Susan Sarandon names her most overlooked movie: “A labour of love made on a shoestring”
With frequent television roles and a few memorable film performances, Susan Sarandon rose to prominence in the 1970s, climbing the ranks to Hollywood royalty and winning a few awards along the way. And, she did all of it without starring in as much as an action movie, let alone a superhero film. Instead, she carefully built her success off the back of an eclectic mix of mainstream and independent cinema, working with the likes of Ridley Scott, George Miller and Louis Malle.
However, as Sarandon found mainstream success when she was already in her 40s, with the saucy romantic comedy Bull Durham, by the time she was only 20 years into her real career, roles started to come less frequently. As they often do for women over a certain age in Hollywood. Recently, there might have been quite a spattering of films focused on the lives and trials of older women, think The Substance or Babygirl, that have given talented actors the opportunity to stay relevant where before they might have been sidelined.
But while it might be nice to see woman playing roles that aren’t just mothers, grandmothers and wives as they get older, this shift is still happening slowly. Despite being a household name and a fine actor, Sarandon struggled to find the right place for her talents after her Academy Award-winning performance in Dead Man Walking in 1995. And even her small roles in good movies like Robot & Frank and Arbitrage have often ben overlooked. But there’s one film in particular that Sarandon believes has been underappreciated.
In 2015, she starred in the little-known independent film The Meddler. A heartwarming comedy-drama, it follows Sarandon as Marnie, an overbearing widowed mother, as she comes to terms with the death of her husband and attempts to make a new life for herself. Although it is an ageing mother part that could veer into the sitcom territory, Sarandon breathes life into the film. A breezy, amiable watch, it starts off on rocky stereotypical terrain, but the critically acclaimed actor brings a warmth and optimism to the screen that makes it all the more watchable.
For Sarandon, these are the parts that she believes are important. Speaking to iNews, she said, “I think there’s only one of my films that actually has a car crash or things blowing up. I’ve made a lot of funny, little films and The Meddler is one of those very personal films, a real labour of love made on a shoestring. It makes me happy that people seem moved by it.”
While the film didn’t go on to win any huge awards or make millions at the box office, it did find an emotional hold with certain audiences. To Sarandon, the most important thing about the film was that it was woman-led. It’s a story about a mother and daughter, written and directed by a woman.
And, she doesn’t seem to mind falling into the role of a mother now that she’s older, in fact, she feels women have been lied to on that front, “I was told a long time ago that once you started playing mothers, you sacrificed your sensuality and you couldn’t go back to playing other kinds of parts; that’s not true any more.” Sarandon has always been known for the sensual nature she brings to her films, and even with a lighthearted film like The Meddler, she can still make audiences fall in love with her.
