Metro
Inside Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler’s ‘feud’ as they avoid each other at the premiere of the new film
By Danni Scott
July 19, 2024
The iconic actresses appear in The Fabulous Four, but only Susan Sarandon, 77, opted to attend the New York premiere.
Bette Midler, 78, who leads the film as Marilyn the bride-to-be, was missing from the red carpet event amid speculation she is ‘furious’ at the Rocky Horror Picture Show star.
In the new film, Susan plays one of her bridesmaids and lifelong friends alongside Megan Mullally, 64, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, 67.
According to a source in May, the legendary pair reached a breaking point over the Gaza crisis due to Susan’s continued public support for Palestine.
At the premiere, the Thelma & Louise icon made a subtle statement by wearing her Artists4Ceasefire red pin on her plunging black gown.
‘Bleecker Street is furious at Susan for how she’s been carrying on. So is Bette, who is a proud Jew and hates what Susan is doing,’ an insider told DailyMail.com in May.
‘Sheryl is upset at her too, as is Megan, the whole crew and cast are. It’s a mess.’
The actresses have not publicly addressed any fallout, but the Hocus Pocus actress wasn’t the only prominent cast member missing from the premiere.
Megan also missed the event, but Sheryl did walk the Fabulous Four red carpet in a black dress, accidentally coordinating with Susan.
However, despite the monochromatic dresses, the pair did not pose for pictures together and were not papped chatting at the after-party either.
While the cast may have stayed home, plenty of other celebs were in attendance, such as Alan Cummings, who threw a peace sign for the cameras.
Eve Plumb of The Brady Bunch and That Girl’s Marlo Thomas also walked the red carpet in a little sitcom throwback moment.
Susan’s vocal support of Palestine has ruffled feathers in the past, causing her to be dropped from her agency after reportedly stating: ‘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.’
Video footage on TikTok later revealed the star encouraging the crowd to speak up in support of Palestine amid the conflict with Israel on November 17 at the protest.
‘People are questioning, people are standing up, people are educating themselves, people are stepping away from the brainwashing that started when they were kids,’ the Thelma & Louise actress said.
Since her comments, more celebrities have publicly spoken out in support of a ceasefire such as Nicola Coughlan, Melissa Barrera, and Charlotte Church.
One top UN court has now said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law, which is not legally binding but a landmark advisory that could pave the way to a ceasefire.
The Fabulous Four will be out in cinemas on July 26.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Bette and Susan’s reps for comment.
I’m hoping this movie does well, but (don’t you hate it when I throw in that “but”) I’m getting nervous about the distribution of this film one week out. When I initially googled release date information on the film, I only got ‘hits’ for the Australian release. Advancescreenings.com only has advance screenings in Canada, and I see that the DVD purchase has been removed from the Amazon website. I thought it odd that the DVD would come out six weeks after the movie, and now I see that the DVD is slated for a December 31, 2024 release date. I used to be a buyer for DVD’s, so I know that a 12/31 date essentially means we don’t know when/if the movie is coming out. It’s considered an up in the air date.
Also, in my Vegas metropolitan area of 3 million people, I’m only seeing two movie theatres with published dates and times for the showing, and they are in very small theaters (like 50 seats per theater). Of course, theaters won’t be finalizing their schedules for next Friday until Tuesday or Wednesday, but it’s getting a rather tepid rollout, from what I can see, so far. Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes have the show listed for review (so far, To Be Determined), but boxofficemojo(.com), the standard bearer of box office success doesn’t even show the movie coming out on July 26. The movies they have listed for a 7/26 release date are: The Last Breath, Swan Song, Deadpool and Wolverine (hyped as one of the biggest grossers of the year), Dead Sea, Didi, The Beast Within, and the Opening Ceremony for the Paris Summer Olympics (ouch!). If you go to bleeckerstreetmedia.com you can input your zip code to find out the closest theater to you to see the Fabulous Four. The big cities, such as New York, Miami, Chicago, etc. already have quite a few listings/screens for the movies, which is a major relief. I was beginning to get worried that this film was going to be a direct-to-streaming release. I have a feeling, though, that the film will probably be available for streaming through Netflix or Amazon as a pay-per-view, not that far after its initial theatrical release. Outside of the major metropolitan markets, I’m not too sure about the film’s saturation.
The movie looks like a lot of fun. I’m sorry about the rumor, if true, between Bette and Susan. Yes, that was quite a while ago when the news hit on that, so one would hope that any grudges might have been buried. Thank you, as always, Mister D for posting Bette’s television efforts to promote the film. I’ve always loved that about Bette. She’s a trouper, and always gives her movies the best shot at success! I plan to see the movie, even if I have to drive a distance to see it. We really need a movie like “The Fabulous Four” to perk up our spirits.
–Ron