Susan Sarandon's Body Dysmorphia

Can I just start off, somewhat tangentially, by saying that Susan Sarandon, who is 65 years old, looks amazing for her age? Great, because I just did, and she does. I mean, maybe I'm naive, but I don't even think she's had work done, or, if she has, it's the unbelievably expensive kind that is as undetectable as the difference between a $50 and $60 bottle of wine (but not a $5 and $10 bottle of wine, which is very significant!).

Anyway, this is probably not the best way to start this post, considering that audiences won't be able to view Sarandon in her perennial splendor in her new role in the film adaptation of David Mitchell's 2004 novel, Cloud Atlas. Directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, the film is being billed as experimental, and therefore, early reports from the cast--which includes Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Ben Whishaw, and Halle Berry, among many others--are somewhat vague, and insane.

"I was a little nervous about some of the things I had to do," Sarandon told The Hollywood Reporter, "and then everyone was being so brave, bouncing from one set to the other and one pair of contact lenses to the other, noses and whatever, so I just went for it."

And went for it she did, according to her physical description of the character, which was sounds somewhat freakish:

"He is Indian, dark-skinned, dressed like Cornel West and I have little glasses, a little bit of a belly. I've got to tell you, it was more unsettling than I had anticipated. I know there is some disease where you don't recognize yourself when you see it, and you really do not know it's me, because I have darker contacts on, a few different pieces, a few different hairline. It's pretty amazing, actually."

I totally understand. It's not a disease, though. It's just a typical Saturday night, waking up on some random apartment roof, using seven slices of pizza as pillows and wearing someone else's sweater, looking at yourself in your phone camera and wondering, "Who are you?" Or it's body dysmorphic disorder--whichever!

Photo: Getty Images