Susan Sarandon | The New York Observer

That's Amurri! Sarandon Scion Prepared for Role by Pole-Dancing With Mom

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:42:34 -0400

Susan Sarandon’s memorable cinematic nude scenes include Pretty Baby (1978), in which she licks her finger and touches her breasts; The Hunger (1983), in which she has a lesbian love affair with Catherine Deneuve; Bull Durham (1988), in which she has sex with Kevin Costner; and White Palace (1990), in which she plays James Spader’s seductress.

Ms. Sarandon’s daughter, Eva Amurri, who is 24 and also an actress, will appear nude for the...

Sarandon's Shmatte, Chloe's Fridge Find New Home in Tribeca as Housing Works Expands

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:26:22 -0400

Here's one winner of the Big Bad Recession: Housing Works! The organization, which works to combat AIDS and homelessness, has announced that its Tribeca store, located at 72 Warren Street, will be moving to a new location at 119 Chambers Street on Friday, July 31.

The new store will be four times the size of its current digs. Pictures of the bi-level space show floor-to-ceiling windows with natural light and wood-paneled...

D.C. Is O-Town

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:10:00 -0500

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The day before Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, the lunch seating at Café Milano, the Italian restaurant in Georgetown, was booked solid.

Milano is the Michael’s of D.C. But it’s still in D.C. The air buzzed with the chatter of heavily hair-sprayed women wearing pink blouses, dangly earrings and bright shades of lipstick who, ever so subtly, craned their necks around the room to catch glimpses of...

It’s Barackfest in New York!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:58:35 -0500

As election night neared, New York’s power elite—but also its creative class, its political class, its partying class, lurched to find the center of gravity for election night.

The premonition that New York’s obvious choice, Barack Obama, was likely to win was not the smallest consideration here.

And then there were those who attempted to provide the city with its own massive town square,...

Peek At Comedy Central Special: Susan Sarandon in Sneaks!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:56:59 -0500

Susan Sarandon and her family attended tonight's Indecision 2008, co-anchored by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Milling around near the kitchen in the early part of the night--where CNN played on a and popcorn, Doritos and 100 calorie packs of of Chips Ahoy were available for snacking--Ms. Sarandon wondered outloud if anything had happened, as states began to be called for the candidates.

She was wearing New Balance sneakers, and a...

The Transom Week In Review: Michael Bloomberg, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, and Anne Slowey

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:06:42 -0400

We learned that Michael Bloomberg and Vera Wang are intimidating enough without costumes.

Kelly Killoren Bensimon is not a housewife, she just plays one on TV.

We went underground with some models at the opening of the Plaza's new mall.

Susan Sarandon voiced her fears about the impending Bloomberg dictatorship.

We got to know Anne Slowey at the Stylista premiere. ...

Even at Fancy French Store Openings, Michael Bloomberg's Power Play Is the Talk of the Town

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:44:48 -0400

"From what I understand, New Yorkers aren't approving of a third term of [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg," said actress Susan Sarandon at the U.S. debut of the French clothing store Comptoir des Cotonniers in Soho on Thursday, Oct. 23. "I'll be interested to see who the opposition is because if they are mad at Bloomberg, they probably stand a very good chance of getting in."

Ms. Sarandon was accompanied by her 23-year-old daughter, actress Eva Amurri....

View From the Top: Jean-Louis Blondeau, Chronicler of High-Wire Walker, Shows Shots at National Arts Club

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:15:07 -0400

On opening night of "No Why," a show of 50 photographs taken by Jean-Louis Blondeau of his friend, high-wire walker Philippe Petit, the National Arts Club was packed, uncomfortably, with attendees. Susan Sarandon was there, to introduce Mr. Blondeau in a speech. So were Tim Robbins, Cuba Gooding Jr. and the guy who replaced Jesse Martin on Law & Order. Given the size of the crowd, you'd have expected Petite to show—perhaps on...

World Record For Movie-Watching Broken in Times Square

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:12:00 -0400

We've all done it. One minute you get innocently sucked into watching The Breakfast Club on VH1. The next thing you know it's 5 a.m. and you're still only halfway through that Lord of the Rings marathon you stumbled upon on Encore. And as much as you feel cracked out and like less of a human being for sitting in front of a TV screen for so long, you just can't stop watching!

