Geena Davis Reveals Susan Sarandon Inspired Her To Speak Out: ‘She Says What She Thinks’
The actress praised her ‘Thelma And Louise’ co-star for being so outspoken on the set of the classic movie in a new interview on ‘The View.’
Geena Davis admitted that she learned a lot from Susan Sarandon when the two actresses were making their iconic 1991 film Thelma and Louise. Geena, 66, revealed that she’d never encountered a woman quite like Susan, 76, during an interview on The View on Tuesday, October 11. She said that working on the film together was a great experience for her to learn.
Geena revealed that she was very impressed by Susan from the moment that the two started working on the movie together, and she said it was “two months of learning” from the Dead Man Walking star. “From the first day, she was a type of woman that I’d never really spent a lot of time with, which is a woman who says what she thinks,” she said. “I never said anything without ‘I don’t know what you think, this is probably a bad idea,’ but she just was like, ‘I think we should cut this line.’ You could say that and nobody is freaking out?”
Earlier in the discussion, Geena also said that when she first got the script, she was open to either leading role, but after meeting Susan, she knew that she was the perfect actress for Louise. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be Thelma or Louise, and I thought I could play either part,” she said. “The second I met her, I was like, ‘Who was I kidding? I couldn’t be Louise!'”
The award-winning actress was appearing on the show to discuss her new memoir Dying of Politeness. The book was released on Tuesday, but one of the early excerpts that made headlines was her accusing her Quick Change co-star Bill Murray of screaming at her while making the movie.
Susan wasn’t the only co-star that Geena spoke about on The View. The A League of Their Own actress also opened up about early tips that Dustin Hoffman gave her while working on her first movie Tootsie. She revealed that The Graduate actor had given her two pieces of advice: always watch the dailies and “never sleep with your co-stars,” and she also revealed a hilarious line that he’d advised her to use if a fellow actor tried to make a move. “Oh, I’m very flattered. You’re very attractive, but I’m afraid it would ruin the sexual chemistry between us,” she quipped.