and then, and he’s getting more attention than you are–and for good reason. And we had people on so many different stages all the time. The guys were in the Gimbals, and sometimes Kick would go in and keep Emile company when he was in the Gimbal because it’s…Rain was amazing. The amount of moves he learned and how dedicated he was…

JG: And how quickly he adapted to everything, and I don’t believe he spoke English that well when he showed up, and you could actually have a pretty good conversation with him, but he was totally selfless. Benno…the international cast got along very well, and everybody had a great sense of humor, which we needed.

SS: …Just because of the way we were dressed, first of all.

JG: We all did laugh at Susan.

EI: Were the kitchen sets real?

SS: We had sets. We didn’t suffer from the green screen as much as everybody else. Probably we had the bulk of the real scenes, and the bedrooms and the garage.

EI: Was this unique?

SS: Yeah, that’s why to do it, right? It’s a whole different experience.

JG: It’s like nothing I’ve ever done or probably will again. And again, without the family stuff, when you are on a green set, there is nothing except your other actors.

SS: I think the Wachowskis lucked out. They did cast very well, but everybody was really amusing and had a good sense of humor and made them laugh too. I’m sure if they did press, they would agree it was a good group. And we’d invite them out. They didn’t get to go out as often as we did. We had a bowling party and some other things, but they were really…

EI: What is your biggest luxury?

SS: Family, by far. I come from a large family. I’m the oldest of nine and we go through a 20-year span, so I was used to always having a kid on my hip and always being responsible for people and all of that. But it took me a long time to understand to not treat boyfriends that way. I had to learn the hard way to not be a mom to everybody. So I grew up–even though my mother didn’t have the fun I have with my kids…I only have three…but for me, it’s everything. Family always comes first, and I was happy to be able to do something that also they would have fun watching. I just did a film acting with my daughter. She’s 23 now. She has a film that just came out today with Uma Thurman, but we did a film when I came back from this in Baton Rouge, actually, in September. So that’s really fun when you can kind of carry on with…

EI: What about a luxury item?

SS: I think the luxury item I have is being able to have flexibility. You have to pay to be able to afford to go someplace at the last minute, and you can’t plan ahead with our lifestyle. I think that’s the luxury–to be able to say, “Listen, I really have to. I can’t work on those days, it’s my kid’s birthday.” And I’ve gotten to the point now where I can be a little bit more demanding and we can go together places as a family and do things that are getting more and more expensive. I live a very simple life in New York, but even New York has gotten so expensive. To be able to send your kids to school and to have privacy, which is the other thing you have to spend money on when you are in this business, to try and carve out some privacy–that costs money. So I’d say being able to have a life that’s designed around my family is really a luxury.

JG: It’s a miracle, what she’s done, because at times you feel like you are hunted and you have to isolate yourself, but you want your children to experience a normal life.

EI: You live in LA?

JG: I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana. I have one daughter.

SS: He has one gorgeous daughter who will be coming to the premiere, and my gorgeous son will be there also. And she just toured a college where my other son was and he helped her out.

EI: Do your other kids want to act as well?

SS: My youngest probably would take an acting job if you gave it to him, but he’s really into music. And my 18-year-old is studying film in California, so they are interested in the business. I don’t know.

EI: Do you encourage it?

SS: The thing that always frightened me about having privileged kids is that they would grow up with no passion for something, because you meet so many of these kids that are just bored by everything. And that’s so unattractive and also destructive. So if they have a passion, I don’t care if it’s stamp collecting, soccer, basketball…if they want to be in the business, I can’t complain. The business has been great for me. My daughter is having a blast and she’s really good. She’s done, like, six movies now, and she started when she was really young. She was in Banger Sisters with me when she was 16, and she did Saved when she was 17. Then she went to school and did her four years of college and worked the summer after her junior year and after her senior year. So I asked her to just try to get an education and try for at least two years, and I’m really happy that she did. And now Jack, so far so good. We’ll see. And the little guy, I think he’s hoping that I’ll be worn down by the time he gets to be college age.

JG: He was our mascot on the film.

SS: They were so generous with him and he had the best time, and he’s sorry he’s not here today, but I just talked to him and he’s happy that they were talking about him last night. Everyone was in my room and they were all saying, “Where’s Miles?” He wrote a song for Matt’s birthday and that was really funny. Being in New York, I think it’s easier to raise kids than if you are in LA in the business, because at least you know you are privileged. In LA, that’s the common thing and you are so isolated, and you have to drive. I think it’s harder for kids to be able to function in the real world because it’s just physically set up in such a way that you are isolated. But in New York, you are just thrown in with everybody.

EI: Did you name him after Miles Davis?

