"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.
"Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that's bullshit, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be. If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor. If you are trying to pretend that you’re still the young buck when you’re my age, it just doesn’t work."
Speaking animatedly now, Russell continues: "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."
^o)^o)^o)
Wow, two whole actresses over the age of 50 who get decent roles sometimes! That totally proves your point!
idk. I think he's right. It's like the size limitations for actresses. Most that are bigger than a 2-4 aren't going to get the job. I wouldn't say he is being sexist, so much as the industry is.
He is also including himself in this, saying that in his older age, he isn't going to play some 29 yr old gladiator.
He's saying that there are plenty of great roles for women in their 40s and up, they're just being ridiculous and not wanting to play them because they just want to play 21 year olds. This is blatantly not true.
Holy male privilege Batman! How old were your last 4 female co-star leads Russ? 10- 20 years younger? The high point (or low point I guess) of this phenomenon was when Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue (anyone wanna crawl in bed with that??) was paired with his 20 something gorgeous blonde co-worker.
idk. I think he's right. It's like the size limitations for actresses. Most that are bigger than a 2-4 aren't going to get the job. I wouldn't say he is being sexist, so much as the industry is.
He is also including himself in this, saying that in his older age, he isn't going to play some 29 yr old gladiator.
He's saying that there are plenty of great roles for women in their 40s and up, they're just being ridiculous and not wanting to play them because they just want to play 21 year olds. This is blatantly not true.
Laughable actually. Men are allowed to age in Hollywood but women are not. Therefore there are not many great roles for older women. He's doesn't know what he's talking about.
He is including himself in the idea though. Maybe I'm just not reading it the right way, but I don't find that what he's saying is off base. It isn't all inclusive, but shedding light on his experience.
The TV/Movie industry has proven itself to be sexist, racist, etc.
I guess if he said, these women aren't capable of playing amazing roles, I'd be offended. He is saying that they're not going to land jobs playing some 21 year old. Outside of Amy Adams in American Hustle, I don't recall that he's that far off base. She was still nominated for that role though.
Sandra Bullock also gets great roles, but they're not the same as what Jennifer Lawrence would do.
And yet Russell actually could get cast in something like Gladiator. A couple years ago, he did Robin Hood which was basically Gladiator in Sherwood Forrest, Oscar Isaacs being an unexpected and yet delightfully hot replacement for Joaquin.
I just watched Denzel beat ass and be damned good at it too. Liam Neeson is coming out with Taken 3, ffs. A whole slew of Hollywood men are signing up to blow shit up, kung fu fight the fuck out of each other, and hurl knifes and grenades at Columbian drug lords. But how many women are still playing the same kick ass roles they were when they were younger?
The only reason Milla Jovovich does is because her husband makes her movies.
He is including himself in the idea though. Maybe I'm just not reading it the right way, but I don't find that what he's saying is off base. It isn't all inclusive, but shedding light on his experience.
But I think it's this that's getting people:
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 don't think actresses complaining of a lack of roles for women over 40 want to be cast as the 21-year-old. They want the roles listed in those graphs that ttt posted to go to 40- and 50-year-olds, not 20- and 30-year-olds.
The point these actresses have is that the roles they should be playing are all going to young actresses.
He's saying that there are plenty of great roles for women in their 40s and up, they're just being ridiculous and not wanting to play them because they just want to play 21 year olds. This is blatantly not true.
Laughable actually. Men are allowed to age in Hollywood but women are not. Therefore there are not many great roles for older women. He's doesn't know what he's talking about.
Please also note that Liam, Russell, Denzel, etc are allowed to look old, craggy, lined, and not nearly as muscled, fit, and tight as they used to while very good, talented actresses are shoving their faces full of botox and trying every diet, every personal training regiment out there just to be considered for roles.
But Tom Cruise and his short, pygmy ass can have pretty much whatever role he wants no matter how ridiculous and some tiny little young thing who doesn't get a Sonny and Cher reference to co star next to him.
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 don't think actresses complaining of a lack of roles for women over 40 want to be cast as the 21-year-old. They want the roles listed in those graphs that ttt posted to go to 40- and 50-year-olds, not 20- and 30-year-olds.
The point these actresses have is that the roles they should be playing are all going to young actresses.
Yup. Cate Blanchett doesn't want to play 21 year olds.
And yet he has nothing to say about 40, 45, 48 year old men who still want to play the high flying secret agent man doling out vigilante style violence on the mean streets.
Apparently men can be forever young but women need to play either hot YOUNG wives to the aforementioned secret agent man or someone's grandma.
Has he looked at the recent oscar nominees? I swear to God that half the reason Woody Allen has a career despite his shady ass ways is the fact that he writes compelling roles for women of all ages.
So there are enough roles for older women that Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren can be employed!