No big...

At DNC Vanity Fair Party, Chevy Chase Gets McCain's VP Choice Wrong; Ashley Judd and Jamie Foxx Boogie Down

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:26:04 -0400

DENVER—"There's my girl!" Chevy Chase bellowed as Madeline Albright walked into the backroom of the Vanity Fair-Google party on Thursday, August 28. The towering comedian, who was clad in a blazer, T-shirt and jeans, bent down to embrace his old friend. They discussed plans to get together—Mr. Chase promising an e-mail from "his people"—mugged for the cameras, and agreed that Barack Obama had nailed his speech. "If we're seen together, you're...

Late Night Tequila Tasting With Susan Sarandon!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:25:59 -0400

Last night the much-discussed Hollywood contingent here in Denver, who have been lending their "visibility" to myriad events and causes all over town, congregated in the V.I.P. section of the Black Eyed Peas concert. Members of the Creative Coalition's hard-working band of entertainers—Alan Cumming, Tim Daly, Anne Hathaway, Spike Lee, Barry Levinson, Josh Lucas, Matthew Modine, Susan Sarandon—were joined by various showbiz colleagues including Jessica Alba and Hayden Panettiere in the balcony area at the Fillmore...

Celebs Wonder Why No One Loves Them; Susan Sarandon Tells Her Peers They Need to be 'Genuine' in Their Beliefs

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:37:31 -0400

DENVER—After hosting a lunch in support of helping diabetes patients at the restaurant Panzano, the Creative Coalition gathered its merry band of New York-based celebrities into a back section of the restaurant to get on with the showbiz-oriented non-profit's lesser known agenda this year: a documentary, called Poliwood, featuring their historic voyage to the Democratic National Convention, directed by Barry Levinson.

The scene in the backroom featured...

Paul Mitchell Founder Bullish on Denver Hair Market

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:59:55 -0400

DENVER--The hair-product maven John Paul DeJoria, dressed in a black suit with a black T-shirt underneath, was assessing the hair of Denver during a luncheon hosted by the Creative Coalition this afternoon at Panzano, the downtown restaurant.

“The people of Denver have the nice looking hair,” said Mr. DeJoria, who is the co-founder of Paul Mitchell hair-care products. “I wish they would grow it a little bit longer....

Keeping Tabs on the Celebrities in Denver

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:48:00 -0400

Now that we're into the second day of the Democratic National Convention, it's time for a poll of all that "celebrity power" that was supposed to follow Barack Obama to Denver.

While Paris Hilton has not shown up yet (much to the disappointment of John McCain supporters), here are some noteworthy names that attended events during the first day of the convention as put together by Associated Press, with a little...

Morning Memo: Denver To Be So Hot

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:28:12 -0400

Attendees expected to attend the Democratic Convention in Denver include Kanye West, Wyclef Jean, N.E.R.D., Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ed Norton Jr. [WashingtonPost]

Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are fighting to keep St. Vincent's hospital from expanding onto West 12th Street, three blocks from their home. [P6]

Brooke Shields says she got very emotionally involved with the Project Runway contestants when she filmed her upcoming guest judge...

Cough! Ptooey! Frantic Speed Racer Spews Toxic Fumes

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:59:04 -0400

SPEED RACER
Running Time 129 minutes
Written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski
Starring Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, John Goodman

Even for summer trash, this abomination by the creatively challenged Wachowski brothers is a train wreck so bad that words literally fail me, but I will say it looks like somebody ate 25 cafeteria Jello-O congealed salads and then threw up all over the...

Sara Vilkomerson's Guide To This Week's Movies: Whatcha thinkin', Wachowskis?

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:51:22 -0400

O.K., temperatures may only sporadically hitting the 70s, but summer blockbuster season is officially here. Iron Man opened last weekend with a whopping $104.2 million stateside and another 96.8 million overseas ($201 million all together in its first five days). That beats even what the studio was hoping for (a mere $90 million domestically) and out there in Hollywoodland, executive types are thrilled that all the bemoaning and hand-wringing over the death of the...

