I came upon a chance article talking about how when a woman hits 35 in Hollywood, the opportunity for roles dries up, and that actors in their 50’s are teamed up with younger women as co-leads, take for example, Tom Cruise is in his 50’s and his co star Emily Blunt is 32 in the edge of tomorrow. Why does this happen, is their a logical explanation, other than outright Sexism?
The same reason as most conceptions of “box office poison” (see also: minority lead actors, female leads, etc). Because the people with money think films with women over 35 in prominent roles won’t sell tickets (and/or merchandise), so they won’t fund them, so directors won’t cast them, so writers won’t write screenplays for them. I don’t have the relevant statistics to assert whether or not this is actually true.
Even if it is true, it’s likely a self-fulfilling loop where many of the examples were untrusted projects with bad writers or directors, an abnormally low budget, or bad marketing that failed to find an audience largely because of those factors and not because of the actress’ age.
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It’s not sexism.
Hollywood thinks that films need certain ingredients to appeal to certain filmgoers:
- men like younger prettier women
- women like interesting characters
- male teenagers like car chases and explosions
- a known star helps with publicity
- What Jragon said.
If a movie is a hit, it’s not because of the writer, director, or the Zeitgeist, it’s solely because of the lead actor. Except when it is the director. Or the writer. Or the Zeitgeist.
The crapshoot that is predicting the next hit comes down to statistics, real, imagined, and manipulated, and those statistics tend to say women won’t carry a film, and old people won’t carry a film, so old women are completely out of the question.
In reality there’s no one thing you can pin a movie’s under-performance on, so it’s bullshit. But that’s Hollywood for you, run by rich white men without creative talent but making creative decisions.
When I look at Harrison Ford playing against a much younger actress, I see a generic ageless male character played against a generic ageless female character.
So, what kind of actor do you want playing your generic ageless male lead character? You want a desirable man. Powerful, influential, rich, good looking.
And what kind of actor do you want playing your generic ageless female lead character? You want a desirable women. Fertile, good looking.
So the actress plays someone age 15–57 but at peak female attractiveness, and Harrison Ford plays someone age 15-57, but at peak male attractiveness.
It’s not the only kind of role, (it’s not Saturday Night Fever) but it’s the kind of role Harrison Ford was getting after Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Do you need more than simple, ages-old, baked-in cultural inequality? The popular media was viewed with a male gaze, and, when pandered to, leads to what you see.
In terms of the issue, there is obvious movement in this area - Lily Tomlin in Grandma jumps to mind, Helen Mirren, OITNB, etc. More roles, more passing Bechdel tests. Given the massively-increased access to content, and the internet-fueled emergence of stronger voices across gender, gender preference, gender identity and ethnicity, it would appear that things are moving in the right direction.
Older men younger actress is very common, Jimmy Stewart was about 17 years older then Grace Kelly in Rear Window.
As for “roles drying up” sex kitten roles are pretty rare for a woman over 35 to pull of realistically, yet many good actresses have managed to find excellent and often sensual roles beyond 35.
In other words, playing the bombshell is easy, but once you age out, you actually have to work.
Men are interested primarily in fertile women (age related)
Women are primarily interested in money, status and looks (not so age related)
if something else sold as well, Hollywood would make more of that.
In fairness, Tom Cruise looks like he’s in his forties.
Speaking of which, Jennifer Lopez is in her forties and just did a movie where she bangs a younger guy, but that’s probably not a great example. And, at that, I see that Sanaa Lathan – who’s also in her forties – is top-billed in a movie coming out this very week; it’s called THE PERFECT MAN, and it’s all about, well, her jumping into a passionate relationship with a younger guy.
Though, come to think of it, Amy Adams is in her forties and will reprise the role of older-woman Lois Lane to Henry Cavill as young love interest Clark Kent, which is kind of interesting. And, for that matter, Cameron Diaz – who’s also in her forties – just did SEX TAPE with a considerably younger Jason Segel, right?
And even Charlize Theron is still out there in her forties – most recently lighting up the screen alongside a younger Tom Hardy in that MAD MAX flick. And on the opposite side of a similar coin, I see where Angelina Jolie (a) is likewise in her forties, and (b) has an upcoming film with a fiftysomething Brad Pitt, but I’m pretty sure we have to give her a pass on that one.
(And, of course, sixtysomething Meryl Streep is top-billed in a movie as we speak, but she’s pretty much a law unto herself.)
(And fiftysomething Sandra Bullock is a law unto herself too, I guess.)
