Her role of a lifetime

At 58, Susan Sarandon seems busier than ever. This season, the Oscar-winning actress (“Dead Man Walking�) is starring in “Shall We Dance?� as Richard Gere’s loving wife and the mother of two teenagers, who suspects he is having an affair after 19 years of marriage. She also costars as a stunning but ruthless businesswoman who enters into a heated affair with the womanizing “Alfie� (Jude Law). The Charles Shyer-directed remake of the 1966 classic opens Friday.

Sarandon just wrapped Cameron Crowe’s latest film, “Elizabethtown,� and is also featured in “Noel,� opening Nov. 12; the upcoming feature “Romance & Cigarettes�; and the TV movie “The Exonerated.� But her favorite role is being mom to her three children -- two with her longtime companion, Oscar-winning actor-director Tim Robbins.

I read you keep your Oscar for “Dead Man Walking� in your bathroom. Does Tim keep his Academy Award there ?

All the little people are in there. All the little -- some anatomically correct, some not -- statuettes and certificates. The kids call it the famous bathroom. It’s kind of the guest bathroom. His Oscar is taller than mine. I think they made the base bigger or maybe they give the guys a taller statue.

Your daughter, Eva Amurri, was quite the scene-stealer earlier this year in the comedy “Saved!�.

Isn’t she great? She is a good kid -- knock on wood. I am so happy she’s opted to take a little break and get an education. If she had found something worthwhile this summer, she probably would have done something. But with the world on the edge of catastrophe, I am all for vacation these days. Gather those rosebuds right now, girl, don’t worry about working.

Are your sons, Jack and Miles, interested in following in their parents’ footsteps?

The youngest son is very into music. My eldest son, Jack, has spoken of being interested in acting, but he’s very aware of the pressure coming from both of us. I basically said to him ‘You don’t have to do anything now but get through high school,’ which is a nightmare. He’s 15 and he plays basketball.

It seems you are working more now that your children are older.

Luckily a lot of these things have been very small commitments. When I did “Shall We Dance?� that was the first time I worked without my kids in 20 years. Both the boys were in camp and Eva was off. I have been contemplating a job in Melbourne [Australia]. That would mean I would be gone for two weeks and they would come down during the spring break. The kids are really pushing me to do it; I don’t know if that is a good sign! I am pretty greedy where they are concerned, and I don’t like missing out on the hands-on experience of going to the basketball games or watching my son play in his band. But I have the opportunity, now that the youngest is 12, of thinking differently.

Your character of Liz in “Alfie� must have been delicious to play because she is such a narcissist and manipulator. Plus, you got to wear the most fabulous clothes.

It is the first time in a long time I wanted my wardrobe -- believe me. They gave it to me, eventually.

Why do you think Liz and Alfie hook up in the film?

She understands him because she came up from nothing and she accepts him for what he is. The other gals are seduced by what they think he is. She is actually old enough and wise enough and similar enough to understand him like no one else does.

But unlike Alfie she doesn’t seem to have a conscience.

She doesn’t apologize for that lifestyle. At one point in the script, she lied. I said, ‘No, she doesn’t need to. She has been upfront about everything.’ I think that is what makes her so great.

Were you worried about the inevitable comparisons between this “Alfie� and the 1966 original?

One of the things I liked about it is it didn’t feel like a remake. It is contemporary. It didn’t feel like a rehash. You can understand [in this version] why women would be seduced by him because he is charming, but he has this intimacy-commitment problem. But he’s not nasty about it [as in the original]. He is just frightened, and I think each of the women is so strong you experience it as a loss for him. So you end up feeling sorry for him.

You play a vastly different woman in “Shall We Dance?� -- the warm, supportive wife of a shy attorney.

There were two scenes I really cared about. One is no longer in the movie and the other, which still is, is toward the end of my character’s arc when she is talking about why people choose to be together for a lifetime.

Like “Alfie,� it’s also a remake.

It isn’t like the Japanese version in that the taboos are not in place, which gave the Japanese version poignancy in certain areas. It is definitely different, but I think the spirit of it is the same. It was really fun to work together [with Gere] because we have known each other forever, so we kind of had a familiarity, as if we had been married for a while.