Sisters on the set and under the skin

By Kelly Carter
USA Today

LOS ANGELES — Getting together with Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn to chat about their movie "The Banger Sisters" is like eavesdropping on a conversation between women who have been best friends since childhood.

They recall a time not long ago when Sarandon and her family stayed in Hawn's L.A. home with her family while Sarandon's beau, Tim Robbins, was doing theater.

And suddenly the topic shifts to fish. "Did I tell you Kurt bought a boat?" Goldie says before describing how Kurt Russell and her son Oliver Hudson cruised up the coast to Vancouver in record time, and the salmon they caught.

Friends? Yes. Longtime friends? No.

Though it seems that actors of their stature all hobnob with one another, these two had had never met before beginning work on "Sisters," which opened last weekend. It's one of Sarandon's three recent movies, along with "Igby Goes Down" and "Moonlight Mile" (both of which have opened in some cities, but not Honolulu). "Sisters" is the story of two former rock groupies who reconnect after 20 years. Though one (Hawn) is still wild, the other (Sarandon) has hidden her past from her husband and children in adopting a more conservative life.

Question: You are like old friends, which is amazing because you didn't know each other before "The Banger Sisters."

Sarandon: It took a while for (the script) to get together. In the process of refining the script, we had a number of meetings and telephone conversations. We were always in agreement.

Hawn: It's very interesting, because oftentimes working with someone can ruin your relationship. The great thing is we got into script discussions early on and that could have been the kibosh. That was a real test. It's easy to have lunch and go out and share things. ... But when you're getting down to perspective on things, you start to really get to the nitty gritty.

Sarandon: And also, I have to say that I've been in a situation where I've been in agreement with other stars in a film, but I'm the only one who would say anything. I had to be ...

Hawn: The spokesperson.

Sarandon: The whiner, as perceived by everybody else, but in fact, everybody else was saying, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go on and tell them. I have to tell you, this is the first time I've been in a situation where my co-star equally bore the brunt of whatever discussions were going on and did not back down.

Q: Isn't it amazing how your two lives parallel one another's?

Sarandon: We're the East and West Coast version of a very similar survival story. We have the same number of children. The same genders. We both are with guys who are ...

Hawn: Younger, and we didn't marry.

Sarandon: I think we share a certain openness to spiritual pursuits. We're the same age, so we came through the same period, and yet both of us married early and were not on the market in the way that a lot of people at that time were. I think of myself as an open and free manifestation of that period in history of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Hawn: I miss that time. Someone said to me, "What do you remember most during that time? Do you think of the dress, the hair, the colors?"

Sarandon: And did you say "I believed we could make a change in the world?"

Hawn: I did. (Both laugh.) It was a time when we thought we could make a difference, and I believed in America, and we were empowered.

Sarandon: Nothing is more empowering than the belief that as an individual, you effect change. And that was a period where people took care of each other and eventually did stop a war, and there was outrage, and you were allowed to dissent without being considered un-American.

Q: Goldie, in this film you play a former groupie, and your daughter Kate Hudson played a groupie in "Almost Famous." Did she give you any advice?

Hawn: The cutest thing was she went out and bought me a ton of music of that time period. I have to laugh because I thought, "I've got to get some of that music and reacquaint myself with it."

Q: Why do you two think you have lasted so long in this business?

Sarandon: Every time I had a kid and took off a year, I was ready to let it go. Maybe that helped.

Hawn: Me, too.

Sarandon: If you just think, "This is it, and I'm all right with it." Maybe it's like that.

Hawn: Yeah, let it go, and it comes back. That's a good answer. A lack of fear that it's going to go away. I have done the same thing. I was fine. When you realize you're going to be fine, as long as you put some money away, you're not driven by the wrong things.

Q: That's a good answer.

Sarandon: We should go on "Family Feud."

Hawn: Good answer!

Two of a kind

Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon have a lot in common, besides long, successful careers in Hollywood. Born only a year apart, they both gave marriage a try before opting for long-term, live-in relationships with younger men. Both had first husbands of Greek ancestry. Each has a daughter and two sons. They both have won Oscars. USA Today's Kelly Carter looks at their parallel lives.

Goldie Hawn

• HAWN

  Age: 56
• Younger men: Her companion since 1982 is Kurt Russell, 51, whom she met while filming "The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band" in 1968.
• First husbands: Her seven-year marriage to Gus Trikonis ended in 1976.
• Children: Oliver, 26, and Kate, 23, with second husband Bill Hudson; and Wyatt, 16, with Russell
• Stage mothers: Oliver Hudson played his mother's son in "The Out-of-Towners" remake.
• Oscar worthy: Won best supporting actress for "Cactus Flower" in 1969
• Producing credits: Executive-producing credits include the romantic comedy "Something to Talk About" and TV movies "The Matthew Shepard Story" and "When Billie Beat Bobby."

Susan Sarandon

• SARANDON

  Age: 55
• Younger men: Her companion is Tim Robbins, 43, whom she met on the set of "Bull Durham" in 1988.
• First husbands: Her 12-year marriage to Chris Sarandon ended in 1979.
• Children: Eva, 17, with Franco Amurri; and Jack, 13, and Miles, 10, with Robbins
• Stage mothers: Daughter Eva Amurri plays her on-screen daughter in "The Banger Sisters."
• Oscar worthy: Won best actress for "Dead Man Walking" in 1995
• Producing credits: "Stepmom" and "Moonlight Mile"