Susan Sarandon is Disappointed in Hillary, the Press

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:39:05 -0400

When we ran into Susan Sarandon over the weekend at the TFF premiere of Speed Racer, we wondered if the actress still stood by her endorsement of Barack Obama given all the talk of the senator's dropping numbers.

And she does! Here's what the actress had to say about the current state of the democratic candidacy:

"Yes, I'm voting for Obama. I think that the press has been encouraging as many distracting issues as...

Tribeca Film Festival Ends With Speed Racer

Mon, 05 May 2008 11:59:38 -0400

The Tribeca Film Festival went as it had come: with another glitzy premiere.

Merely two weeks after the festival encroached on our city with the much-hyped premiere of Baby Mama, the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer closed the festivities to an equally if not more star-treaded red carpet and winding line of rubbernecking ticket holders.

The film’s principal cast of Emile...

Source at Fund-Raiser: Edwards Calls McCain 'Crazy' and Says Hillary Thinks There's More on Rezko

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:28:55 -0500

Before John Edwards let David Letterman mess up his hair on the Late Show last night, the former Senator was at a private fund-raiser in midtown Manhattan, also attended by Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Alex Forger—one of the co-executors of the Jackie Onassis estate.

A reader who attended the event—held in the Fifth Avenue home of Edwards contributor Joseph Bondi—emailed me last night with this report of Edwards' remarks:

At Big Benefit, Tina Brown Eschews 'The Cave'

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:25:53 -0400

After spending the better part of last year penning The Diana Chronicles in relative isolation at her beach house, erstwhile New Yorker editor Tina Brown is, at least for the time being, happy to soak up the odd wingding.

"I didn't want to go back into my cave right away, if you know what I mean. I'm sure I will do another book, but I just wanted to give myself...

The Anti-Bonnie Raitt Vote

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:45:00 -0400

Freshman Representative John Hall got a boost during his campaign from his days as a bare-chested rock and roller with the group Orleans. But now, a few months into his first term, a Republican has stepped up to challenge him, criticizing not only his position on Iraq, but his ties to the music industry. Kieran Michael Lalor, a former marine who served in Iraq, has launched an exploratory committee to run the 19th congressional district...

Dems Must Resist Voices of Outrage

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Courage. Conviction. Constancy.

These are among the most prized of political virtues. They are also qualities that opponents of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton routinely excoriate her for lacking. In recent times, criticism has been flung the Senator’s way from the left as much as the right. Almost all of it is rooted in the notion that she is a slave to expediency. “Vote for What You Believe In” is the imploring and somewhat...

Dems Must Resist Voices of Outrage

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Courage. Conviction. Constancy. These are among the most prized of political virtues. They are also qualities that opponents of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton routinely excoriate her for lacking. In recent times, criticism has been flung the Senator’s way from the left as much as the right. Almost all of it is rooted in the notion that she is a slave to expediency. “Vote for What You Believe In” is the imploring and somewhat sanctimonious slogan...

Kate Dismembered

Sun, 28 Sep 2003 20:00:00 -0400

For New Yorkers who summered in the city, the heat came in two types. The sticky, humid kind brought on by the Venusian weather conditions, and the withering belches of molten ire that New York Post columnist Liz Smith repeatedly launched at author A. Scott Berg following the July 11 publication of his Katharine Hepburn biography-cum-memoir Kate Remembered.

You weren't around, you say? Well, here's Ms. Smith in the Aug. 28 edition of her column:...

The Time-Warp, Again

Sun, 11 May 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Actress and activist Susan Sarandon was onstage at Avery Fisher Hall on Monday, May 5, after a two-and-a-half-hour tribute that had featured many film clips. Batting her trademark bulging peepers (not a euphemism), Ms. Sarandon looked toward her family in the balcony.

"My kids … they haven't seen most of these films," said the actress with a guileless smile and an apologetic shrug. The Transom gazed balcony-ward too, shuddering with the sympathy of one who...

