PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUSAN SARANDON EXPLORES MOTHERHOOD BOTH IN FILM AND HER LIFE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

The mommy section of Susan Sarandon's resume seems to expand faster than the population of a rabbit warren.

The New York-born actress has played prostitute mom (``Pretty Baby''), literary mom (``Little Women''), soon-to-be-replaced mom (``Stepmom''), never-say-die mom (``Lorenzo's Oil'') and flaky on-the-road mom (``Anywhere But Here''). When she's not actually packing a lunch or imparting a lesson, she's playing mother stand-ins: to Sean Penn (``Dead Man Walking'') and Brad Renfro (``The Client'').

The maternal Sarandon will be on display again in a trio of movies opening this month. But they are very different mothers. In Bob Dolman's ``The Banger Sisters'' she plays a suburban mom who has hidden her past as a former groupie from her family. (As if we had forgotten Sarandon's past sexy roles as Anne Savoy in ``Bull Durham'' or her tough Louise in ``Thelma & Louise.'') In ``Moonlight Mile,'' opposite Dustin Hoffman, she plays grieving mom JoJo Floss, and in ``Igby Goes Down,'' opening today, the seemingly ageless nearly 56-year-old actress gets nasty.

``You will be sick of me by October,'' Sarandon promises, laughing. ``Definitely.''

But peruse Sarandon's credits, which encompass nearly 100 roles and five Oscar nominations since 1970 (including a best-actress win in 1995 as the activist nun Helen Prejean in ``Dead Man Walking''), and you won't find a mother like ``Igby's'' Mimi Slocumb.

``I did read one little blurb early on saying, 'Of course, we've seen her in this part before,' and I thought, 'Oh my God, where? What could they have been talking about?' '' says Sarandon during an interview at a Beverly Hills hotel. ``Even 'Anywhere But Here,' she's not a very good mother, but she's so naive compared to Mimi. She just doesn't have a claw on her.''

Mimi Slocumb has claws. And fangs. She's a manipulative, pill-popping harridan, the bane of her two sons' existence. The darkly written, white- collar comedy directed by Burr Steers opens with Mimi snoring noisily away. Her sons Igby and Oliver (Kieran Culkin and Ryan Phillippe) are at her bedside, trying to murder her.

As the title suggests, ``Igby'' is Culkin's movie. Igby Slocumb, a kind of present-day Holden Caulfield as imagined by Whit Stillman, is an at-large prep school dropout and perpetual screw-up who is on a quest for companionship and meaning. Mama Mimi - a juicy supporting role - is pretty much trying to shackle him.

'Thoroughly rotten'

Mimi may be despicable, but Sarandon loves every appalling inch of her.

``It is so liberating to play a thoroughly rotten person who has absolutely no scruples or will do anything to keep the family going,'' says Sarandon, who herself is mother to three children. ``The challenge, of course, is to make her not necessarily likable, but watchable.''

The Slocumb clan may have sprung from the mind - and experiences - of writer/director Steers, but he notes that Sarandon actually seems to know these characters as well as anybody.

``She knew how this woman dressed, how the character was put together. The things she does are just amazing physically,'' says Steers. ``There's a scene in the restaurant with Jeff Goldblum. We could have done the entire scene with just their reaction shots.''

``You put on all those jewels and fancy clothes, get someone to do your hair in the right fashion, get your pearls on, and somehow it isn't that hard,'' returns Sarandon. ``It's scary how easy it is to be that cruel.''

Earlier this summer, the globe-trotting Sarandon was in Los Angeles promoting a pair of movies and doing a brief stint, opposite companion Tim Robbins, in the Los Angeles premiere of Anne Nelson's two-character play ``The Guys.''

After a weekend of ``Igby'' publicity, Sarandon appeared at the Teen Choice Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Then it was home to New York for a brief stop before taking ``The Guys,'' again with Robbins, to Dublin's Abbey Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The two-character staged reading, journalist Nelson's response to the Sept. 11 attacks, finds magazine editor Joan helping a New York City Fire Department captain compose eulogies for his fallen battalion members.

``The Guys'' began at ofroadway's Flea Theatre, blocks away from Ground Zero and within walking distance of Robbins and Sarandon's home. Sigourney Weaver, wife of Flea artistic director Jim Simpson, originated the role of Joan opposite Bill Murray. Sarandon took over the role, first with Anthony LaPaglia and later with Robbins.

``It's a short rehearsal period, and it's really intense material. The good ones know that you need to bring a lot of yourself to the role,'' says Simpson, who also directed the production. ``Susan happens to be one of the warmest, smartest, sunniest people I have ever encountered. It's quite moving when she finds she can't deal with this particular thing.''

``I've been enjoying her in the movies for years,'' continues Simpson, ``but she's just one of the coolest people.''

Dramatic coupling

Robbins and Sarandon had seen the play and wanted to get involved. Scheduling worked out.

``It was perfect for me,'' recalls Sarandon. ``Once I started having kids, I just did not want to give up my weekends. At the Flea, I had my weekends, the show would would be over by 8:30. Even walking, I could make it home from downtown in time to put the kids down.''

Not that performing in front of a live audience for the first time since ``Extremities'' 18 years ago wasn't a little bit frightening.

``Terrifying,'' says Sarandon. ``I would start to get really scared at about 4 p.m. and vomit somewhere around 6. Sometimes I'd walk to the theater just to chill out a little bit. Eventually my kids kept saying, 'Why are you doing this if it scares you so much?' I think that was part of the reason why: because it scared me so much.''

Midway through the interview, Sarandon's three children enter her hotel room. ``Hi sweeties. You look great,'' the actress says, instructing them to order lunch from room service. Robbins is the father of sons Jack Henry, 13, and Miles Guthrie, 10. Daughter Eva Amurri, 17, born during Sarandon's relationship with director Franco Amurri, has appeared in several of her mom's movies, including a featured role in ``Banger Sisters.''

``She just ripped it,'' Sarandon says of Amurri. ``We had something we could do together without my being her mom, separate from nagging her, asking her if she's finished her homework and all those kinds of things.''

The prospect of Amurri pursuing the family business in no way worries Sarandon. ``She's been through the ups and downs, and she knows how it works,'' says Sarandon. ``In a way, if she chooses to do this, the romance is already gone.

``She's very choosy about scripts, and she's pretty grown up. She's definitely interested in being an actor not a movie star.''

Kind of like her mom at that age?

``I was so far behind,'' says Sarandon. ``I was shy, and I didn't know who I was. Eva and I share certain personality traits - some of which really drive me crazy. But it's a different world. She's much more sophisticated and mature than I was at that age.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) maternal instincts

Susan Sarandon a mother like no other in three new films

(2) Susan Sarandon in ``Igby Goes Down''

(3) Susan Sarandon