The concept for THE BANGER SISTERS lived within Writer/Director Bob Dolman’s mind for many years before he determined how to fit the pieces of the plot together. He had envisioned two rock groupies as young women and had struggled with how to turn their lives into a story. Dolman said that the overall idea for Suzette and Lavinia was partially inspired by a line from a relatively obscure song written and performed by Jim Morrison called "Stoned Immaculate." The song’s lyrics state. ‘One summer night, going to the pier I ran into two young girls. The blonde was called Freedom, the dark one Enterprise."
Dolman says. "That idea of freedom and responsibility was part of what I was thinking about even in the early day’s when I was putting the two characters together; that our lives take two paths and we partly hunger for our freedom and we also want the responsibility that comes with moving ahead in life." He furthered the idea Morrison had planted in his head by writing the women as mature characters rather than young girls. Suddenly Freedom and Enterprise were all the more complicated, the chasm between the two even deeper. Freedom stayed within the rock ‘n’ roll world, while Enterprise married, settled down and had a family. The two entities became Suzette (Goldie Hawn) and Lavinia (Susan Sarandon), and THE BANGER SISTERS were born.
The reunion of the pseudo sisters - who, in the story, were given their unforgettable name by musician Frank Zappa - is a "combustible situation," Hawn says. "The chemistry is sometimes hostile and in conflict, because they’ve gone in different directions. Lavinia is one way and Suzette’s another way, and they rub each other the wrong way.
Sarandon says that hostile chemistry underlines the concept at large. "Can you be free and still be responsible, or is freedom really about being irresponsible and not having any kind of structure? The idea that you become a mom and negate your entire past when you used to have fun is a concept I really don’t like. This story is really about two women who were crazy and wild and wonderful in the time when you could do that...and now Suzette’s life is kind of desperate and sad, and Lavinia is living in the future... neither is really inhabiting the present. And that’s the question: how do you be free within a structure, having a family, taking care of your kids - is there a way to do that’? Or does freedom mean not having to account for anything...do you feel free when you live a life that has no attachments?"
Remarkably, throughout their many years in Hollywood, Hawn and Sarandon had never met prior to THE BANGER SISTERS. Sarandon says Hawn’s involvement was one of the many reasons she agreed to do the picture. ‘I’ve always been a fan and I thought the two of us would get along. We have a lot of the same off-screen values...so I knew it would be fun." Hawn seconds the sentiment. "She is not only a woman I really respect, but I think I see myself in her and I think she sees herself in me. We are pretty much straight shooters and I like that about her...There’s a lot of affection there."
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