A Conversation With Susan Sarandon

Because when people say to me, you know, how have you lasted so long as being this sensual, sexual? I say, you know, I'm a good listener. That's what's gotten me by all these years. I'm really just a good listener. Because what reads on screen as some kind of sexual attraction or chemistry, if it's whether it's between someone of the same gender or a younger person, an older person, it does. That's not really what depressed determines it. What determines that chemistry that reads on screen is when the audience believes that those two people see each other in a way that nobody has seen them before, and they make a connection that way. And they listen to each other, and you see that they feel that they're seen and they feel that they're listened to in a way that they haven't experienced before, whatever the story is.

That's amazing you should say that, because last night I was looking at my notebook where I occasionally write down something that I read that's interesting, and I actually then scribbled it. I brought it to read to you. It connects with what you just said, really. And this is from an interview with Richard Gere. And he was interviewed, and he said. He talked about acting, and he said movie acting is primarily listening. If you are really engaged, that's all a movie audience wants to see. They want to see you processing what's happening in your world.

Mm.

Well, that's interesting, because we just played husband and wife. It hasn't come out yet, but I've known him for a long time, so that's a good. Maybe our essence have communicated Somehow over the 20 some years we've known each other. That's funny. Well, I think it's true. And that's why acting is such a great job, because you're trained, if you're gonna be good at what you do, to listen. You're trained to be present. You're training to be somehow authentic and at the same time, to be open to whatever the other person feeds to you, really. The good actors have an idea of the boundaries, but within those boundaries is the freedom to react to whatever happens. And when you're. Really, what's addictive about acting is when you're with somebody like Richard and something happens that's unexpected and everything gets quiet, and you're there in that moment, and it's actually working. Now, whether or not anybody gets it on film is another question. But that exchange is so strong that you want to find that.