Susan Sarandon on Women in Film at Cannes Film Festival 2016

Susan Sarandon: if Thelma and Louise was being made today, it would be a cartoon



Actresses Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis attend Kering Talks Women In Motion At The 69th Cannes Film Festival. CREDIT: VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR KERING

Hannah Furness, arts correspondent, in cannes 16 MAY 2016 • 7:14AM


It was the original feminist roadtrip movie, nominated for six Oscars and tipped as heralding a new era for women in film.

But Thelma and Louise may not even get made today, according to its stars, as Susan Sarandon says it would have to be turned into "an animation".
After Thelma and Louise, they predicted there would be so many films starring women. But it didn't happenSusan Sarandon


Sarandon, who played Louise in the 1991 film, said corporate studios are now increasingly staffed by men taught to commission film by formula, who lack the imagination to see women in leading roles.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate 25 years since the release of Thelma and Louise, Sarandon and Geena Davis lamented the lack of progress in Hollywood since their landmark film made the headlines.

When asked if she thought it would ever get commissioned today, Sarandon said: "Maybe as an animation?

"I mean everybody thought that they're were going to be so many more buddy films [afterwards].

"Well I don't think the studios have fallen off their horse and had some kind of epiphany about women in film.

"After Thelma and Louise, they predicted there would be so many films starring women. But it didn't happen."
Actress Susan Sarandon attends Kering Talks Women In Motion At The 69th Cannes Film Festival. CREDIT: VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR KERING


Speaking at a Kering Women in Motion event, part of a festival-long series, Davis added: "And that's one of the really uncomfortable things, because when they said that I believed it. It didn't happen.

"The thing about film is it can change overnight. It isn't like real life, where it takes so long to get women to be half of congress or boards or CEOs.

"The next movie somebody makes can be gender balanced. We don't have to sneak up on it, just do it."

When asked about what was holding Hollywood back, Sarandon said: "There are still many more male executives making these decisions.
But why should we not be paid as preposterously as men?Susan Sarandon


"Hollywood has become more and more corporate and the kind of people making those decisions and the basis on which they're making those decisions.

"Whereas women can see a woman or a man in a leading role, I don't think it's as easy for a guy to see a woman in a leading role and say 'I'll get behind that'.

"I think it's a cultural thing, and that's part of what slows it down: a lack of imagination on the part of men.

"It's done in a very formulaic way."

She joked she too would not survive as a modern celebrity starting out today, with scrutiny over the every move of actresses.

On the issue of equal pay, she argued Hollywood actors were "all paid preposterously considering what we do".


"But why should we not be paid as preposterously as men?" she added.

Speaking of the reaction to the original release of Thelma and Louise, which sees the two leading ladies on the run after running into trouble with the law, Sarandon said: "I don't know if you remember, but there were a lot of people who were very offended by the movie.
We were making a buddy film where we had power and choices, but I certainly didn't anticipate that it would be such an affront, that we had backed into this white, male, heterosexual landscape that had been that long held. Really we were just having a good timeSusan Sarandon

"Because women having those kind of options got people upset, suddenly we were accused of condoning suicide which was ridiculous.

"I can't say that when we made it we were making a feminist film.

"We were making a buddy film where we had power and choices, but I certainly didn't anticipate that it would be such an affront, that we had backed into this white, male, heterosexual landscape that had been that long held.

"Really we were just having a good time."

Sarandon also shared her frank views on a wide range of subjects, from film to politics.


At one point, she took on the festival's most controversial topic of sex abuse allegations levied at the director Woody Allen.

Last week, his son Ronan Farrow complained Allen, who is in Cannes with his film Cafe Society, had not received enough scrutiny for the allegations, which have not been proven in court.

Sarandon said: "I think he sexually assaulted a child and I don't think that's right."