Susan Sarandon-Tim Robbins Split: Sarandon for the 2010 Oscar?
Susan Sarandon in The Lovely Bones (DreamWorks/Paramount)
I can’t say I’ve spent hours worrying about the fact that Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins‘ two-decade-plus relationship has come to an end. Even so, I was taken aback. Sarandon has been one of my all-time favorite performers since I was a teenager; the more I watched her and the more I learned about her, the bigger an admirer I became.
I particularly admired her and Robbins’ daring to publicly denounce the US-led invasion of Iraq long before it became fashionable (and politically safe) to do so. The duo were vilified in the right-wing media, online chatrooms, and, according to Sarandon herself, even in schools. Others have come out in recent years telling journalists that they had always thought the invasion was misguided, etc. etc., but among Hollywood celebrities no one was more vocal than those two. In fact, perhaps with the exception of the equally vilified Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore, the vast majority of show-biz celebrities didn’t utter a peep.
So, even though I’ve never met either Sarandon or Robbins I was a little saddened by the news. Considering that the split is supposed to have taken place this past summer, Sarandon was apparently already single once again when she accepted the Stockholm Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award a couple of months ago. (She’d been previously married to Chris Sarandon, best known for his Oscar-nominated role as a transsexual-to-be in Dog Day Afternoon and for his vampire in Fright Night.)
Robbins and Sarandon met while filming Bull Durham back in 1988. Neither one had been wanted in the baseball-themed production directed and written by Ron Shelton and starring Kevin Costner, so the two undesired performers developed a strong bond that evolved into a romantic relationship. (Sarandon, sexier than ever, steals the show from her male co-stars.) Curiously, Sarandon and Robbins were never paired up in another movie, though she starred for him in Dead Man Walking (1995), which earned her an Oscar and him an Oscar nomination, and made cameo appearances in two other films he directed, Bob Roberts (1992) and Cradle Will Rock (1999).
Robbins’ latest release came out in 2008, the box-office disappointment City of Ember, starring Saoirse Ronan, who coincidentally also stars in Peter Jackson‘s The Lovely Bones (above), Sarandon’s much-trumpeted latest release. In fact, the buzz surrounding The Lovely Bones was so strong that prior to its Dec. 11 opening Jackson’s supernatural crime story had been one of the two or three films to beat this awards season. But once the first reviews came out, with critics calling it a simplistic adaptation of a complex novel, The Lovely Bones has quickly fallen off the season’s radar.
Sarandon, in the role of a sassy, hard-drinking grandmother, was never a top contender and still isn’t. Reviews for her performance have been mixed, with Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times complaining that she’s over the top, while Stephanie Zacharek remarks in Salon that once Sarandon’s grandma "shows up with her cleavage, [...] the mood brightens considerably."
To the best of my knowledge, none of the critics’ groups handing out best-of-the-year awards has mentioned her even as one of their runners-up. Additionally, she has been left out of both the Golden Globe and the SAG Award nominations. Even so, could Sarandon — as a result of all the publicity surrounding her split from Robbins and the inevitable outpouring of condolences to follow — land a best supporting actress Oscar nomination thanks to the sympathy vote?
True, a romantic break up isn’t the same thing as the tracheotomy that earned Elizabeth Taylor an Oscar for Butterfield 8 back in early 1961 or the recovery from a debilitating stroke that likely helped Patricia Neal land a nomination for the 1968 family drama The Subject Was Roses. (Not that Neal didn’t merit the nod.) More recently, Heath Ledger‘s unexpected death surely helped him win this year’s best supporting actor Oscar, no matter how well-deserved, for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight.
Sarandon’s personal circumstances aren’t so dire — there are already rumors of another (younger) man — but I’d say that she shouldn’t be discounted. Enough Academy members liked Sarandon enough to have helped her get four Academy Award nominations and one win. Although that took place more than a decade ago, most of those people who voted for her then are quite likely still around now. On the other hand, working against Sarandon’s chances is the fact that this year the competition is unusually strong, e.g., Mo’Nique for Precious, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air, Penelope Cruz for Nine, to name four that have earned both Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations.
But considering the way Oscar votes are tallied, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Susan Sarandon’s name is included among the five finalists come next February. All she needs is a relatively small segment of ardent Academy voters — who’d place her in their #1 or #2 spot — to have a good chance at landing a nomination. And that’s something she may well have. The Lovely Bones marketing people should consider adding more "For Your Consideration" ads for their film’s sexy, booze-loving granny.
More information about: 2010 Oscar, Academy Awards, film awards, Susan Sarandon, The Lovely Bones, Tim Robbins
One Response to “Susan Sarandon-Tim Robbins Split: Sarandon for the 2010 Oscar?”
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Wow, I didn’t know they split up. Sad really, as they both seem normal. I guess even normal people give up sometimes…. :(