Russell Crowe recently sat down for an interview with Australian Women's Weekly. Among the topics covered: aging actresses in Hollywood. Russell's statements are as follows:
"To be honest, I think you'll find that the woman who is saying that (the roles have dried up) is the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can’t understand why she's not being cast as the 21 year old...I have heard of an actress, part of her fee negotiation was getting the number of children she was supposed to have lessened. Can you believe this? This (character) was a woman with four children, and there were reasons why she had to have four children – mainly, she lived in a cold climate and there was nothing to do but fornicate all day - so quit arguing, just play the role! The point is, you do have to be prepared to accept that there are stages in life. So I can’t be the Gladiator forever."
Do you agree with Russell's assessment?
How can you not agree with Spartacus
ReplyDeleteYes and no. He is right that there are likely some female actresses who are having issues with their age and are going for parts that other actresses are going to take. Meryl Streep has never been busier. Accept the fact you can't be the ingenue anymore and in fact ingenues are boring. On other hand, there are still more choice roles for men and most male leads and that's business. Most female leads can't command the kind of box office the top males can except maybe a handful but that can change and has changed to some extent. We even have popular female comic book heroes but they are not the lead characters but being part of a good ensemble is nothing to sneeze at.
ReplyDeleteOnce a douchebag, always a douchebag. In that regard Russell never disappoints. I know that there are some actresses who always want to be seen as the ingénue, but when Sally Fields and Sigourney Weaver aren't in demand then the problem is obviously ageism. Sally playing Tom Hanks mother irritated me to no end. She's not old enough to be his mom, but God forbid they cast an age appropriate woman as a romantic lead.
ReplyDeleteRussell the Misogynist. One iconic movie. Why bother interviewing him?
ReplyDeleteStories are written for specific audiences - the younger ticket buyers.
Flip it around & many male actors (Russell) would chirp similar - I want to be portrayed younger, remove the kid from the plot (if it can be edited), make my wife younger / hotter.
Thanks for the mansplaination, Bloaty Mc Beerington.
ReplyDeleteLol, BVS!!!!
DeleteRussell Crowe
ReplyDeleteI kinda sorta see where he's coming from, but at the same time, I read an article about Meryl Streep playing the witch in Into the Woods (which I am TOTALLY going to see!) and she said she initially turned down the role because the year she turned 40, the only two roles she was offered was as a witch. Think of it, a 40 year old woman who has received the most Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in history, has won tons of other awards including SAG, BAFTA, Tony, Drama Desk, AFI, has numerous honorary doctorates and star on the Walk of Fame ----- and the only job offers she gets are to play a witch. Harrison Ford still gets to be Indiana Jones, Jack Nicholson is still getting leering Lathario roles, but Meryl Streep can only be a witch. So yeah, there's a lot of disparity there.
ReplyDeleteSeven, don't forget Liam!
Delete"I can’t be the Gladiator forever."
ReplyDeleteSo instead he tried to be Robin Hood.
@Dr. Steve ~ THANK YOU! I could NOT believe he was cast as Robin Hood. The character is suppose to be maybe 19-20yrs old. I could see if they had cast someone like Chris Hemsworth, even though he is also (technically) too old, but Crowe??? Dear God I don't think so. I understand why Mel cast himself in Brave Heart (he was about 25 years older than the character in the book) but he couldn't get anyone else to commit to the film. Also the story of William Wallace isn't as well known as Robin Hood (and Mel nailed it). Crowe as Robin Hood was serious (age) miscasting.
DeleteAgreed. It was beyond painful, though the CG abs they gave him were worth a laugh
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe difference in shelf lives of heart throbs versus ingénues is significant. An actress older than early 30s is toast in most cases. Actors get to play the heart throb well into their 50s. Most of the juiciest roles are written for men. Unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteHe is actually right, at least when it comes to Hollywood. In British film there are tons of juicy roles for older actresses. Look at Helen Mirren! And a lot of it is probably vanity as well. Let's face it most woman who have won an Oscar won because they made themselves unattractive for the role.