SS: Yeah, kind of, and Guthrie is his middle name and that was after Woody Guthrie, and so he was musical, but also he was smiling right from the very beginning. There was something about Miles that seemed like smiles. All the kids have been named once we met them and it just seemed right for him.

EI: How are the Wachowski brothers individually?

JG: I’ve never seen them individually.

SS: They are kind of yin and yangy.

JG: Andy looks like a professional football player. They just work extremely well together, and I think one of the most important things is they have a tremendous sense of humor. They are whip-smart and funny, and you don’t want to cross them.
SS: They are very strict.

EI: But it felt kind of relaxed?

SS: You are laughing and laughing and laughing, but don’t try to step outside of what they want!

JG: As long as you know what the boundaries are, and we are all highly professional to a point. Work within those boundaries and it’s great.

SS: They have an idea. They are not going to cut scenes and change things. They know exactly what they want. They give you very individual notes, very specific notes. And within that structure, you feel free and you feel loved and you feel respected, but nobody is going to start trying different blocking in the middle of the third take. You are nailed in because sometimes even the film is layered. Like when Emile and I did the scene in the bedroom, I said, can I touch him? Because sometimes you can’t cross over into the frame because they did this thing with the focus in the front and the back are in focus, so they were layering. They were doing things technically that also dictated a certain amount of physical restraint in certain areas.

EI: Was it that strict?

JG: Well, you trust them so much that you don’t mind, I’ve found.

SS: I think you’d rather have a director that has a real vision and then find freedom within that vision than somebody where you feel there is nobody at the ship taking you where you are going, because then you panic, as an actor.

JG: When I did Raising Arizona, I was describing the Coen brothers’ method to a bunch of actors in New York, and one of them said, “I couldn’t work that way. It’s too restrictive.” I said, “Man, it’s really liberating. If you can work within these guidelines, you can do anything. It’s almost infinite. But as long as you see the finish line with them…”

SS: Also, they were balancing so many elements. There were so many studios filming at once.

JG: There were, like, four different movies going on within our movie. There would be four different people shooting on the same day, or seven at one point.

EI: How do you think it will do?

SS: I think it will be huge because it’s a family film, even if you are not into racing. I can’t say I grew up desperate to make a racing movie, but I think it has something for everybody. It’s a family film, and I’ve sat through really horrible family films. So it’s so great when you can say, “Go see this.” It’s so rich, I think it’s the kind of thing you are going to want to see more than once because you can’t register it all. You can’t even decode it all initially. So I think it will be one of those films where people go back. And not just kids. I think it has a great energy and a sweetness to it that I think will make it popular.

JG: Emile saw it two nights in a row and he did it. But it was like seeing something else all the time. I’ve never been on anything quite like this.

SS: No, and I don’t think we will again, unless they do a sequel.

EI: Would it be more about you guys?

JG: I hope I get to drive a car.

SS: I think I’m going to figure out about Racer X. That’s what I think, maybe. That mom is going to start getting a little suspicious.

EI: Was it strange that mom didn’t get suspicious?

SS: I was suspicious, but you don’t see it because they didn’t put that take in, but I was suspicious.

JG: And I picked that up off of her.

SS: When I give him a cookie or offer him the thing, my flag would go up. I think I would know my kid.

EI: What’s next?

SS: I have something coming out in Canada this weekend, called Emotional Arithmatic with Max von Sydow, Gabriel Byrne, and Christopher Plummer that I did the fall before last. And then I have the film with my daughter–I’m not sure when that’s coming out–called The Middle of Nowhere.

EI: Don’t you only make one movie a year?

SS: No, I don’t put a limit on anything. When the kids were little, I didn’t work during the school year. I tried to work, except for Tim, during the summer. So most of the big movies I’ve done, like Thelma and Louise and The Client, they were all filmed in the summer because I didn’t want to take the kids out of school, and they did travel with me all the time, And then when they got to be teenagers, they would choose their peers over me. They didn’t want to leave and get left behind and miss their sports or whatever was happening, so it becomes tougher so I tried to stick around more. Now I’ve only got one left at home and he’s saying, “Go and I’ll follow. I’ll be glad to miss school.” Miles is so outside the box. He’s like, “It’s fine, don’t turn anything down, go. Cillian Murphy? I’m there.” I’m doing something with Cillian Murphy next after this opens, in Iowa. And then something with Pierce Brosnan after that. Lovely Bones is coming out too. I finished in Pennsylvania. Heaven is in New Zealand. Peter Jackson is an interesting guy, and I play this completely mean alcoholic grandmother who keeps the family together once everything starts to disintegrate, and I loved that book.