‘Atlantic City’ confidential: Sarandon at Picture House to celebrate movie’s 30th anniversary

Chris Serico • The Journal News • July 29, 2010 • Photo: The Picture House

Despite earning the first of her five Academy Award nominations for best actress for her role in “Atlantic City,” Susan Sarandon had a tough time getting into the 1982 Oscar ceremony.

“I remember that Richard Gere and I went together, and we got there a little late, and they wouldn’t let us into our seats,” says Sarandon, 63. “And I remember thinking, ‘That’s not a good omen.’ At that point, I had maybe been to the Oscars before to present or something, but I wasn’t a very good movie star.”

She didn’t win that night — although she would, 14 years later, for her performance in “Dead Man Walking” — but it might have been the last time she was held back from joining the best actors in the industry.

To celebrate the 30-year anniversary of “Atlantic City’s” release, the award-winning actress will appear Sunday at The Picture House in Pelham for a wine reception, screening and Q&A. Sarandon, who owns a home in Westchester County, says she appreciates the Pelham theater’s history and mission.

“I just always welcome an occasion to be supportive of small theaters that are showing interesting films and fighting to stay alive,” she says. “I remember the beginning of my career — especially at the time when I was with (“Atlantic City” director) Louis Malle — I was very aware of his relationship with all these little, independent theaters.”

Oscar-nominated for 1981 best picture, “Atlantic City” is the story of an aging mobster (Burt Lancaster), who protects and falls for a casino dealer named Sally (Sarandon), whose husband has been killed for stealing from the mob.

Lancaster and Sarandon earned two of the film’s Oscar nominations for acting, and Malle, who was living with Sarandon at the time, earned one for directing.

“(Lancaster) was very tolerant of the director’s girlfriend, and then we got to know each other,” Sarandon says. “He was one of those guys who really felt he was in a position, it was kind of his job to educate you.”

Sarandon says working with Malle on set presented its challenges, but not just because they were in a relationship.

“He wasn’t somebody that was really comfortable with talking to actors, but I’ve found that there aren’t too many directors who are comfortable talking to actors,” she says, laughing.

Sarandon recalls being shocked to receive her first Oscar nomination for best actress without a major campaign push from her studio, especially since she thought she played a supporting role in the film.

“Really, there was no campaign or anything,” she says. “I don’t know if that could still happen these days.”

Pleased by the honor, she still had to work to land coveted roles.

“I suppose when you’re that young that it probably helps make you seem a little more legitimate, but I don’t remember really bursting through to suddenly go up for ‘The Godfather,’” she says. “I was pretty much plugging away.”

“It was much more theatrical than I remembered it, and very ’80s,” she says. “There was something about it that felt like a period film. … I think in that one, I had looked at some of my other films and thought, ‘Why am I constantly moving my eyebrows and my face around?’”

Sarandon’s four other best-actress Oscar nominations were for acting in “Thelma & Louise,” “Lorenzo’s Oil,” “The Client” and “Dead Man Walking.” For her Oscar-winning stint in “Dead Man Walking,” she played a nun who shows compassion for both a convicted killer on death row and the families of his victims.

Sarandon’s longtime partner, Tim Robbins, directed the film, and lived with Sarandon in Pound Ridge before the two split up last year.

The two raised their sons, Jack and Miles, in Pound Ridge, and Sarandon still views the town fondly.

“It doesn’t have the feel of a John Cheever-like commuting town,” she says, adding that her sons played in local baseball and soccer leagues as teenagers. “It’s just gorgeous, of course. The Pound Ridge Reservation, the Hiram Halle Library … and so many good restaurants.”

Sarandon is keeping busy on and off the screen. She recently earned a fourth Emmy nomination for playing Janet Good, an ally of assisted-suicide practitioner Dr. Jack Kevorkian, in HBO’s “You Don’t Know Jack.” She recently wrapped production on a Jason Segel movie, “Jeff Who Lives At Home.” She’s the co-owner of SPiN, a chic ping-pong palace that opened last fall in New York City. And she continues to be an activist for liberal causes and charities.

But, if you ask her, there’s always more to be done, whether or not cameras are rolling.

“I’m still curious,” she says, “and I’m still having a really good time.”

*****

Comic relief

Although Susan Sarandon may be best known for her dramatic work, she’s more than embraced her funny bone. She twice provided voice-overs for “The Simpsons,” got cheeky in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Bull Durham,” and hopes for a mother lode of comedy as a maternal figure to Jason Segel in the upcoming “Jeff Who Lives At Home.”

In fact, a whole generation might best recognize her as a muse for two so-called “Motherlovers” in a “Saturday Night Live” digital short. She and fellow Oscar-winner Patricia Clarkson were the objects of Oedipal affection for Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake for the music video that debuted in May 2009.

“Those guys are really funny, and I would love to work with them again,” Sarandon says. “They were so professional and really respectful, and so smart.” Although she had not seen Samberg and Timberlake’s Grammy-winning “D—- In A Box” digital short, her younger son, Miles, had seen it and convinced her to do the sequel: “He said, ‘Oh, Mom, ‘D—- In A Box’ is classic; you have to do it.’ And he was right.”