Geena Davis Wants to Play Eleanor Roosevelt

You and your Thelma & Louise costar Susan Sarandon are still friends after all these years. Would you want to make another movie together?

We definitely want to work together again. That’s been a dream for sure.

Davis and Susan Sarandon starred in the hit 1991 film "Thelma & Louise."

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images

You starred with then-unknown Brad Pitt in that movie. Did you sense who he was going to become?

Susan and I talk about it. We could both tell. He just has the goods. He’s tremendously talented and charismatic, and did some really wonderful ad-libbing in the movie. He’s just a terrific actor through and through. He was very charismatic, obviously.

Your credits are so diverse. What genre (besides a superhero role) haven’t you explored that you’d like to?

I’ve done all the genres. It’s really incredible. I’ve been so lucky not to be typecast. It’s very exciting. It’s been remarkable, all the different types of movies that I’ve been able to be in. One thing I haven’t done is play a historical figure, a real-life person. I would like to try doing that. I think that would be kind of cool. I know who I want to play: Eleanor Roosevelt, because she was very tall, like me, and had an overbite, like me. I think I could look like her, and I’ve always been a fan of what she did and what she stood for and who she was. But the good thing about her is she was famous her whole life, so I can’t age out of being Eleanor Roosevelt.

What’s your approach to aging in Hollywood?

Well, you’re lucky if you can deal with aging. My dad always said, “The alternative to being old is not that great.” I’m dealing with it. I’m fortunate that great things like this [movie] come along and give me a lot of fun. I’m hanging in there.

You had your kids [daughter Alizeh, 22, and twin sons Kaiis and Kian, 20, with ex-husband Reza Jarrahy] later in life. Do they help keep you young?

Well, it’s not their job to do that, but yeah, and I have a lot of young friends. I have a youthful outlook on life.

Did you encourage or discourage your kids to get involved in show business?

I would not have let them be child actors. I feel strongly about that. But I always felt like if my kids don’t need to seek the approval of millions of people in order to feel good about themselves, then I will have succeeded. So none of them ended up wanting to be actors, except now, every once in a while, each of them has brought it up at one point or another. They’re not currently pursuing that as a career — I don’t know if I fully escaped having them want to enter the business.

Did you feel the need to be accepted, and were you looking for that approval?

I did.… I always knew I wanted to be an actor, and I don’t think when I decided that at [age] 3 — my entire childhood — I don’t think it was about seeking approval. But I do wonder about that sometimes — if that sort of deep-seated insecurity or lack of self-esteem can help propel one in a certain direction.

Have the recent Olympic Games inspired you to try a new sport? [Davis took up archery after watching the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and at age 41 competed at the Olympic qualifying event but did not advance.]

Yes, I’ve been trying to think of what my newest sport will be. When I played the president on [the 2005-2006 ABC series] Commander in Chief, the creator, Rod Lurie, said he wanted the president to have a sport, and not something like jogging or golf [which], for presidents, is fairly typical. So I said, “What about rowing?” He was like, “Great, learn that!” And so I took it up, and you know, those single skulls are narrower than your hips. It was really daunting, but I learned it. I actually asked my rowing coach, “How old is too old to go to the Olympics in rowing?” This could be my next attempt to get to the Olympics.

What else are you doing to keep fit?

There’s a lot of dance tutorials on TikTok I’ve been learning, and I keep happening upon them. I’m trying to learn some fancy footwork.... It’s very aerobic.

Do you have any regrets about your career choices?

No, I don’t. My life philosophy is that everything that happens builds who you are, and you wouldn’t be the same person if you didn’t have those experiences. So, no, I wouldn’t change anything about my life or my career.​