Age in Movies

[Ms Blue Jay]

Yes, there are definitely some out there, but the far more frequent pattern is a man that's older, 10 years to 40 years (yes, 40 there are examples where the man is 40 YEARS OLDER) than his female love interest in the movies.

Another good Reese Witherspoon one where she's older is "Home Again".  Female writers and directors will sometimes do this, I call it the "female gaze" where it's not all female nudity for a change and the women might be the older one in the relationship.  Of course, some male directors do it too which is great - "Top Gun" has a slightly "older" woman; Kelly McGillis is 5 years older than Tom Cruise, and beautiful young men are running around without their clothes on a lot.

Of course for the new Tom Cruise movie that's coming out we all know that whoever is running things refused to hire Kelly back as the love interest.  It was discussed earlier in the thread.  A lot of this I'm sure is to service male egos.  We don't want Tom Cruise to look "old", we don't want to admit Michael Keaton is 70 so let's give him a young lover, etc.  I assume male execs/producers/writers/directors see themselves in these stars and think they can all date Michelle Monaghan like Tom is always with in the MI movies.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/07/29/top-gun-maverick-kelly-mcgillis-says-she-wasnt-asked-to-be-in-sequel/1855014001/

Edited August 24, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ohiopirate02]

On 8/24/2021 at 9:20 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

Yes, there are definitely some out there, but the far more frequent pattern is a man that's older, 10 years to 40 years (yes, 40 there are examples where the man is 40 YEARS OLDER) than his female love interest in the movies.

Another good Reese Witherspoon one where she's older is "Home Again".  Female writers and directors will sometimes do this, I call it the "female gaze" where it's not all female nudity for a change and the women might be the older one in the relationship.  Of course, some male directors do it too which is great - "Top Gun" has a slightly "older" woman; Kelly McGillis is 5 years older than Tom Cruise, and beautiful young men are running around without their clothes on a lot.

Of course for the new Tom Cruise movie that's coming out we all know that whoever is running things refused to hire Kelly back as the love interest.  It was discussed earlier in the thread.  A lot of this I'm sure is to service male egos.  We don't want Tom Cruise to look "old", we don't want to admit Michael Keaton is 70 so let's give him a young lover, etc.  I assume male execs/producers/writers/directors see themselves in these stars and think they can all date Michelle Monaghan like Tom is always with in the MI movies.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/07/29/top-gun-maverick-kelly-mcgillis-says-she-wasnt-asked-to-be-in-sequel/1855014001/

Looking at the side bar with a current-ish photo of Kelly, was it her age, or was it her not being "hot" anymore?  Helen Mirren is older than Kelly but she can still be sexy.  Tom and Michael can't be seen desiring a woman who "let herself go" after childbirth and menopause.

[andromeda331]

36 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Looking at the side bar with a current-ish photo of Kelly, was it her age, or was it her not being "hot" anymore?  Helen Mirren is older than Kelly but she can still be sexy.  Tom and Michael can't be seen desiring a woman who "let herself go" after childbirth and menopause.

Like Tom or Michael land a woman like Helen Mirren. 

[methodwriter85]

I just realized that the last time someone under the age of 40 won Best Actress at the Oscars was Emma Stone in 2017. That makes me oddly happy. Why look, Hollywood, women are allowed to exist after they're 35 years old!

Be Kind Rewind (awesome channel) did a video about Joan Crawford's 1946 Best Actress Win for Mildred Pierce and pointed out that her win was the only time during the 1940's that a woman in her 40's won Best Actress. Crazy to think that. I think the all-time average age is 36.

Edited January 29, 2022 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

I watched this trailer for a new Brad Pitt movie and immediately thought, "Please god, don't make Joey King his love interest. It was gross enough in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood to see him flirting with a daughter-aged actress." 

 

[methodwriter85]

In Top Gun 2, Tom Cruise is playing a character that is acknowledged as being over 50 years old and

Spoiler

yet he STILL managed to avoid playing the father to a grown adult. LOL

[BetterButter]

British Actors Call For More Women Over 45 To Appear On Screen, To Fight Industry’s ‘Entrenched Ageism’

[methodwriter85]

It's kind of a catch 22. If you grow old-looking, your career tends to flail, but if you go too far in trying to look younger, you find yourself the object of ridicule and your career flails anyway. See: Meg Ryan and the bad plastic surgery that put a final nail on the coffin of her career. Her age peer Julianne Moore has been smarter with her work and she's still managed to keep a career going. Of course, Julianne Moore never had the America's Sweetheart label on her that Meg did.