Oh. Well, then.
I think I've mentioned this before, but one reason Sissy Spacek took the role of Carrie was because it was one of the only roles she came across that wasn't just "young, female love interest." Even at age 22 or whatever she was, roles she actually wanted were scarce. Seriously, Russel Crowe, investigate how many female roles don't revolve around male co-stars and you'll start to see a pattern, here.
He's basically saying that actresses should stop complaining and act their age. Okay, except "acting your age" for women means you don't get work. That's easy for you to say when you're a man and can still look 50 and get good roles.
The Forty-two-Year-Old Mother of the Thirty-Year-Old Male Lead
If you think about the backstory of a typical mother character in a romantic comedy, you realize this: when “Mom” was an adolescent, the very week she started to menstruate she was impregnated with a baby who would grow up to be the movie’s likable brown-haired leading man. I am fascinated by Mom’s sordid early life. I would rather see this movie than the one I bought a ticket for.
Sandra Bullock also got a comedy action role in The Heat where she did play the sexy woman lead.
I would chop up the roles these guys landing to them being ticket sellers vs. their old man sexuality -- which in Crowe's case was how he landed Gladiator. Most films after that were due to his success in the Gladiator.
The Bond girls have also been aging. Halle was in her late 30s. Monica Belluci was 39 in the Matrix, and is being cast in the Bond films.
I wouldn't say the Bond girls are really aging that much. Monica Bellucci is set to be the oldest Bond girl ever, but the actress who played Pussy Galore was 39 back in the 1960s. And the last few Bond movies have had actresses in their 20s.
He is including himself in the idea though. Maybe I'm just not reading it the right way, but I don't find that what he's saying is off base. It isn't all inclusive, but shedding light on his experience.
The TV/Movie industry has proven itself to be sexist, racist, etc.
I guess if he said, these women aren't capable of playing amazing roles, I'd be offended. He is saying that they're not going to land jobs playing some 21 year old. Outside of Amy Adams in American Hustle, I don't recall that he's that far off base. She was still nominated for that role though.
Sandra Bullock also gets great roles, but they're not the same as what Jennifer Lawrence would do.
But do women ever really WANT to play those roles? Aside from maybe Kate Bosworth?
I mean, to break into Hollywood, you would likely take whatever nice offer came along, even if it was "helpless female love interest in an action flick #2." Cause then you can work your way up to helpless female #1. And then maybe your name will start to sell films. But at that point, you're known for being a love interest, and/or appealing to the audience who goes to see Spiderman or Gladiator or Fast and Furious.
It's really hard to become a working actor in Hollywood, let alone a well known name who gets top of the line roles. Period. Now imagine only going for meaty female roles, where you aren't the main love interest, or rather, you are the star and your male love interest is the supporting role. Or it's female-centric with no male love interests. Or there's no love story at all. How often does that happen, especially for an unknown? So then how does a 22 year old avoid being typecast?
And in the rare instance that an actual interesting female role comes up, maybe someone with gravitas is going to be cast. Someone like Meryl Streep, not someone like Shailene Woodley.
So young women are told they are there to look pretty. And when they are older and not sexy anymore, well, there's no room. Oh, unless we actually NEED to fill a role for an older woman, then we can break out Helen Mirren or Maggie Smith or Glenn Close.
There are a handful of "older" than ingenue actresses who are doing it, but they are all top-tier and have been on the list of the top 5 or 10 grossing female leads for years, like Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock. Amy Adams is fucking awesome, but she also looks way younger than 40. When June Bug came out she was playing, what, a 20 year old? In her 30s?
The industry is sexist. That is what I'm getting. He is including himself in the idea to not feel like he is in his Gladiator prime. If the industry is trying to milk some of that old time Gladiator sexiness, then he's getting a paycheck.
The industry is sexist, but that's not what he's saying. In fact he's saying the opposite: he's saying that women/actresses are being ridiculous because it's exactly the same for men as they get older. But it isn't.
Sandra Bullock also got a comedy action role in The Heat where she did play the sexy woman lead.
I would chop up the roles these guys landing to them being ticket sellers vs. their old man sexuality -- which in Crowe's case was how he landed Gladiator. Most films after that were due to his success in the Gladiator.
The Bond girls have also been aging. Halle was in her late 30s. Monica Belluci was 39 in the Matrix, and is being cast in the Bond films.
The Heat was an exception. So was Bridesmaids if you're thinking of bringing that one up. So are Bond girls. Both those casting choices have been biiiiiiiiiiig news.
Pierce Brosnan was 49 to Halle's 36. That's really not impressive.
These are the exceptions, not the rules.
Tom Cruise is working, still playing the hot shot. Demi Moore is not. Nicole Kidman is but has shoved her face full of fillers to try to keep the shitty roles she's offered. Renee Zellweger, not working, face full of fillers. Elizabeth Shue, not working. Rebecca DeMornay, not working. Holly Hunter, occasionally working but not really.
