10 minutes with... Susan Sarandon

Does it annoy you that people forgive actors for ageing more readily than actresses?

I think the obsession with youth has made it difficult for older women to be handsome. Lately I’ve been playing an awful lot of mothers or people who are dying.

Your new film Arbitrage is about the sort of bankers who caused the financial crisis, doesn’t that go against your hippie outlook?

I have an allergy to the financial world but Arbitrage gives a unique look at the family dynamic. I play Richard Gere’s long-suffering wife. I’ve worked with Richard many times before and I thought he would make the whole thing sexier.

What’s the sexiest thing about him?

With a lot of male stars you can believe that they get really angry but you can’t believe that they would say ‘I love you’ and mean it. With Richard you get both; the edgy bad-boy thing and the sincerity. I think women who are looking for more than sex, sense there’s depth to him.

You’re also in Cloud Atlas. Would you prefer to live in the past or the future?

If I could take my kids with me, probably the past. They’re very jealous that they weren’t around in the 1960s.

Will you always be a hippie at heart?

Oh yeah, I don’t think that’s ever going to change. I believe that how you spend your energy is how you create who you are. A lot of what I believe could easily be embroidered on a T-shirt.

You have Welsh family, what’s the most Welsh quality you have?

I’m a little volatile at times but that could be my Italian side, so I’m not sure who to blame.

You run a chain of ping-pong restaurants, are you a champion player?

No! I’m very good at being a ping-pong propagandist but my game isn’t great. I don’t play in public often — I’d never stop because everyone would want to play me. Plus, I think there’s still a myth that I’m really good.

Arbitrage is out on 1 March