(And Halle Berry is set to turn fifty next year, when she’ll yet again be top-billed; and Diane Lane just turned fifty, and was just top-billed in a movie of her own; so, yeah, it’s still lopsided, but like the man said it seems the market’s getting there.)
Things exploding. If you don’t want to get hung up on character portrayals, have things exploding. Make them blow up REAL good and you don’t even need to shoehorn in a love interest.;)
Movies are fantasies, unless they’re actual documentaries, and in fantasies, old guys are still studly enough to attract the sweet young thangs, hence Sean Connery opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment. All washed-up geezers want to believe that hotties 39 years younger will lust after them. That means your grandpa wants to do your cheerleader classmate. :eek:
Yes, I know that’s a gross, sexist generalization, but I do think it’s a valid generalization when it comes to casting movies. Right up there with brainy chick wearing glasses= not attractive or fat woman= best friend of sexy lead or sexy girl suddenly realizing geeky nerd is the love of her life.
I think the people who make decisions about what movies get funded are cowards who fall back on these idiotic themes because they think that’s what people want to see. But people go to see these movies because that’s pretty much all that’s offered.
I was watching Foyle’s War (OK, a series, not a movie) and it suddenly struck me that none of the characters were exceptionally beautiful or handsome - they all looked like ordinary people. But the stories were about ordinary people, and frankly, sexing it up would have ruined the series. Thank goodness it wasn’t produced in Hollywood.
Hold on, you don’t think Honeysuckle Weeks is flat out gorgeous?
This. This is what I think whenever I see an actress griping about ageism in Hollywood.
The thing is plenty of women did find Sean Connery incredibly attractive, and while it is completely unrealistic for any random “washed up geezer” to attract a hottie 39 years younger it is not unrealistic at all for Sean Connery, or Harrison Ford, or George Clooney or hell… Catherine Zeta Jones’ actual husband 71 year old Michael Douglas. Men place a lot more value in youth with regards to whether they find someone attractive than women do, there is nothing sexist in that.
What will ultimately become a mandatory link on this topic. Warning: NSFW language:
Men also face age-ism in Hollywood, but it’s in the reverse. While women can be leading ladies as teenagers, men generally have to be in their late 20s before they can start headlining.
Keira Knightley was the leading lady in several big-budget Hollywood productions before the age of 20:
Pirates of the Caribbean (age 17)
King Arthur (age 18)
Domino (age 19)
also Love Actually (age 17) but that was an ensemble piece.
Scarlett Johansson broke out as the lead in Lost In Translation at the age of 18.
By contrast, someone like Brad Pitt made his first splash with a bit part in Thelma & Louise at age 27, and didn’t get his first leading man role until Interview with a Vampire (unless Tom Cruise was the lead there?) at age 29. His leading roles exploded when he hit 30: Legends of the Fall, Seven, etc…
Edward Norton’s first role was in Primal Fear, at age 26. He wasn’t the lead there but it was a huge part that catapulted him to fame.
Basically what it ends up being is that women have the 20-year window of 16-36 to make their career, while men have the 20-year window of 30-50 to make their career. It’s true that men’s shelf-life continues longer than women in general, but if you only look at the end date of prime career years you get a very skewed picture.
Movies are overwhelmingly likely to feature characters who are single. Obviously true in rom-coms, but just as equally likely in action movies of all types. (True for television as well.) Single characters can interact in ways that married characters can’t in our culture. Meaning sex. Sex, the possibility of sex, the actuality of sex, the promise of sex. That’s what movie stars are more than anything else.
Our culture doesn’t merely value young women in the role of sex partner. It assumes something is wrong with older women who are not married. It doesn’t make that assumption for men, who can be older and unmarried without being deemed abnormal.
Maybe this is slowly changing, given the rising average age of first marriages. Maybe women will be considered for their innate value instead of merely their looks. Maybe pigs will fly.
In the meantime, Hollywood is not (and never was) about the average and ordinary and representative. It’s about cultural fantasies and extremes of behavior. Hollywood will trail the changes in culture by years and won’t change until it becomes economically necessary.
But why single out Hollywood and us gauche Americans? True, British cinema by comparison has more actresses with sold RADA chops, but the stuff from the continent is full of unbelievably young, thin & stylish actresses/fashion models/bigshot’s girlfriends.
Some actresses do work hard… but some think they can color their hair blue or pink and ignore time.
Good actresses work and handle it. Shitty actresses buy a minivan & take their kids to soccer. They know they can always do appearances or write Really Bad 100 pager books.