Susan Sarandon did not arrive at the Venice Film Festival quietly. At 79, dressed in black and promoting a new film that has put her back on one of cinema’s most prestigious stages, the Oscar winner could easily have spent her press conference talking about acting, longevity and the remarkable fact that her career has now stretched across six decades.
Instead, she addressed the controversy that has followed her since 2023.
Sarandon says she is still losing work in Hollywood because of her outspoken support for Palestinians and her criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza. More strikingly, she claimed the consequences are not merely a matter of producers privately deciding they would rather work with someone else. According to Sarandon, some agencies are actively warning people against hiring her.
“I’ve still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still,” she told reporters in Venice on September 6. (Reuters)
For an actress whose career includes Thelma & Louise, Bull Durham, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and an Academy Award for Dead Man Walking, it was an extraordinary claim.
And it immediately revived the question that has surrounded Sarandon for nearly three years: how much has speaking publicly about Gaza actually cost her career?
Susan Sarandon in Venice on September 6, 2026
The photographs from Venice show a woman who hardly appears to have disappeared from the movie business.
Sarandon arrived at the Lido on September 6 to promote The Echo Chamber, director Andrea Pallaoro’s new Italian-Belgian production. During the daytime photocall, she wore a crisp white shirt beneath a black suit, her familiar red hair falling in loose curls around her face. That evening, she changed into an elegant off-the-shoulder black gown and sunglasses for the film’s red-carpet premiere. (la Repubblica)
She was back at a major international film festival with a movie competing for Venice’s Golden Lion.
Yet according to Sarandon, what is happening internationally is very different from what she continues to experience inside parts of Hollywood.
She said she feels welcomed outside the United States, while major American studios remain considerably more difficult territory.
“But that’s the power structure,” she said after describing roles being taken away. “I think among people, certainly internationally, I feel welcome.” (Reuters)
Those words carry considerably more weight when placed beside what happened to her in 2023.
Because Sarandon’s current dispute with Hollywood did not begin with a vague political disagreement.
It began with one sentence.
The Comment That Changed Everything
In November 2023, Sarandon attended a pro-Palestinian rally in New York, one of several demonstrations she joined following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
While speaking at the rally, Sarandon made a comparison involving Jewish and Muslim Americans that quickly ignited outrage.
“There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country,” she said. (People.com)
The backlash was immediate.
Critics argued that her words minimized or overlooked the long history of antisemitism and the fear Jewish communities were experiencing after the Hamas attack. The controversy spread far beyond social media.
Then came a professional consequence that could not be dismissed as online outrage.
United Talent Agency dropped her.
Sarandon had been represented by UTA for years. Suddenly, one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actresses was without her longtime agency. (Reuters)
And the consequences did not end there.
She Apologized — But Said Her Broader Position Hadn’t Changed
Sarandon eventually addressed the controversial remark publicly.
She acknowledged that the phrasing had been a mistake and said she had intended to express solidarity with communities facing bigotry, not diminish the experience of Jewish people.
She apologized for suggesting that Jewish Americans had only recently begun experiencing persecution and described that implication as a mistake. (Page Six)
But the apology did not mean she abandoned her advocacy for Palestinians.
That distinction became increasingly important.
Sarandon continued speaking publicly about Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and criticizing Israeli government policy and U.S. support for Israel. Her original remark could be withdrawn; her political position was not.
Three years later, she now says that distinction continues to affect whether she gets hired.
“I’ve Still Had Movies Taken Away Recently”
This is what makes her September 2026 comments particularly significant.
Sarandon is not merely describing what happened immediately after the 2023 controversy.
She says it is happening now.
At the Venice press conference, the actress specifically used the word “recently” when describing movies she says have been taken away from her. She also claimed agencies are continuing to tell filmmakers not to hire her. (Reuters)
She suggested the resistance is particularly strong when major studios are involved.
