Kathie Lee & Hoda: Susan Sarandon Ping Pong Summer
Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon joined Kathie Lee and Hoda to talk about her new film Ping Pong Summer.
Sarandon has been in movies for more than 40 years, but her new movie Ping Pong Summer is set in 1985 and she plays a world ping pong champion.
Susan Sarandon sat down with Kathie Lee & Hoda to talk about her upcoming movie “Ping Pong Summer”. (Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com)
The movie was filmed in Ocean City, Maryland, which Sarandon said hasn’t changed much since the ’80s so it was the perfect location. Her character in the movie, according to Sarandon, is very isolated and doesn’t necessarily understand kids. But she’s trying to train a young boy to become a ping pong player. She teaches him that if you want to be serious about it, you have to spend a lot of time on it, which her character wasn’t prepared to do because she wanted to have a life. She said that idea applies to kid athletes today, needing to have the burning desire to want to do it in order to continue.
Today Show: Ping Pong & SPiN Clubs
Susan Sarandon plays a ping pong champion in her movie, but she’s actually passionate about the sport in real life. She said she considers herself more of a propagandist because she isn’t necessarily a good ping pong player.
She explained that what she liked about the sport is that it cuts across gender, body type, and age, allowing anyone to win. It’s great exercise and is good for your mind. In fact, Sarandon liked the sport so much that she has a few ping pong clubs called “SPiN” in New York, Toronto, and Dubai. She said she wants to franchise and put them everywhere, creating a “ping pong nation.”
Sarandon has even done a bit of charity work involving her passion for the sport. She said she’s been giving tables to underserved schools in New York. She said there is now 14 schools that have it as a scholastic sport.
Kathie Lee & Hoda: Susan Sarandon Tammy & Today Show Ping Pong Match
Susan Sarandon is also in an upcoming film with Melissa McCarthy called Tammy. She plays an older woman who she said has a few addictions and is “not your normal grandma.”
Kathie Lee & Hoda decided to try out Susan Sarandon’s ping pong skills and challenged her to a match. Sarandon partnered up with Ansel Elgort from The Fault in Our Stars. Susan’s team got out to a quick lead, but Kathie Lee & Hoda made a small comeback, before Susan and Ansel won the match 5-4.
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