Banger Sisters (2002) – Q&A with Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon

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Movie Interview by Kris Griffiths

Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon talk to PHASE9 about Jim Morrison, Kurt Russell and Hugh Grant.

INTERVIEW

Had you met each other before doing this movie and was there any choice in what role you’d be playing?

SUSAN: We’d met but we didn’t know each other and no, our roles were already fixed.

(To Goldie) What did you think was most attractive about your role?

GOLDIE: My wardrobe, my big breasts and fun – a fun and complicated character that I’ve never had the chance to play before.

(To both) Did you contribute much to the script yourselves?

SUSAN: About a year and a half of contributions. When you get a good character and a good set-up you have to prepare for exactly what you’re going to be talking about for four days in a junket – why do you want to make this movie, what is the point of it all and what are you trying to say? It was during that period of time that me and Goldie really got to know each other so that by the time we started filming we were good friends and completely in synch and really did have a history together.

GOLDIE: There was a lot of contribution on my part. I made lots of notes for my character but frankly the biggest problem with the script was the plot and there was a lot of reorganising around that issue to try and grasp exactly what the story was trying to say. Once we’d got the story we needed it really enhanced the characters.

(To both) If you could both live the lives of your groupie characters for just one day without consequences, what rock stars would you pursue?

SUSAN: Well I did actually live with a rock star and went on the road with them, but not as a groupie… I didn’t meet him on my knees in their dressing room.

GOLDIE: I liked Jim Morrison’s looks. He had a drug problem and that would’ve turned me on but I liked his looks a lot.

SUSAN: He would’ve been tough though. Being from New Jersey it would have to be Springsteen even though he has a very nice wife and a bunch of kids. I liked him then and I like him now cos he’s a great musician and a thoughtful person…

GOLDIE: So you’re going for the brainy type thing?

SUSAN: I’m afraid sense of humour and brains mean a lot to me…

GOLDIE: But we’re talking about one night.

SUSAN: Still, I’d like to have somebody I wanna be with in the morning without being embarrassed. Not you (laughs) – you’re gone in the middle of the night!

(To both) When shooting the scene where you dig out a box of photos of all the ‘rock cocks’ you’d encountered, is it true that neither of you knew there were going to be real cocks in the photos?

SUSAN: Well the joints we were smoking weren’t real so we weren’t expecting the cocks to be real.

GOLDIE: I liked that and I’m gonna right it down.

SUSAN: We just wanted to make sure that the crew hadn’t participated in making those props so authentic. When we saw the pictures and were so flabbergasted, we realised the scene as written wouldn’t have been real enough so we just started rolling the camera and started improvising before we got used to the idea. Out of context those pictures were shocking but they wouldn’t have been forty minutes later.

(To Goldie) Who’s idea was it for you to have such big boobs?

GOLDIE: Well it was already scripted that she’d had a boob job and when I read the script I wondered how they were going to do this… it was such a big part of her character. They found all these different kinds of padding and in the end it looked pretty good and authentic, but it weighed a hell of a lot.

(To Goldie) Our very own Duchess of York recently said that she’d love to have a Goldie Hawn / Kurt Russell kind of relationship. What is the secret of your success as a couple?

GOLDIE: She really said that? She’s so funny. Relationships are hard and taxing and can be really troublesome sometimes. There always comes a point when the passion isn’t there any more and people just stop charming each other and start looking outside of the relationship. When that starts happening then there’s gonna be trouble but Kurt and I have talked about this a lot – why would I choose to charm someone else and not him? I want him to still like me and find me attractive and he still wants me to like him and it’s that focus that keeps the relationship alive.

(To Susan) About two hours ago we were reliably informed by Hugh Grant that while chatting in Paris last weekend you said that if Mr Bush starts this war then you would leave the country. True or false?

SUSAN: Oh, he’s such a troublemaker, Hugh Grant, he’s just stirring. That’s not what I said, and whatever I did say it was about four o’clock in the morning. Although I think there should be a regime change in America I’m not gonna just pack my bags and leave. I wanna know how he got this out in the middle of his junket!