“If it is a major studio,” she said, the problem extends beyond her to other people who have been told certain opportunities are effectively impossible because of their public positions. (The Guardian)
That is Sarandon’s account. Reuters and other outlets reporting from Venice have not independently established which specific movies she allegedly lost, and Sarandon did not publicly identify the studios, agencies or roles involved. That distinction matters: the existence of a coordinated Hollywood “blacklist” should not be presented as independently proven simply because Sarandon says she has experienced one.
What is established is that UTA dropped her after her 2023 remarks.
And Sarandon says the professional fallout has continued.
Her Director Apparently Heard the Warnings — and Cast Her Anyway
There was another revealing part of Sarandon’s comments.
She thanked Andrea Pallaoro, the director who cast her in The Echo Chamber, specifically because, in her words, he “didn’t listen to the warnings.” (Anadolu Agency)
The implication was difficult to miss.
Sarandon believes Pallaoro was cautioned about working with her.
He did it anyway.
The resulting film has now brought her to Venice.
The Echo Chamber stars Sarandon alongside Alicia Vikander and Luca Marinelli. Sarandon plays Ava, an aging singer preparing to return to music who begins working with a producer recovering from drug addiction. The project grew from the final screenplay associated with the late Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci and is competing for Venice’s top prize. (The Guardian)
For Sarandon, making the movie appears to have provided something beyond another acting credit.
It offered evidence that her career could continue outside the Hollywood structures she believes have become hostile to her.
“I found my family, I found my people and I’m OK,” she told the Venice audience.
The remark reportedly drew prolonged applause. (The Guardian)
From Hollywood Royalty to an Actress Studios May Consider Too Controversial
To understand why the story has attracted so much attention, it helps to remember just how firmly established Sarandon once was within Hollywood.
Sarandon’s career began long before many of the executives currently running Hollywood had entered the business.
She appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975 and spent the following decades moving between mainstream hits, dramas, comedies and independent films. Bull Durham became a beloved sports romance. Thelma & Louise, opposite Geena Davis, became a cultural landmark.
Then came Dead Man Walking.
Her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean earned Sarandon the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1996, cementing her position as one of the most respected performers of her generation.
She also accumulated Oscar nominations for Atlantic City, Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo’s Oil and The Client.
She was not an actress trying to establish a name when the 2023 controversy erupted.
She was already an institution.
That is partly why being dropped by UTA became such a major story.
Politics Had Been Part of Her Public Identity for Decades
Sarandon’s activism did not suddenly appear in 2023.
For decades, she has spoken publicly about war, capital punishment, economic inequality, reproductive rights and American politics. She has participated in demonstrations, endorsed presidential candidates and criticized politicians from both major U.S. parties.
In other words, Hollywood had long known it was employing an actress willing to express political opinions.
But Gaza became different.
The war generated an extraordinarily polarized debate across the entertainment industry, and disagreements over Israel and Palestine produced professional and personal ruptures extending well beyond Sarandon.
At Venice this weekend, she argued that public attitudes have shifted significantly since 2023, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. support for Israel. (Reuters)
Whether Hollywood’s decision-makers have shifted with them is another matter.
Sarandon says many haven’t.
She Made Another Strong Statement in Venice
Sarandon did not limit herself to discussing her own career.
She told reporters that she believed public understanding of the relationship between Israel and the United States had changed substantially over the past three years. She also argued that resistance to outspoken critics of Israel persists among influential people in her industry. (TheWrap)
Her wording was provocative, and unsurprisingly it generated another round of headlines.
But there is an important difference between reporting what Sarandon believes and declaring her interpretation proven.
Sarandon attributes the professional resistance she says she faces to entrenched political power within the entertainment business. Studios and agencies she referenced broadly have not publicly confirmed that they maintain such a policy.
Her 2023 experience, however, provides concrete context for why she believes politics have affected her career.
UTA really did drop her.
And now she says films are still disappearing from her schedule.
Has Susan Sarandon Actually Stopped Working?
No.
That is another important piece of the story.
