Castigated Castmate

Melissa Barrera and Susan Sarandon can easily find solace in each other seeing as how they have both experienced blacklistings over the same thing. This year, there was a Gaza documentary that was released with both actresses credited as executive producters i.e. Life Support was released in June. What both women have in common is that they have kissed women on camera. In the case of Melissa, she kissed Anahi Davila in Dos Veces Tu (2018). June 2026 is the second year anniversary of it being announced in pride month that Melissa was going to write a lesbian rom-com. Last year, it was announced that she had finished writing it. This year, she revealed that the screenplay became less of a comedy and more of a romance. When announcing the names of actresses whom she would like to work with, Susan Sarandon was namechecked.

In light of Ed Sheeran’s debacle, it would be amiss to not mention Roger Waters. He claimed that the Anti-Defamation League pressured the Bertelsmann corporation to drop him from BMG. The irony is that the Bertelsmann publishing house served as the leading supplier to the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Just to digress, Eric Stoltz was the original star of Back to the Future (1985). Producer Steven Spielberg is a Jew who may have questioned if Eric was related to any of the Stoltzs who served as Nazi officers during WW II. Before he was cast in BTTF, Eric had a supporting role in a WW II film starring Ed Harris i.e. Code Name: Emerald. It’s awkward that the film was released in the same year as The Emerald Forest - 1985.

The Anti-Defamation League is represented by United Talent Agency, who dropped Susan Sarandon three years ago. Alicia Vikander is repped by UTA, but they didn’t bar her from working with Susan on The Echo Chamber (2026). This wasn’t a U.S. film but an Italian production. About the above photo, The Bride! co-starred someone who worked on the same film as Susan and Stoltz i.e. Christian Bale in Little Women (1994). 2023 wasn’t the first time that Susan was an outlier when it came to U.S. politics. In an April 1999 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, it was reported that she had protested against the Gulf War along with the U.S. refusal to admit HIV-positive Haitian immigrants. The latter protest was done during the 1993 Academy Awards. In January 2018, Susan attended Sean Penn’s gala dinner to benefit the Haitian Relief Organization.

The above photo was taken during the New York premiere of Thelma & Louise. Seeing Brad Pitt look so scrawny brings to mind the description of an upcoming actor during their “lean” years. Like Jessie Buckley, Brad is repped by CAA: Creative Artists Agency. In theory, Brad could be her saviour like how Tom Cruise’s Rain Man (1988) saved the film career of Dustin Hoffman. Before he was cast in Ishtar (1987), Dustin had actually been blackballed by the film industry due to making a “political remark” that he has never specified. Bearing in mind that Dustin is Jewish, so even that wasn’t enough to guarantee him gracing cinema screens from 1983 to 1986. Either way, he was gracious enough to warn Gary Oldman about repeating his mistake. Dustin acted with Susan Sarandon in Moonlight Mile (2002). She almost co-starred with him on Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

Christopher Walken was surprisingly not stigmatized after the death of Natalie Wood in November 1981. Natalie and Susan were considered for the title role of Frances (1982). This would ultimately be played by Jessica Lange, who later acted with Susan on Feud (2017) where they played rival actresses: Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Going by photos that I’ve seen on Imago Images and Alamy, Susan was already a friend of Christopher by January 1982. In February, TV audiences got to see them in an episode of American Playhouse where Jonathan Demme directed a short story by Kurt Vonnegut. About the above photo, two days ago was when Getty Images uploaded another photo from that event. It’s in colour, but Liza Minnelli isn’t between Susan and Christopher. As for why it was uploaded, Susan will be turning 80 tomorrow.

Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan acted in a Henry Fonda film called The Great Smokey Roadblock (1977). Like Susan, Eileen had acted in a 1982 episode of American Playhouse. This aired in April, six months before she got hit by a car on October 27. Eileen had just left a restaurant after dining with Goldie Hawn, whom she had acted with in Private Benjamin (1980). By October 1982, Eileen was co-starring in the third and final season of the TV version where Lorna Patterson played Judy Benjamin. As for the original actress, Goldie Hawn had previously worked with Eileen on the first season of a comedy sketch series called Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In circa 1968. It would take many years for Goldie to act with Susan in a movie i.e. The Banger Sisters (2002). Goldie and Susan were known for having kids in long-term relationships not bound by wedlock.

Eileen Brennan had acted in a Susan Sarandon film called White Palace (1990) where Eileen played a character called Judy. Ten years earlier, they starred in a play called A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking. Eileen Brennan died at the age of 80 in June 2013 whereas James Gandolfini died at the age of 51 in July. James and Susan starred in a film called Romance & Cigarettes (2000). This is one of three films that feature Christopher Walken and Susan. The others being Illuminata (1998) and The Jesus Rolls (2019). Like Brad Pitt, Walken is represented by CAA. It remains to be seen if Walken was seen with Susan again after 2023. In the above photo, Courtney Love and Reese Witherspoon attended the May 2000 march by American Mothers Against Violence. Like Susan, Courtney is bisexual. As for Rosie O’Donnell, she is a lesbian.

Joel Silver was one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers, and he never got blacklisted for saying that actresses are better off being naked or dead on camera. This was way before the Me Too movement. Joel’s comment resulted in there being a May 1993 seminar called Naked or Dead. Twenty years later, Joel found himself experiencing his own type of outcasting in the same month as Susan’s controversy. Joel found himself to be no longer a producer on Amazon’s Play Dirty. Joel’s big brother, Ron Silver, was an actor before he died in 2009. I mention Ron because he, alongside Susan, had founded The Creative Coalition in 1989. The other founders were Christopher Reeve, Blair Brown and Alec Baldwin. The latter is worth singling out because he should have received little to no projects after killing someone on the set of a film.

You can argue until you’re blue in the face, but Susan should be allowed to return to mainstream cinema when you consider how there have been atrocities committed by famous people whose careers still progressed to the point of becoming bigger than before.