Eight Day Week

Sun, 04 May 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday 30th

T.S. Eliot's cruelest month is 24 hours away from being done (someone should have asked Viv what her cruelest month was; her likely answer: " All of 'em, Swampy!") which means summer will be in your lap before you've finished your next iced latte . Tonight, Chevy Chase breaks out his big ladies' sunglasses to host an Apple Care's Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street, with proceeds going to the...

New Yorkers, Unite! Stand Up for Our Boldface Bloviators

Sun, 09 Feb 2003 19:00:00 -0500

Dear Concerned Citizen:

As I write this, we face a grave and growing crisis in America. Not just war. Or terrorism. Or the ever-increasing proliferation of those twin weapons of mass destruction: nuclear bombs and S.U.V.'s. No. We face a danger far more threatening: The comedian Janeane Garofalo is not being taken seriously with regard to her pronouncements on American foreign policy. Yes, that's right: According to her interview with Howard Kurtz in The Washington...

Toronto Ends With a Bang

Sun, 22 Sep 2002 20:00:00 -0400

The Toronto International Film Festival, which just ended, rounded the midway point with a collage of passionate impressions, and climaxed with a happily exhausted sea of critics and journalists heading for the airport with six months of copy in their tote bags. In 10 days, I saw 40 movies and consumed about 10,000 crab cakes. Onscreen, I saw a lot of rape, poverty, suicide, child abuse, drug addiction, terrorism, teenage sex, global violence and...

Sarandon and Hawn, Juicer Than Ever

Sun, 08 Sep 2002 20:00:00 -0400

The dog days of an insufferable summer are barking hoarsely to an end, the cartoons and aliens are on their way to the video stores, the kids are safely back where they belong in classroom bondage, and the fall promises headier stuff. Armed with notebooks, ballpoint pens, and a fresh supply of No-Doz and Murine, I'm off to my annual out-of-body experience at the Toronto International Film Festival. In my absence, the marquees will...

Screw the $1,000 Peasant Blouse! Cognoscenti Get $20 Caftans in L.A.

Sun, 30 Jun 2002 20:00:00 -0400

Finding fabulously enriching things to do in Los Angeles has always been a trifle taxing.

When I lived there in the late 70's and early 80's, the dearth of life-enhancing activities drove me to all kinds of barrel-scraping extremes. For a while, I was actually reduced to attending the weekly meetings of Jayne Mansfield's official fan club, of which I have more than a few haunting and surreal memories. A young and genial Mariska Hargitay-the...

Drop the Crest! There's a Strike Going on! … W. Does Letterman, Will Bill?

Sun, 22 Oct 2000 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, Oct. 18

Hey! Why don't you care about the commercial actors' strike? Why aren't you hooking arms with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins and standing up to the corporate greed of the advertising industry? Why aren't you boycotting Procter & Gamble products, like the members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists asked you to last week? What the heck is that tube of...

Runaway Wife, Reluctant Daughter … You Might Lose Your Lunch

Sun, 14 Nov 1999 19:00:00 -0500

Runaway Wife, Reluctant Daughter

Susan Sarandon, I am happy to report, did not die of cancer, join a nunnery, send anyone to the electric chair or drive a car over a cliff with Geena Davis. Her honesty, conviction and three-dimensional way of creating an aura of total reality on the screen just make it seem that way. This is a relief, because her very sense of aliveness has made it possible for her to now...

Watching Books Become Movies

Sun, 26 Sep 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Cannes has beaches, Venice has gondolas, New York has bagels. But at the 24th Toronto International Film Festival, it was obvious that this city has everything. With more movies, more parties and more stars than any other film festival in the world, it's easy to see why the town everyone calls "New York With Windex" is just about perfect.

The Toronto bash is the best-organized event I've ever attended; it's the most accessible to home,...

Hi-yo, Silver! At 26, Gray Matters

Sun, 16 May 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Recently in midtown, I ran into someone I despise, and because it was warm and sunny, we stopped to talk. I soon regretted it.

"Is that- gray hair ?" she marveled, peering closely at me, extending her curious paw. It was. Not just a couple of strands, but entire chunks of it, suddenly laid bare in the glaring sun, which had felt so great moments earlier. A shadow fell. I wanted to die. Or dye?...