Susan Sarandon Opens Up About ‘Disgusting’ Casting Couch Treatment

Susan Sarandon opened up to Elle about a “disgusting” casting couch experience she had when she was just starting out as an actress.

Sarandon said:

“It was not successful – for either of us. I just went into a room, and a guy practically threw me on the desk. It was my early days in New York, and it was really disgusting. It wasn’t like I gave it a second thought, it was so badly done.”

Sarandon did not say what role she was auditioning for at the time.

The 66-year-old actress had her first audition at 23, when she attended a casting call for the 1970 film Joe. She co-starred in the film alongside Peter Boyle (best known as Frank Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond) and Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland in Dallas). Sarandon went on to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Sister Helen Prejean in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking.

Sarandon is starring in the upcoming movie Cloud Atlas, which is set to hit theaters October 26. The movie also stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, and Hugh Grant. It is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by British author David Mitchell. Each actor in the film plays at least five different characters. Two of Sarandon’s characters are an Indian man and a seer whose face is covered with henna tattoos.

Sarandon told Jimmy Fallon, “It’s a wonderful movie about how everyone is connected. It’s a major, major epic movie with epic ideas for grown ups.”

Here’s the trailer to the movie.