They also bring up an interesting point that it used to be more common for celebs (and people in general) to die in their 50's and 60's. I still kind of went "Wah?" when people bemoaned David Bowie, Alan Thicke, and more recently Bog Saget for dying "before their time" in their mid-to-late 60's. It wasn't really that long ago that dying at 67 or 68 was pretty normal and expected. I did a double take when watching a Disney essay (probably also the Take) where they mentioned that Disney "died young" at 65 due to his cigarette use.

[SunnyBeBe]

I really liked this movie.  It’s about the sexual awakening of an older woman.  It was very brave if Emma Thompson.

[methodwriter85]

On 8/27/2021 at 1:09 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

Looking at the side bar with a current-ish photo of Kelly, was it her age, or was it her not being "hot" anymore?  Helen Mirren is older than Kelly but she can still be sexy.  Tom and Michael can't be seen desiring a woman who "let herself go" after childbirth and menopause.

Tom Cruise has never played the father to a person over the age of 16. He's played a father figure, per se, to an adult, but as of now Justin Chatwin playing 16 in War of the Worlds has been his oldest onscreen kid. That's wild to me. He hasn't even had a college aged kid in a movie.

[Ms Blue Jay]

It's truly pathological behaviour.

[methodwriter85]

23 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

It's truly pathological behaviour.

I wonder if he originally tried to cast Claire Foy or Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Penny. LOL Sure as hell wouldn't be the first time Hollywood cast a much younger actress to play a woman in her late 40's/early 50's.

I also think they probably shaved a couple of years off Rooster. His character should have been entering his 40's or just shy of it, but Miles gave off more of an early 30's vibe. Of course that's probably because they filmed it in 2019 when Miles was still in his early 30's. LOL

Edited July 12, 2022 by methodwriter85

[Raja]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I also think they probably shaved a couple of years off Rooster. His character should have been entering his 40's or just shy of it, but Miles gave off more of an early 30's vibe. Of course that's probably because they filmed it in 2019 when Miles was still in his early 30's. LOL

They gave Rooster in Top Gun Maverick the plot reason of taking some gap years before entering the Naval Academy. 90% in the real world would have found ROTC and started flying as a younger man rather than holding out for the Academy 

[methodwriter85]

Taking a moment to remember when Hollywood tried to convince me that this fresh-faced 23-year old was a seasoned reporter in Superman Returns.

One problem though is that Hollywood doesn't do a lot roles for women who are in that post-college era of their life, which is you often see "teen" actresses suddenly playing characters that should be at least in their late 20's after they had been mostly playing teen characters. It's how you see Cara Delevigne playing a high school senior one year and then an archaeologist the next year.

Edited August 3, 2022 by methodwriter85

[GHScorpiosRule]

45 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Taking a moment to remember when Hollywood tried to convince me that this fresh-faced 23-year old was a seasoned reporter in Batman Returns.

Do you mean Superman Returns?

[Scarlett45]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:32 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

I really liked this movie.  It’s about the sexual awakening of an older woman.  It was very brave if Emma Thompson.

I had forgotten about this one. Looking forward to watching it. 

[methodwriter85]

I'm having a bit of a moment at realizing that Anne Hathaway is now old enough to play the mom of a teenager.

The good ol' "depressed person gets a new lease on life with a younger love interest" trope. 

Although the fact that Michael Showalter is directing this makes me think they might skewer that trope and not play it so straight.

Edited September 21, 2022 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

2019 Jacki Weaver interview on beating the odds and breaking into Hollywood at 63.  Definitely more possible when you're a character actor like Jacki, but still pretty hard to do. She's got a really cool, interesting look to her. Here's hoping she'll still be active into her 90's like Betty White (R.I.P.) was!

Edited December 18, 2022 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

The Rapid Soap Opera Aging on Amara Creed in Creed III was pretty hilarious, especially since she was born canonically in 2018 and they explicitly set the move in 2020. Even if it's supposed to be 2023 that girl looked like she just a year or two from the start of puberty, not a 4/5-year old.

At this point they might as well just wait a few years and then do a Creed 4 with Amara as a full-grown adult but it's still only like 2026 or something. LOL.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

[Raja]

Stories of Megan Fox, 37 years old, joining the Expendables as a bunch of retirement age mercenaries suggest that she will play the new love interest to a 55 year old Jason Statham as the  52 year old Charisma Carpenter was dropped offscreen from the franchise

[Scarlett45]

On 9/12/2022 at 9:10 PM, Scarlett45 said:

I had forgotten about this one. Looking forward to watching it. 

I am quoting myself because while I did enjoy this movie (and mentioned it in its specific thread), I felt it was missing something. I liked that we got to see Emma Thompson be complex and flawed (which women often aren’t allowed) and still learn from the experience. 
 