Sarandon has continued acting since the 2023 controversy. Her credits have included The Fabulous Four, Tyler Perry’s The Six Triple Eight and Nonnas. (TheWrap)
And now there is The Echo Chamber.
So when Sarandon says Hollywood is not hiring her, she is not claiming she has been completely prevented from acting.
Her argument is narrower and more specific.
She says particular projects have been withdrawn, agencies discourage people from employing her and major-studio opportunities have become especially difficult.
Meanwhile, international filmmakers appear more willing to work with her.
That contrast was visible in Venice itself.
An actress claiming parts of Hollywood consider her untouchable was simultaneously standing on the red carpet at one of the world’s most important film festivals.
At 79, Sarandon Says She Isn’t Finished
There was another subject hovering behind all of this: age.
Sarandon is 79 and will turn 80 in October. For any actress approaching that milestone, determining whether fewer Hollywood offers are caused by politics, age, the natural ebb and flow of a career or some combination of all three can be difficult.
Sarandon herself has spoken about how aging affects actresses.
At Venice, she joked about being described as an “icon,” suggesting that sometimes the label simply means a person has managed to remain around for a very long time. She also reflected on why she believes her career survived when many actresses from her generation gradually disappeared from leading roles.
“When I started, I wasn’t the prettiest,” she said, explaining that being treated as a character actress ultimately gave her freedom to continue changing as she aged. (la Repubblica)
Her point was straightforward.
If audiences expect someone to remain an eternally youthful movie star, aging becomes a threat.
If audiences expect transformation, aging can become another tool.
Sixty years into her career, Sarandon is still transforming.
But she now believes politics, rather than age alone, is determining which doors remain open.
The Controversy Has Followed Her All the Way to Venice
The setting of Sarandon’s comments was particularly fitting because the Israel-Gaza debate has also become part of this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Activists have pressed festival organizers to make gestures recognizing Palestinians, while films addressing Palestinian experiences are included in the festival program. Artistic director Alberto Barbera has addressed calls involving the Palestinian flag, explaining that official diplomatic considerations limit what the festival can do. (The Guardian)
So when Sarandon began discussing Gaza, she was hardly introducing a subject absent from Venice.
She was stepping directly into one of the festival’s most politically charged conversations.
And she showed little interest in moderating her position simply because she believes it has already cost her work.
Three Years Later, One Question Remains
Susan Sarandon has never been especially skilled at staying silent.
That quality helped turn her into something more complicated than a movie star. Depending on who is watching, it has made her courageous, infuriating, principled, reckless or some combination of all four.
Her 2023 remark caused genuine hurt. She eventually acknowledged that herself and apologized for the way she expressed it.
But she did not apologize for supporting Palestinian civilians.
And she did not stop.
Now, at 79, she says she knows exactly what that decision has cost her.
Not theoretically.
Not only in angry comments online.
In jobs.
“I’ve still had movies taken away recently,” she said in Venice. (Reuters)
She did not name those movies. She did not identify the agencies she says are issuing warnings. Without that information, the full scale of what she describes cannot independently be measured.
Yet there is something undeniably striking about the image Venice produced this weekend.
Susan Sarandon stood before reporters after six decades in the film business, promoting a new movie at 79, and claimed that some of the people inside Hollywood still do not want her working because she refuses to change her political position.
Then she walked onto the red carpet anyway.
Perhaps the most revealing words she spoke were not about the roles she says she lost.
They were about the people who were still willing to cast her.
“I found my family, I found my people and I’m OK.” (The Guardian)
Whether Hollywood’s doors eventually reopen more widely remains uncertain. For now, Sarandon appears determined to keep acting wherever they do.
And after nearly 60 years of refusing to separate her public career from her political convictions, she seems equally determined not to become quieter just to make those doors easier to open.
For more on celebrity lives, check out how Brooklyn Beckham is stepping back into the spotlight with Nicola Peltz or see how Meryl Streep is still shining on screen at 77. And don’t miss the poignant story of Bo Derek’s decades-long love story.
