Susan Sarandon says she’s lost out on movie roles due to her support of Palestine.
At the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, Sarandon was asked if she thinks that the “mood [is] changing” in Hollywood as it pertains to the conflict in Gaza.
“I think that the narrative has completely changed,” she responded, according to videos posted online. “There’s a lot of things that people are aware of now.”
She continued: “In terms of the power structure, I’ve still had movies taken away recently, because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still. But that’s the power structure. I think within the people, certainly internationally, I feel welcome. So it depends. If it’s a major studio, I think there is, not just with me, but with other people, that have been told that that is impossible, in terms of being able to do this film, I thank Andrea for that, because he didn’t listen to the warnings.”
Sarandon was referring to made the remarks at a press conference at the Venice Film Festival. She’s there representing the movie The Echo Chamber, an Italian production directed by Andrea Pallaoro, whom she was referring to above.
Sarandon went on: “So I think, yes, there has been a change in terms of understanding of the situation, and I think the general public, but there are still very strongly held positions within my industry that are held by Zionists and who have not relaxed their feelings towards me. But I found my family, I found my people, and I’m OK.”
She was greeted with applause after she finished answering the question.
In November 2023, Sarandon caused an uproar over controversial remarks made at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City’s Union Square.
“There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,” Sarandon told attendees, pointing to American Jews fearful over rising antisemitism.
A few days later, United Talent Agency dropped Sarandon, who’d been a client since 2014.
She posted an apology in December of that year.
“Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire. I had not planned to speak but was invited to take the stage and say a few words,” she wrote. ““Intending to communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes, I said that Jewish Americans, as the targets of rising antisemitic hate, ‘are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.’ This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true. As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe, to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day. I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment. It was my intent to show solidarity to the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.”
Sarandon stars in The Echo Chamber with Alicia Vikander and Luca Marinelli. She plays a retired rock singer lured out of retirement in the movie, which had its premiere Sunday at the Venice fest.
“It’s a terrific role for Sarandon, whose screen career kicked off 51 years ago with the landmark musical Rocky Horror [Picture Show], and whose singing here, on a handful of original songs by Clément Ducol and Émilie Gassin, has a lovely, unforced sense of broody introspection and yearning,” The Hollywood Reporter film critic Sheri Linden wrote in her review. of the film The scenes between her and Marinelli are charged with vulnerability, each character balancing honesty and self-protection, both actors conveying whole lifetimes through the most nuanced shifts in body language and gaze.”
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