Russell Crowe is working. Meg Ryan has a face full of fillers and not really working which is actually an interesting case study. Because if you're remember, she cheated on her husband with Russell Crowe and suffered a MAJOR career setback over it. Russell Crowe just kept right on chucking along. And for a good while, so did that asshole Meg Ryan was married to, Dennis Quaid. The primary reason you don't see Dennis ain't because he's old, btw. It's because he's a massive alcoholic, which is probably one of the reasons Meg was seeing Russell.
You also can't ignore the fact that many of this classic Hollywood men go on to direct movies. Women, however, find it much more difficult to get their movies financed and greenlit, making their career options after they start to age even more dismal than their male counterparts.
When Kevin Costner started aging, he started directing. As did Mel Gibson. They still got to keep making movies though. Kevin Costner's on screen love interest went on to play the president's wife and later the president on the Sci Fi channel. Mel Gibson's old ass star did not start to fall until he left his wife and got drunk and abusive with the new girlfriend.
Otherwise, he'd still be making movies, running around LA as an 80 year old cop and complaining about being too old for this shit.
The industry is sexist. That is what I'm getting. He is including himself in the idea to not feel like he is in his Gladiator prime. If the industry is trying to milk some of that old time Gladiator sexiness, then he's getting a paycheck.
The industry is sexist, but that's not what he's saying. In fact he's saying the opposite: he's saying that women/actresses are being ridiculous because it's exactly the same for men as they get older. But it isn't.
you nailed it. Yes. He can't play Gladiator but for the rest of his acting career he will be cast with women who are 10, 20,30 years younger than him because women his own age are not being given those roles.
The industry is sexist. That is what I'm getting. He is including himself in the idea to not feel like he is in his Gladiator prime. If the industry is trying to milk some of that old time Gladiator sexiness, then he's getting a paycheck.
I didn't see Robin Hood, and I'm gathering it wasn't some huge hit either.
Honestly the movies featuring these old guys as hot heroes are catered to old guys trying to hold on to some sort of young buck manhood. I think it is the same idea of The Heat, Bridesmaids, etc. They're catering to a crowd.
Huge action blockbusters aren't going to oldies like this guy. Action movies, yeah, but not really big hits.
No one expects Russel Crowe to equal Channing Tatum.
But that's not what Russell is saying. He's saying, suck it up, ladies. You can't be young forever.
I feel like you're deliberately glossing over/ignoring the problem here. The Heat and Bridesmaids are recent developments. They aren't proof of anything. I can name maybe five female centric comedies. We'd be here a long time if I listed off the male centric comedies that have come out alongside them.
Kathryn Bigelow won a goddamned Oscar. I guarantee you it's still not easy for her to get projects greenlit.
Russell isn't calling for a change. In fact, he's trying to make a false equivalency, that because he cannot play Gladiator again, that 50 year old women shouldn't expect to be cast in movies either.
But the fact of the matter is that there is a giant female casting hole in Hollywood. Women get to play either the young hot love interest of some older man or they get to play grandma. There are occasional exceptions to that rule, yes but not enough of them.
It would be like arguing that because Shonda Rimes is in vogue right now, that there are plenty of roles for black women in Hollywood. We all know that isn't true. And if Kerry Washington came out and said that Lupita needs to just accept roles on television and her career would be good, we'd tell Kerry to sit her ass down somewhere.
Because hollywood just views female actresses as their relation to men. So love interest of a man or mother of a man. But that really shuts the door on other roles. Men get to routinely play, and not just anecdotes, nuanced characters with a range of emotions and roles. It would be crazy to see a movie featuring Meryl Streep as an alcoholic pilot. But that was Flight with Denzel Washington (a great movie btw). Or anything Bill Murray does in his golden years. Or Matthew McConaughy. Or ...name any over 40 actor.
I'm thinking of blockbuster hits. Big budget films. Transformers. They didn't get Sandra Bullock to play Megan Fox. They also had some young buxom girl play Mark Walhberg's daughter in the most recent one. She was paired with younger guy as her boyfriend. I'd wager the only reason that he got the role was because the moms taking their kids to see it would swoon over him.
If these guys want to play roles that are washed up old action guys, looking at you Bruce Willis, they're not going to have the same damn appeal as they did when these guys were younger. Shia LaBouf played Indiana Jones, not Harrison in the last remake.
The industry is agest, and it does sway in the favor of men. We know that. Him saying so doesn't make him sexist to me. Because he can land jobs, and he calls out the unlikelihood of young Megan Fox type roles going to Renee Zellweger isn't offensive to me.
