Susan Sarandon76 years old, does not deny herself, she is more than ever the passionaria of Hollywood, and it is even more so today when WGA actors and Sag-Aftra screenwriters have been on strike since May 2 for fair pay and against the increasingly concrete threat of artificial intelligence. Così today in Catanzaro the Oscar-winning actress, who will be awarded in the evening at the Arena with the Golden Column for Lifetime Achievement at the Magna Graecia Film Festival, in the masterclass open to the public puts her stakes in protest: no questions about movies, past and present, and the planned screening of Thelma and Louise only in her absence. While he has many things to say about what’s going on in the film industry:
«Hollywood isn’t political, it’s just about making money. It is tied only to money. Bette Davis fought against the contract system at the time of the blacklist, there were then many actors against fascism in the United States, against McCarthy, all people who were then punished. In short, Hollywood is capitalism and today it is more than ever». And again the actress: «The actors are no longer able to live. The Actors Union says you have to earn $26,000 a year to get health care. Now 87 percent do not reach it and this also applies to those who work in television series. And what about the Studios which, thanks to artificial intelligence, subject the actors to a scan of their bodies, thus becoming owners of their image “thus being owners of their image”. On the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Oscar winner for Dead Man Walking underlines (1996), in the meeting moderated by Silvia Bizio and with the presence of the artistic director of the festival, Gianvito Casadonte: “I am against any war. In this case it is a war by proxy that began long before the violation of the Minsk agreements. Today the NATO seems to me a little too out of control. We need to reach negotiations as soon as possible regarding this conflict which seems to be made only to weaken Russia in order to hit China as well. I am however desperate for the many deaths that this war inflicts every day”. Has something changed for women in Hollywood? “Compared to the past today there are certainly many women who have the power to produce female stories in Hollywood, but in any case if you are not a straight white male it is never the same thing. In terms of earnings, all this is not valid, there is still a big difference between what a man and a woman receives ». Finally, from the actress who has Italian origins (the surname of her mother, originally from Ragusa, is Crescione, ed.) a heartfelt appeal: «I’ve been trying to have Italian citizenship for some time, but I can’t. I also drink coffee, I also had a daughter from an Italian (Eva had in 1985 by Franco Amurri, ed) what else should I do? I also have all the documentation ready, someone help me».
The American actress bewitched by bergamot
But Susan Sarandon was also able to appreciate the food and wine peculiarities of Calabria and among these the bergamot. The American actress was honored with the product par excellence of the province of Reggio by the food and wine journalist Giovanna Pizzi: ““Oh my Bergamot!”… Love at first sight for the Oscar-winning Susansarandon and the Reggio Calabria bergamot. Happy – wrote Pizzi on social networks – to have honored the actress, guest of honor of the Magnagraeciafilmfestival with a unique product of our Calabria, as representative of the Bergamot Protection Consortium of Reggio Calabria”.
Occhiuto: “We will give you Calabrian citizenship”
«The famous American actress Susan Sarandon has a great desire: she would like Italian citizenship. In this regard, we have applied to give you “Calabrian citizenship”. The president of the Calabria Region writes it, Roberto Occhiuto, in a post on his Facebook profile. Occhiuto met the Oscar-winning actress after the press conference he held this afternoon in Catanzaro