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]