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Female, forty and furious
smh.com.au ^

Posted on 01/18/2004 5:53:14 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Female, forty and furious January 19, 2004 - 11:24AM

On the attack ... Sharon Stone, Holly Hunter and Meg Ryan.

Hollywood's most formidable female stars have united to condemn "sexist" film moguls for failing to find roles for women over 40.

Meg Ryan, Holly Hunter, Charlotte Rampling, Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg are among a group of 30 actresses who have taken part in a documentary by Rosanna Arquette to be screened in Britain this summer.

The documentary is seen as a thinly veiled attack on moguls such as Harvey Weinstein - the portly co-owner of Miramax - who control the film industry and the careers of Hollywood actresses.

Arquette, 44, who rose to fame when she starred opposite Madonna in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, said that her interest in what happened to 40-year-old women in Hollywood was sparked by the experience of

Debra Winger, the star of Terms of Endearment, who announced that she was quitting in 1996 aged 40. "Ageing," Arquette said this week, "equals career death."

In the documentary, called Searching For Debra Winger, Winger, who has been nominated for three Oscars, tells how she decided to quit and reveals that while she was working on An Officer And a Gentlemen the notorious producer Don Simpson told her that she needed diet pills.

Julianna Margulies, 37, who starred in ER opposite George Clooney, speaks frankly about the rigours of the casting couch. "You ask anyone that has been in those [audition] meetings. They say, 'Yeah that actress is great but would you f*** her?' And they ask all the men in the room."

The documentary will provoke heated debate in Hollywood, which has long been accused of discriminating against women for their age and beauty. Arquette told London's Sunday Telegraph that she had already received criticism from film bosses. "There are a lot of misogynistic men who are very angry about it," she said. "They've told me, 'It's just a bunch of chicks sitting around bitching about us'."

In the film, Daryl Hannah, 43, says that the root of the problem lies "with the guys who run the studios. They choose projects that they identify with and they say, 'I'd like to be that man having an affair with a chick of 18'."

Samantha Mathis, 33, agrees. "It's the revenge of the nerds syndrome, all these guys couldn't get a girlfriend in high school. They are smart but they have no social skills; suddenly they are running studios in a position of power."

Arquette's subjects are candid and often angry about the way the industry has spat them out once they have aged. Martha Plimpton, 33, says: "For women it's either, she's a starlet or she's an old hag." Whoopi Goldberg adds that film producers "want you to think that you're done" once actresses had turned 40.

Arquette, who is currently filming another documentary about musicians, continues to act and has recently been filming two comedies with the British actresses Imogen Stubbs and Jennifer Saunders.

She says that certain elements of Hollywood have always annoyed her. "I find it offensive that in Hollywood a 68-year-old movie star is paired with a 30-year-old, or someone even younger. You think, 'Come on, who are you kidding'. It is offensive."

Other interviewees said that they had financial problems when the parts dried up. Theresa Russell, 46, says: "It was really hard, I didn't get an audition for years and I started running out of money. I thought, what else can I do? I resent being in this situation. They want to put you out to pasture."

In any other profession, she says, "your work would get better the older you got". Holly Hunter, 45, who won an Oscar for The Piano, believes actresses are at their peak at 40. "The deal is that actresses who are good have probably never been better once they hit 40. Once I hit 40 I had charms that I didn't have when I was 30 and I want to use them."

Teri Garr, 53, who has appeared in more than 50 films, including Tootsie, insists that films should reflect the existence of older women in real life. "There are people who are my age and older who still exist in the world, so there should be writers who write stories that include them. There should be parts for us, even if they are smaller."

She adds: "I remember when I was young the great actresses telling me, 'Wait till they tell you your face has been ravaged by time'."

Diane Lane, 39, dislikes the vocabulary used to describe older women's looks. "If you want to live you must age. Beauty has to be a certain way [in Hollywood]." If you age, she says, "it is described as 'damaged beauty' or 'sad beauty' or 'aged beauty'." She adds: "Character actresses will always work freely because they are not coming from the immaculate time when one looked perfect." Adrienne Shelley, 38, the star of The Unbelievable Truth, tells of how much sex plays a part of being a Hollywood actress. She says: "I get a call in my car on the way to an audition from the agent. He said, 'What is really important is that they think you are f***able'.

"The man walks in and looks right at my tits and I saw in his face that there was no way I was going to get the part. And yet in the real world there is no way I would give this guy the time of day."

Lane urges women to make more of an issue of the problem. "When women don't want to talk about these issues it is so awful," she says. "Hiding away just perpetuates the problem.

"Women want to watch other women of their own age sometimes. All these young people are great but let them watch each other. We want to watch us."


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: actress; aging; castingcouch; hollyweird; hollywood
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
There ain't no role for over-forty bimboes in it.

Sure there is. I mean, who do you think was buying that soap?

121 posted on 01/18/2004 7:24:58 PM PST by wizardoz ("Crikey! I've lost my mojo!")
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To: cupcakes
Madonna... but right now the chicks are into boy-toys
122 posted on 01/18/2004 7:25:04 PM PST by cyborg (feed marmite to the prisoners and they'll never go there again)
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To: Sub-Driver
I find it offensive that in Hollywood a 68-year-old movie star is paired with a 30-year-old, or someone even younger.