But I didn’t love the comments about her “bravery” over nudity. OMG she’s a fucking goddess! I’m sure all those people criticizing her body wish they looked half as good at any age. 

[methodwriter85]

16 hours ago, Raja said:

Stories of Megan Fox, 37 years old, joining the Expendables as a bunch of retirement age mercenaries suggest that she will play the new love interest to a 55 year old Jason Statham as the  52 year old Charisma Carpenter was dropped offscreen from the franchise

Shades of everyone oohing and ahhing about Monica Bellucci being the Oldest Bond Girl Ever and she got about 5 minutes of Screentime before the real love interest barely in her 30's showed up.

Never change, Hollywood, Never change. Men are allowed to get older but women can't.

Edited June 9, 2023 by methodwriter85

[proserpina65]

On 6/8/2023 at 9:06 AM, Raja said:

Stories of Megan Fox, 37 years old, joining the Expendables as a bunch of retirement age mercenaries suggest that she will play the new love interest to a 55 year old Jason Statham as the  52 year old Charisma Carpenter was dropped offscreen from the franchise

I'm less offended by the age thing in this instance than I am by them replacing a good actress with an objectively terrible one.

[methodwriter85]

A look at the comedy genre of uniting mature older female stars in breezy comedies.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 6/8/2023 at 10:07 PM, methodwriter85 said:

Never change, Hollywood, Never change. Men are allowed to get older but women can't.

Unless you're Cillian Murphy.

Most of the age discourse regarding Oppenheimer centers around Florence Pugh, who is 27, but that comes off as disingenuous since her character is involved romantically with 47 year old Murphy's. Like, just say "He's very old and it's gross" and get it over with.

[methodwriter85]

He's the same age as Zach Braff, who Florence Pugh was with for awhile.

 

[AimingforYoko]

5 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

He's the same age as Zach Braff, who Florence Pugh was with for awhile.

 

Man, I've heard of going method, but that's ridiculous. 

[methodwriter85]

I looked at the Napoleon poster and thought to myself..."How nice is it that Joaquin Phoenix is allowed to grow older and look his age.."

"And meanwhile, Lady Gaga who has clearly used plastic surgery to remove age markers STILL gets age-shamed for playing Harley Quinn against Joaquin's Joker!" 

She isn't even fucking forty yet & yet she's somehow too old to play a pretty doctor that a Joker played by a 50-year old man gaslights into being with her.

Edited August 8, 2023 by methodwriter85

[Ohiopirate02]

4 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I looked at the Napoleon poster and thought to myself..."How nice is it that Joaquin Phoenix is allowed to grow older and look his age.."

Then the producers ruin this in Napoleon by casting Vanessa Kirby as Josephine.  Napoleon and Josephine are one of the few famous historical couples where she was older than him, and the producers went with an actress more than a decade younger.  

[Anduin]

2 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Then the producers ruin this in Napoleon by casting Vanessa Kirby as Josephine.  Napoleon and Josephine are one of the few famous historical couples where she was older than him, and the producers went with an actress more than a decade younger.  

Yep. I worked out when the trailer first dropped, Josephine was eight years older. But Vanessa Kirby is 14 years younger. Wikipedia says it was originally supposed to be Jodie Comer, another five years younger! God forbid they get the age difference right.

[Wiendish Fitch]

44 minutes ago, Anduin said:

Yep. I worked out when the trailer first dropped, Josephine was eight years older. But Vanessa Kirby is 14 years younger. Wikipedia says it was originally supposed to be Jodie Comer, another five years younger! God forbid they get the age difference right.

Oh, don't get me started on this trend. Not only is 2004's De-Lovely an utterly shitty biopic that manages to make Cole and Linda Porter's relationship* a heteronormative snooze, but IRL, Linda was eight years older than Cole. In the movie? They cast Ashley Judd as Linda to Kevin Kline's Cole... and Judd is over two decades younger than Kline!!

*Seriously, look them up, their story is actually really interesting. 

 

[Spartan Girl]

3 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Oh, don't get me started on this trend. Not only is 2004's De-Lovely an utterly shitty biopic that manages to make Cole and Linda Porter's relationship* a heteronormative snooze, but IRL, Linda was eight years older than Cole. In the movie? They cast Ashley Judd as Linda to Kevin Kline's Cole... and Judd is over two decades younger than Kline!!

*Seriously, look them up, their story is actually really interesting. 

 

Oh FFS. I love Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd both, but yeah, if you’re going to do a biopic at least get the age difference accurate!

[methodwriter85]

7 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Then the producers ruin this in Napoleon by casting Vanessa Kirby as Josephine.  Napoleon and Josephine are one of the few famous historical couples where she was older than him, and the producers went with an actress more than a decade younger.  