My interpretation is that he is saying that the industry is sexist and agest, and women who've been in the limelight for a while should know and expect this because it is statistically shown. Men should as well, as he included himself.
I just feel like you are missing the point a little bit.
Because hollywood just views female actresses as their relation to men. So love interest of a man or mother of a man. But that really shuts the door on other roles. Men get to routinely play, and not just anecdotes, nuanced characters with a range of emotions and roles. It would be crazy to see a movie featuring Meryl Streep as an alcoholic pilot. But that was Flight with Denzel Washington (a great movie btw). Or anything Bill Murray does in his golden years. Or Matthew McConaughy. Or ...name any over 40 actor.
To be fair, they'd totally do a movie with a female alcoholic co-pilot. Except she wouldn't be any kind of hero. Her story line would involve her husband leaving her, taking the house, cheating on her with a younger woman, etc. Then Meryl would go back to her small hometown, get in snarky fights with her mother and equally hot mess sister, take a job as a receptionist for the town doctor who was her high school sweetheart, and with the help of her gay side kick, find herself again . . . and of course love with the town doctor.
Although if this is a Tyler Perry movie, the husband who left her would be a wealthy doctor and the high school sweetheart would be the town mechanic.
I'm thinking of blockbuster hits. Big budget films. Transformers. They didn't get Sandra Bullock to play Megan Fox. They also had some young buxom girl play Mark Walhberg's daughter in the most recent one. She was paired with younger guy as her boyfriend. I'd wager the only reason that he got the role was because the moms taking their kids to see it would swoon over him.
If these guys want to play roles that are washed up old action guys, looking at you Bruce Willis, they're not going to have the same damn appeal as they did when these guys were younger. Shia LaBouf played Indiana Jones, not Harrison in the last remake.
The industry is agest, and it does sway in the favor of men. We know that. Him saying so doesn't make him sexist to me. Because he can land jobs, and he calls out the unlikelihood of young Megan Fox type roles going to Renee Zellweger isn't offensive to me.
My interpretation is that he is saying that the industry is sexist and agest, and women who've been in the limelight for a while should know and expect this because it is statistically shown. Men should as well, as he included himself.
BUT HE DOESN"T CALL FOR MORE ROLES FOR WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE while there are plenty of roles for men in the middle.
Dude, really? I MEAN REALLY? You don't see where his comments are problematic because you might be the only person on the internet right now taking his phone throwing, drunk tantrum having side.
The Expendables is pretty fucking blockbuster. Maybe not the third one but still.
Tell me why a woman Sandra Bullock's age can't be in a blockbuster robot chasing movie but Mark Wahlberg can? Maybe because Michael Bay's casting process calls for getting women to come wash his car in a bikini and show him how well they run in a pair of heels (true story) while his casting process for men involves something a little more pragmatic.
Please also note that Liam, Russell, Denzel, etc are allowed to look old, craggy, lined, and not nearly as muscled, fit, and tight as they used to while very good, talented actresses are shoving their faces full of botox and trying every diet, every personal training regiment out there just to be considered for roles.
But Tom Cruise and his short, pygmy ass can have pretty much whatever role he wants no matter how ridiculous and some tiny little young thing who doesn't get a Sonny and Cher reference to co star next to him.
see The Expendables 1-3. they had to break Dolph out of an ice block left in the USSR
also Red
Helen Mirren was bad ass in Red though. I can't even be mad lol.
The average age of the primary male cast of the Expendables is 55. Charisma Carpenter, the female lead in the first one is 44. They kind of sort of let a woman kick ass in the second one. She's 38. In the third one, which I haven't seen so I have no idea what she actually does in the damned thing, is 27.
I notice Stallone didn't call up any of the women who kicked ass in the 80's to have a nostalgic good time in his nostalgic 80's throwback movies.
Speaking of 80's throwback good time, look, I love the Khaleesi but how are you gonna make a movie with Sarah fucking Connor, bad ass of all bad ass and bring me some soft looking mewling thing in the remake?
This is just what I was thinking. There are really precious few movies where there is any logical reason the lead can't be a 40 something year old woman. Take interstellar. Fabulous movie. I loved it. But Anne Hathaway plays the young, attractive twenty something astronaut, McConaughey plays a middle aged dad astronaut. There is absolutely no reason his role had to be played by a man. Holly Hunter could have played the aged astronaut. And there was no reason Anne Hathaway's character had to be so young. Fucking Judy Dench could have played that character. But as always, it was written and cast in a way that completely proves Crowe wrong. And there are a TON of movies just like that. I mean, The Net with Sandra Bullock from the 90s. That role did not require a twenty something actress.
Etc. etc. etc.
OH! Can we talk about why in A Time to Kill, Matthew gets to be the established practicing lawyer while Sandra gets to be the young idealistic law student when she's five years older than he is?