Certain horror-film aficionados may have an affinity for the obscure 1983 glam-rock movie "The Hunger." Ahead of its time, the Tony Scott film was a vampire movie when vampire movies in Hollywood were relatively rare. It stars David Bowie during a period when all of his movies were destined for cult-hit status, instead of mainstream success. Moreover, "The Hunger" features an impassioned love scene between Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve that sparked significant controversy.
That mild brouhaha extended to Sarandon's mother, who received hate mail in New Jersey for her daughter's onscreen tryst, the actress revealed Wednesday night at a special screening of the film held at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "At least two people there thought it was pretty upsetting," Sarandon joked before the movie started.
The scene is rather tame by today's standards -- the actresses appear topless, but their assignation is filmed with a lot of closeups and the emphasis is more on the seductive lighting and camerawork than it is on their specific sexual actions. Roger Ebert, in his negative review of the film, emphasized that the rumors before its release were overblown, calling the scene "effective" and "dreamily erotic" instead of "raunchy or too explicit."
Sarandon said the scene would hardly be noticed if it were part of today's landscape. What would be noticed is the love affair she and Bowie had around the time of its filming, which Sarandon confirmed to The Daily Beast earlier this year.
HuffPost Entertainment asked Sarandon to name her favorite Bowie moment. "One of the best memories is when he was playing Madison Square Garden during the Serious Moonlight Tour and I was able to be on stage and just be that close to the music and that close to him," she said. "I think it was one of the first times that I'd really been looking out at what that feels like to have the reaction from the crowd, so that's a very vivid memory."
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