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James Spader on his sexual fantasies about older women and working with Susan Sarandon in 'White Palace' (1990): "Interviewer: Did you have any particularly memorable auditions or meetings? Spader: One time after an audition a casting agent called my agent and said, “He scared me.” I was this long-haired ex-hippie who was perfectly forthright about my anxiety and discomfort with auditions and couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. Then and now, I work to work. It’s never been a “career” for me but a series of different jobs. Even if the movie stank in the end, there was something incredibly valuable that I got from it, such as making a friend. Interviewer: Like who? Spader: Susan Sarandon and I became very close, good friends making 'White Palace' (1990). I was intrigued by our relationship in that movie. I was the youngest in my family, and most of the time I spent in my house was around people who were older than me. When I was young, a lot of my sexual fantasies were about older women. Interviewer: Did you ever indulge those fantasies? Spader: I must say, if I knew then what I know now, I would’ve had many more encounters when I was a kid delivering groceries. Some of those wives would answer the door in their nightgowns in the middle of the day. I wasn’t shy, obviously, just not wise enough. I was an idiot. Interviewer: Were you wiser in your late 20s, when you and Sarandon, in her early 40s, made that movie? Spader: We were driving around in a car after we met, and she said something about the content of the movie, like, “Aren’t you nervous or apprehensive?” Maybe she was trying to make me feel better or something, but I said, “We’re going to be just fine.” Look, we’ve certainly heard stories about people who fu**ing hated each other and came up with a wonderful film. But it seems to me that you have to fall in love with the person, because film looks right into your head. It’s wrenching, because you have to fall in love with that person but also accept it for what it is and turn it on and off. That’s a very important part of what is a sometimes schizophrenic job. Interviewer: Is it better to fantasize or to actually sleep with a co-star? Spader: I think you can f**k things up, because anticipation and unrequited feelings are very powerful. Ultimately, in acting you’re always pretending you’re angry or a bad guy or that something is down the hall that isn’t actually there. But to look another human being in the eye and pretend you’re in love with them, that’s a very different thing." (James Spader's interview with Stephen Rebello, Playboy, 2014)