Purpose, Passion and Ping Pong

I thought I'd share with you my recent cover story for American Airlines Celebrated Living on Susan Sarandon whose upcoming film Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps was previewed at the Cannes Film Festival this past week. Sarandon plays the mother of a young trader (Shia LaBouef) and gets caught up in the real estate/economic crunch. A very timely tale indeed...

While we know the Academy Award winning actress for her many multi-faceted roles and volunteer work (she's played everything from a nun to a gun-toting waitress on the lam -- and who can forget her role as Janet in the cult see-it-at-midnight classic Rocky Horror Picture Show?) -- she is also an ardent activist and about to tackle the real-life role of empty nester.

Sarandon has also added another passion to her resume -- ping pong! She discovered the sport while working with a group of documentary producers and eventually partnered on SPIN New York which is a bar and table tennis club located in the Flatiron district. All players at all levels are welcome and I am glad to see ping pong become fashionable! For more about SPIN, check out their website.

Wall Street 2 premieres September 24th. You can also check out Sarandon in HBO's You Don't Know Jack and currently in theaters, The Greatest with Pierce Brosnan.

Photo Credits: Time Magazine, Celebrated Living, SPIN New York.

Things to Look Forward to in 2010

Two of my favorite words are "Coming Soon." (And my other two would be independently wealthy...). I am hopeful that 2010 will bring more great moments at the movies. Here is a teaser of what is to come...

Eat, Pray, Love (August): Based on Elizabeth Gilbert's blockbuster novel, Julia Roberts plays the title role in the story of a divorced woman who finds herself through food in Italy, spirituality in India and love in Bali. Sounds good to me.



Sex and the City Part Two (May 28th): They're baaaack. I have heard all sorts of various plot lines (Mr. Big has an affair, Carrie gets pregnant, Samantha is broke, Sanford Blatch (and could there be a worse name?) and Anthony have a Connecticut wedding, etc. etc. etc.) and sure they have all been scrapped since the initial information was leaked. One thing is for sure -- the standard formula of love, angst, fashion, trends, great interiors and the Big Apple as a backdrop will remain the same. Perhaps the product placements of Manolo and Louis Vuitton will scale down to the Gap and Banana?





Salt (July): Angelina Jolie plays a woman on the run in this CIA thriller. The role sounds very much like a female Bourne Identity and should be good.



Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (April 23rd): Perhaps the most anticipated film of the year, Wall Street 2 picks up with failed and jailed Master of the Universe Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) getting out of the Big House twenty years later and finding an economic world in disarray. Shia LaBeouf plays a young trader, Susan Sarandon is Gekko's wife and Carey Mulligan (of An Education fame) stars as his daughter. Will Gekko find his moral compass or will it be business as usual? Wall Street One portrayed NYC and the life of high finance and the Upper East Side perfectly....here's hoping for magic again.

LaBeouf and Douglas

When in Rome ( January): A young single art curator (Kristen Bell) and Josh Duhamel in love in Italy -- think Three Coins in the Fountain.



Valentine's Day (February): An all star cast, love and Valentine's Day theme - do the math!



Knight and Day (July): Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz pair up again (Vanilla Sky) in this romantic comedy/action film. Cruise plays a secret agent who has a blind date with Diaz and she gets entangled in his world.

Photo Credits: Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures.