SUSAN SARANDON “62nd Venice Film Festival: Romance and Cigarettes” (September 6, 2005)

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Sarandon is wickedly fun as a mean queen

By Rick Bentley / The Fresno Bee

03/17/08 08:08:55

LOS ANGELES — It would have been easy for Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon to be a real wicked witch about doing publicity for the film “Enchanted.” She has been battling a cold for days. But Sarandon has showed up at the Beverly Hilton to talk about the movie that will be released Tuesday on DVD.

“Enchanted” pokes fun at animated Disney princesses like Cinderella and Snow White. The poking starts when the ever-optimistic Giselle (Amy Adams) is transported from her two-dimensional cartoon existence to the real world.

Every Disney princess has to have her nemesis. Sarandon provides that role with her Queen Narissa. She drew inspiration from the wicked witch in “Snow White.”

“Queen Narissa has got this great setup. She’s got real estate. She’s a party girl. She’s been entertaining, and the stepson is not too bright. So she’s been managing the world. And suddenly this alliance might change her position in society, so she decides she has to get rid of Giselle. That kind of held with ‘Snow White,’ ” Sarandon says. “It was so kind of flattering to just be asked to be in the family of iconic characters of Disney bad people.”

“Enchanted” starts out as traditional animation. Then everything shifts to live action. The animated part was a breeze for Sarandon

The challenge was to deal with being such a wicked character in the real world.

“What I was wearing, even a drag queen would find her over the top,” Sarandon says. “The high heels. The boots that didn’t bend in the knee. Balancing the collar. The head dress was really heavy. Being sewn in. Not being able to sit down at any time.

“All those things do demand of you. It was a challenge to make her real. But it was fun to do it.”

Sarandon says the closest character she has played in the past to Queen Narissa was her role in the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” In that movie musical, her character poked fun at film ingenues.

She appears to be on the road to a similar character in the upcoming “Speed Racer.” She says the hairdo looks like Jane Jetson’s from “The Jetsons.”

The reporter can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355.

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