Some last. Mary-Louise Parker still looks good into her 50's. She was still hot in Red 2.
Posted on 05/23/2015 11:21:20 AM PDT by drewh
Last month a brilliant Amy Schumer sketch came up with a perfect, darkly comic phrase to describe the Hollywood phenomenon of beautiful actresses being put out to pasture after they're deemed too old: "Last F-able Day." Julia Louis-Dreyfuss explained it this way: "In every actress' life, the media decides when you finally reach the point where you're not believably f-able any more."
In the skit, Tina Fey says, "Nobody really overtly tells you, but there are signs." But someone in Hollywood decided to be very upfront with Maggie Gyllenhaal that, essentially, her day has passed. Gyllenhaal didn't name names but she told The Wrap, "I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh."
Hollywood's sexism and penchant for opening up "a hot can of 22" aren't anything new. But lately, there's been a lot of open discussion about all the ways big and small that the industry screws over women. This week, ladies called out Cannes' fashion policing BS, last year ladies who were afraid to out Cosby as a sexual predator for decades finally came forward, this month the ACLU alleged that Hollywood discriminates against female directors and actresses like Gyllenhaal are increasingly speaking up about double standards that deem a woman past her expiration date at 37 while a man at 55 isn't. Or as Fey said about men in the Schumer skit "They're f-able forever. They could be a hundred and, like,"—here she makes an obscene gesture—"nothing but white spiders coming out but they're f-able."
Gyllenhaal says despite the sexism, she is choosing to look on the bright side: "A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now, playing real women, complicated women. I don’t feel despairing at all. And I’m more looking with hope for something fascinating." And for what it's worth, we'd like to point out that sex symbol Mae West made her big screen debut when she was even older than Gyllenhaal.
One thing I like about recent tv shows is there is a lot of, lets say middle aged romance. Sons of Anarchy, Nashville, Empire, The Americans all have people well into their 40s and 50s with overly exciting love lives. But it better than acting like only those 30 and younger need apply.
;)
I don’t normally watch sports movies...but.
;D
I don’t think that she was in “The Departed”.
When I hit 40, it was impressed upon me that I should now cut my hair short, wear sensible shoes, invest in pastel polyester and channel my passion towards something more age-appropriate, like needlepoint.
As if.
What is a “hot can of 22”?
Maggie’s day passed years ago.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. After awhile it becomes creepy if you’re old and everyone still thinks you’re f-able.
“I don’t think that she was in “The Departed”.”
You are correct. That was Vera Farmiga. I tend to mix the two of them up.
My bad.
VF and MG do look a little similar. Farmiga is older and has worked far more regularly. There’s a reason for that.
“Rent boys,” first heard that term today, when it was told that Brad Pitt is bisexual and he pays to play.
The rules of Hollywood are very simple. You can get gigs if you’re pretty and you can get gigs if you can act. Every actor comes to a point in their aging process where they find out why they were getting gigs. Sorry Maggie.
Actually, this should apply to both female and male actors. From 20-30 they are typically at their sexual attractiveness peak, but from there they need to branch out as having some other value than sexual attractiveness.
Yeah, you are pretty. What else can you do? Pretty doesn’t last, so what else you got?
A lot of male and female actors figure the only thing they can do after their peak are “mommy” and “daddy”, or even “grandparent” roles. And while there is a place for those roles, to imagine that is the only thing people over the age of 30 can do is pretty weak.
Sadly, Maggie is ugly on the INSIDE.
Some last. Mary-Louise Parker still looks good into her 50's. She was still hot in Red 2.
Meg Ryan is rumored to have ended her glory days as a Saudi prostitute in Cannes.
The saying is “An old man in love is like a flower in winter.”
More like deadfall.
actually not a very nice person.
I miss ya Pastor Britt.
I remember watching some Clint Eastwood flick about ten years ago when the obviously old and withered Clint started making love to some babe who looked like she just graduated from junior high. I'm only slightly exaggerating.
I couldn't take the movie seriously after that one exceptionally stupid scene. And I'm a long time Clint fan.
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