Yeah right!

123 posted on 01/18/2004 7:25:07 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: Sub-Driver
The documentary is seen as a thinly veiled attack on moguls such as Harvey Weinstein - the portly co-owner of Miramax - who control the film industry and the careers of Hollywood actresses.

Two observations:

1) Harvey is described as portly.
2) The only person mentioned as 'controlling the film industry' just happens to be jewish. Hmmmmm...

124 posted on 01/18/2004 7:26:01 PM PST by opinionator
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To: Sub-Driver
"They've told me, 'It's just a bunch of chicks sitting around bitching about us'."

Well, that's basically it, isn't it?

125 posted on 01/18/2004 7:26:23 PM PST by paul51
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To: WFTR
There are plenty of professional athletes who would still like to make their living as athletes even when they are past 40. Why don't more teams keep these guys on the roster?

Not a good analogy. Sports doesn't have anything to do with looks. If a woman loses her acting ability after 40, she should get out of the business.

126 posted on 01/18/2004 7:26:35 PM PST by LisaMalia (Buckeye Fan since birth!!)
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To: opinionator
oh those jooz are at it again :-/
127 posted on 01/18/2004 7:26:51 PM PST by cyborg (feed marmite to the prisoners and they'll never go there again)
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To: cyborg
I bet you have the pure Shea Butter at your place too. I use the stuff that is processed and it still works wonderfully.

Yeah, we agree with the foreskin assessment. To top it off my son was getting IVs in his forehead and we just didn't want to add anything else to his hard beginnings.

I've thought about cosmetic surgery, but more so on the facial stuff. It is hard to watch those creases come in on the eyes. As for implants, I'll be happy to hand some of mine over--got way too much naturally, well not according to hubby, but I've got to lug 'em around--LOL.
128 posted on 01/18/2004 7:30:09 PM PST by cupcakes
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To: Sub-Driver
There comes a point when some of the female artist simply aren't considered peaches anymore. You can't blame the film industry for having the good sense to realize that a firm young woman will sell better to young audiences than some embarrassing moth eaten hag with breast that look like a pair of silk socks with an orange (maybe a lime in Meg's case) in each one.
129 posted on 01/18/2004 7:31:51 PM PST by Jaysun (The liberal mind is so open - so open that ideas simply pass through it.)
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To: LisaMalia
Welcome Lisa. I'm in central Ohio(as well?). We are buckeye fans here too:-)
This site is addictive! Welcome aboard from a fellow female freeper, buckeye fan, and Ohioan.
130 posted on 01/18/2004 7:32:06 PM PST by cupcakes
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To: exit82
Teri Garr was 13 when she first started daning in Elvis and Beach Party movies.

This is her correct age.
131 posted on 01/18/2004 7:32:45 PM PST by packrat35 (reality is for people who can't face science fiction)
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To: HHFi
I just got back from "Something's got to give". I don't care how old she is, Diane Keaton is a babe.
132 posted on 01/18/2004 7:32:53 PM PST by JusPasenThru (Reasoning with a man is futile when his opinions were not reached by reason in the first place.)
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To: cyborg
However, one can get too much surgery and look like Joan Rivers.

Oh, she looks terrifying, doesn't she? Like the taxidermist got hold of her... when she talks, nothing between her upper lip and her hairline moves.

133 posted on 01/18/2004 7:33:45 PM PST by wizardoz ("Crikey! I've lost my mojo!")
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To: Khurkris
Daryl Hannah peaked in SPLASH.

Along with all the men in the audience.

134 posted on 01/18/2004 7:34:15 PM PST by Petronski (I'm *NOT* always *CRANKY.*)
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To: Sub-Driver
Hollywood has beens unite against discrimination! The article only mentions the short list though...
135 posted on 01/18/2004 7:35:33 PM PST by hope
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To: Sub-Driver
Actually, there is a rational explanation for the problem: the men controlling the hiring are in arrested development and haven't the ability to appreciate women over forty because these men have remained teenaged boys in their libido area rather than grow up and appreciate a woman companion instead of a p!ece of tail ... put another way, they are stuck still thinking sex is far and away the most important thing in life.
136 posted on 01/18/2004 7:35:35 PM PST by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: wizardoz
Okay I confess... I read fine tabloid newspapers. Some of these moviesars weren't looking pretty AND for change they didn't have all women. Burt Reynolds is looking a little... lumpy.
137 posted on 01/18/2004 7:36:31 PM PST by cyborg (feed marmite to the prisoners and they'll never go there again)
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To: Sub-Driver
In the film, Daryl Hannah, 43, says that the root of the problem lies "with the guys who run the studios".

Mary Pickford helped bankroll United Artists instead of starring in a documentary highlighting her victim status.

138 posted on 01/18/2004 7:36:56 PM PST by primeval patriot
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To: Godebert
Yes Teri was in that episode but not James Coburn. Man I used to have a serious crush on Teri when I was younger.
139 posted on 01/18/2004 7:37:00 PM PST by packrat35 (reality is for people who can't face science fiction)
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Comment #140 Removed by Moderator


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