Yeah, I'm sure it's just because she was the "best option" available. 

[Ohiopirate02]

3 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Yeah, I'm sure it's just because she was the "best option" available. 

I guess Rachel Weisz, Marion Cotillard, and Eva Green were all too busy.  And that's just 3 actresses either age appropriate or at least Gen X that I rattled off the top of my head after a day at the beach and some wine.  

[methodwriter85]

Marion Cotillard would have been perfect. 

[andromeda331]

5 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Marion Cotillard would have been perfect. 

She would have been my pick for Josephine too. She would have been so good.

[Wiendish Fitch]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Marion Cotillard would have been perfect. 

Heck yeah! She's talented, beautiful, actually French... a year younger than Joaquin Phoenix, but that's the equivalent of eight years older by Hollywood standards, I guess. 

1968's The Lion in Winter is positively radical in how it dared to go over by quite a bit by casting Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitane to Peter O'Toole's Henry the II... an age of difference of 25 years! In real life, Eleanor and Henry were 11 years apart.

[methodwriter85]

See, the main problem is that Joaquin Phoenix is too old to play Napoleon. Vanessa Kirby is actually age-appropriate for Josephine, but Napoleon should have been played by a man in his early 30's.

So what they should have done is aged up the casting for Josephine, but of course Hollywood is never going to do that. So instead you get the visuals of seeing a man in his early 50's, trying to pass for early 30's, and being paired with a mid-30's woman who we just have to buy is somehow older than this 50-year old who very much looks 50. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

20 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

See, the main problem is that Joaquin Phoenix is too old to play Napoleon. Vanessa Kirby is actually age-appropriate for Josephine, but Napoleon should have been played by a man in his early 30's.

This is the number one thing that killed the 2021 remake of Nightmare Alley for me. I thought Bradley Cooper was way too old to be convincing as Stan Carlisle, whose character is defined by youthful arrogance and swagger. While Tyrone Power was never a favorite of mine, he was way more convincing in the 1947 original, because, at 33, he still gave off "heedless young man" vibes. Cooper, on the other hand, was around 45, looked every minute of it, and all I could think was, "Dude, you are old enough to have known better". 

Also, the remake is just so bloated. 

[Chaos Theory]

On 6/8/2023 at 9:06 AM, Raja said:

Stories of Megan Fox, 37 years old, joining the Expendables as a bunch of retirement age mercenaries suggest that she will play the new love interest to a 55 year old Jason Statham as the  52 year old Charisma Carpenter was dropped offscreen from the franchise

 

On 6/9/2023 at 12:56 PM, proserpina65 said:

I'm less offended by the age thing in this instance than I am by them replacing a good actress with an objectively terrible one.

I am and will forever be offended by the complete and total lack of respect for Charisma Carpenter.  

[Wiendish Fitch]

25 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

 

I am and will forever be offended by the complete and total lack of respect for Charisma Carpenter.  

The poor woman had to work for friggin' Joss Whedon for seven years, and then this happens?! Sheesh, who did she piss off??

[Blergh]

On 8/9/2023 at 9:58 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

Heck yeah! She's talented, beautiful, actually French... a year younger than Joaquin Phoenix, but that's the equivalent of eight years older by Hollywood standards, I guess. 

1968's The Lion in Winter is positively radical in how it dared to go over by quite a bit by casting Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitane to Peter O'Toole's Henry the II... an age of difference of 25 years! In real life, Eleanor and Henry were 11 years apart.

Interestingly enough, Nigel Terry (1945-2015) was 37 years Miss Hepburn's junior (1907-2003)- yet Eleanor of Aquitaine was 45 years old when she bore the future King John [quite a remarkable maternal age for both mother and child to have survived childbirth back then]!

[proserpina65]

On 8/9/2023 at 2:41 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I am and will forever be offended by the complete and total lack of respect for Charisma Carpenter.  

I imagine a lot of that is because she came from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and we all know genre tv gets little respect in general, but she gets far too little credit for her acting ability.  She's a very talented and nuanced actress.

[methodwriter85]

I need to take a moment and remember Ed and Lorraine Warren, high school sweethearts turned middle aged couple by the 80's actually PLAYED by two people who could have actually gone to high school together.

 

It feels so incredibly rare, for both this type of coupling (the high school sweethearts) and in high school reunion movies, for the ages to actually match the characters. I remember kind of just going "Hun?" at Jon Hamm and Lil Rey Bowery being cast as former high school classmates. LOL

Edited August 13, 2023 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

I legitimately thought we were done with this trope but here we are:

I'm assuming there's going to be some kind of twist, but please- can we please let the whole trope of having underage/barely legal girls obsessing over men twice their age die with the 1990's?