Barry Bostwick Says He and Susan Sarandon Were 'Strangers in a Strange Land' Both On “and” Off Screen in “Rocky Horror”
- - Barry Bostwick Says He and Susan Sarandon Were 'Strangers in a Strange Land' Both On “and” Off Screen in “Rocky Horror”
Angela AndaloroSeptember 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick during production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" -
The Rocky Horror Picture Show cast revisited the iconic film in the documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror
The documentary is playing in select theaters in celebration of the film's 50th anniversary
In the doc, Barry Bostwick reflected on the casting process as one of the few actors who hadn't also starred in the stage show
Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon were entering a completely different world when they signed on for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which turned 50 on Sept. 26.
The two actors, who played Brad Majors and Janet Weiss in the cult classic film, talked about joining the cast, some of whom had already performed the show in London and Los Angeles, in the documentary, Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror.
Bostwick recalled first hearing about the production from casting director Joel Thurm.
“[He] asked me if I would be interested in maybe coming to L.A. and doing a production at the Roxy and I said, 'Eh,'" he reflected.
"I didn’t really want to do stage at that point, but [I said], 'If there’s ever a movie, please come to me and talk to me about playing a character in it.' "
Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty
Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn, in a scene from the movie 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'
Thurm said that as far as he was concerned, Brad Majors was "custom-made for Barry."
"I mean, you need a good singer. You need a great-looking guy. You need someone who is very all-American," he shared. "He was perfect for it in every possible way. And Susan became the belle of the ball indirectly because I knew that Susan wanted to do the project."
Bostwick explained that he was friends with Sarandon at the time the film was being cast. Thurm noted that while she wanted to audition, her agents advised against it.
"Her agents did not want her to audition for the piece, so I found a way to get around it. It was very simple. When Barry was coming in for his audition, I said, ‘Just bring Susan,'" Thurm recalled.
"I went by just to say hi, and they were like, 'Oh my God, this is such a good idea. Would you read Janet?'" Sarandon added.
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Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) with Brad Majors and Janet Weiss (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon)
Thurm smugly noted, "She wasn't auditioning. She was helping me read an actor."Sarandon was drawn to Janet because, at the time, the character felt “like a satire of every ingénue I’d ever played — somebody whose kind of wide-eyed and sweet but underneath is a bitch and is just waiting to be liberated. So I read it.”
Bostwick joked, "I remember standing up on this little stage and I thought the focus was going to be on me, and apparently, who they were really looking at is Susan, as I am, in their minds, and I didn't know it, already had the job. And Joel was just sort of suckering me in.”
Sarandon's team worked through their reservations about her being in the film and the rest was history.
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Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty
Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick in a scene from the movie 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'
The film was largely shot in England, where the original stage show debuted in 1973. The story follows Brad and Janet, a conservative, newly-engaged couple, whose car breaks down near a castle owned by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist who brought his newest creation, Rocky, to life that same night.
Bostwick noted, "I think it was perfect for the film because we were strangers in a strange land."
Richard O'Brien, who wrote the screenplay for the musical and also starred as Riff Raff, added, "One of the nicest things about that is Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick came across from America and into a world which we already inhabited, which was fantastic because that was exactly what was supposed to happen."
"It couldn’t have been more truthful and more obvious and rehearsing was a dream because we all knew what we were doing, and they came in, the green virgins, and it was perfect."
While Bostwick and Sarandon were featured in the film but not the original stage show, several principal cast members appeared in both.
Along with O'Brien, Tim Curry (Dr. Frank-N-Furter), Patricia Quinn (Magenta), Nell Campbell (Columbia) and Christopher Malcolm (Brad) all reprised their stage role for the movie.
Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror recently premiered at SXSW in March and is back in select theaters to celebrate the film's milestone anniversary.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