ReplyDeleteI think that has more to do with the British film industry. Ultimately, it's about what gets funded. That dictates what parts are available. George Clooney spoke about this. He was trying to get a film financed that featured or starred a well-known & respected 40+ actress. The studio exec said, "she doesn't give me a hard-on" and dismissed the film proposal.
DeleteVery good points all. Some women always want to be the gorgeous woman (JLo, JenA, I'm looking at you) and older roles call for more of a character type. Honestly one would think that playing ugly and showing up pretty for your award would be a huge draw but H'wd is a vain town.
ReplyDeleteSad that as a 40 yr old the only roles our most talented actress is offered is as a witch. And of course the men always have inappropriately aged wives (50 yr old man, 23 yr ol wife) but that's never the case with me. Ugly/plain man, totally hot wife.
There are also always more male leads than female and as Seven pointed out, the "moms" are played by women about 10 yrs older.
The writers of "Getting On" talked about how happy they were to be able to use all these real older actresses because they were so talented and professional. To bad they don't value that when they're making movies. Ah, if the studios' were all run by women from the top down. We'd get to see more nekkid men that's for sure.
Fucking hell I just wrote the longest of course PERFECT statement and poof. Don't know what happened! Maybe it was God saying tl;dr ?
ReplyDeleteCliff notes version:
Russell will always be on my yummy list.
I agree but he doesn't realize that there are way less movies with the older "mom" as the star. it's not that they can't admit they aren't the hot 20 year old anymore but if they aren't, that means way less roles for them to get.
Can everyone name a movie with the "mom" as the star? I'll start with Philomena. It was life changing and I hope everyone sees it.
The Ghost and Mrs Muir
DeleteThe only two I can think of are Serial Mom & Step-Mom (with Susan Sarandon & Julia "Love Is Nice" Roberts)
DeleteSerial Mom is a CLASSIC! Even my own mother liked it and she isn't into John Waters type movies. I just loved the obscene phone call she makes at the beginning of the movie. Ha ha!
DeleteIt is a classic!! Everything about that movie is god damn hilarious
DeleteI haven't seen those. I keep recording Serial Mom but never have time to watch. Did Joan Rivers have a big part?
DeleteI thought of Something's Got To Give. I love anything Diane Keaton does. Oh and loooove The First Wives Club!!!! I will stop what I'm doing if it's on TV.
Mr. Mom! You've got Keaton, you've got Teri Garr and the mom role as seen through both their eyes. Now I want to go dig this movie out and watch it.
Delete@kat:
Delete1. stop whatever you're doing and watch Serial Mom right this very instant.
2. Thank me later.
3. i CANNOT believe I didn't think of First Wives Club. I am a horrible gay & need my card revoked.
(Seriously though, go watch Serial Mom as soon as humanly possible)
@kat
DeleteCan't do the clicky thing, but copy and paste works.
http://youtu.be/yZbHn0yY9qI
Effing hilarious!
I do believe VIP posted a gif of Ms Turner mouthing "Fuck you". Well, this was the scene it came from.
Deletehttp://youtu.be/rD88jrQ1Rd8
fyi serial mom airs on sundance channel mon 12/29 3 am
DeleteRussell likes The Toronto Maple Leafs, so I like Russell.
ReplyDeleteI can't help it, I like the guy. I think it's because of Cinderella Man.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I am loving his side eye to Nicole Kidman, bc you KNOW this is about her. LOL
I don't think this is about Kidman at all. She's one of the few actresses over 40 who works on a regular basis. Sure she's done glamour roles like Moulin Rouge but she's also done dowdy roles like Virginia Wolf in The Hours. He might be referring to her, but I don't think he'd be correct in doing so.
Deletei too thought this was about cold mountain...
DeleteExcellent observation Soccer Mom..I'll bet you're right!
ReplyDeleteRead as : Get back to yer pots 'n pans womens!
ReplyDeleteoh but don't remind him that his woman he made a "kept woman" to mind the pots and pans dumped him for her younger, hotter dancing w/ the stars aus partner..
ReplyDeletewhich is why he refuses to divorce her.. he refuses to pay her b/c she cheated on him even though he's cheated the entire marriage..i hope all the phones in their house are glued to the walls already..