“She wasn’t on the list”: why Susan Sarandon had to fight for her greatest role
Ever since her big screen debut in 1970, the Oscar-winning Susan Sarandon has grown and evolved with the times, shifting from a timid ingénue to a commanding leading lady to a respected elder stateswoman.
She’s been a part of some truly monumental projects, where trying to pick a favourite is like trying to pick a favourite child, and has millions of fans worldwide, but none of this would have happened had it not been for Bull Durham.
Released in 1988, Bull Durham is a sports-based romantic comedy starring Kevin Costner as real-life baseball player Lawrence ‘Crash’ Davis, who’s brought in to mentor up-and-coming pitcher Ebby ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh, played by Tim Robbins, ahead of a major game, but things become complicated when appears Annie Savoy, a beautiful baseball groupie, with whom both men fall in love. Annie is played by Sarandon, if you hadn’t already figured that out.
Bull Durham was written and directed by former baseball player Ron Shelton, who based the story on his own experiences in the sport. He appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘It Happened in Hollywood’ podcast to talk about his film and revealed that he almost didn’t land his leading lady.
“For some reason, the studio said Susan Sarandon was not on the list, which made no sense,” Shelton said (via MEAWW), “I couldn’t tell her she wasn’t on the list because I’d be giving away a studio secret. Then I’d be in trouble…I’m trying to make my first movie, and I’m lying out of the gate.”
For most people, this would have been the end of the story, but Susan Sarandon isn’t most people. She was so determined to be in this film that she turned up at Burbank studios, where the movie was in pre-production, completely unannounced. Furthermore, she was wearing what Shelton described as a “red-and-white tube dress” that made her look “like a million bucks”, all of which was enough to get everyone’s attention.
“What are we going to do? She’s not on the list,” Shelton recalled both Costner (who went to his own extreme lengths to be in this film) and the producers pontificating, “She’s so great”.
Eventually, the head of Orion phoned the director and demanded that Sarandon be cast. It turns out she had gone straight from her audition to the Orion offices and flaunted herself in front of all the executives. “She pretended she had business there,” Shelton continued, “[Then she] flew back to Italy and by the time she landed, she had the part”.
Sarandon and Annie turned out to be a match made in heaven as Bull Durham grossed over $50million on a $9m budget and is widely regarded as one of the greatest sports movies ever made. As for Susan, she still thinks of it as one of her greatest career achievements. It also had a very positive effect on her personal life, as she and Robbins would begin a real-life relationship that would last over 20 years and produce two children. To think, none of this would have happened had a bunch of execs not gooned over her in a red dress.
