Mothers in little flicks

Great little rant on Hollywood casting of women:

The common belief that one dog year is equal to seven human years could just as easily be applied to female actors as Alsatians. It must be down to the Californian water, but something seems to happen to the women in LA so that they speed through the years at a far swifter rate than that of their male contemporaries. According to film casting agents, anyway.

It is all too easy for a female actor to find herself cast as the mother of someone who once played her boyfriend as soon as she blows out the candles on her 35th birthday cake. This has long been an accepted fact of Hollywood life, and one that most women keep schtum about as they know they should be grateful to get any roles at all in their decrepit post-30s.

But last weekend, Hope Davis finally broke ranks to admit she was somewhat "peeved" when she was recently offered a role playing the mother of Johnny Depp, a concept that would have tested the skills of the most talented special effects department, seeing as Davis was actually born the year after Depp.

<SNIP>

Angelina Jolie seemed to take being cast as Colin Farrell's mother in Alexander with good grace, despite being only a year older than him. But then again, maybe she was too busy considering whether she should adopt him to bother to take offence. Then there's Forrest Gump, in which Sally Field plays Tom Hanks's mother: not only is Field only a decade older than Hanks, but only six years before she was playing opposite him as his romantic interest in the movie Punchline.

Lea Thompson was exactly the same age as Michael J Fox - 24 - when she played his mother in Back to the Future, while Elizabeth Taylor was a mere four years older than Dennis Hopper when she played his mother in Giant.

Quite why film directors are so averse to having middle-aged roles played by middle-aged women comes down to male insecurity and misogyny. In regards to the former, if the mother is played by, say, a thirtysomething, that would suggest that the male lead must be still a teenager. Yes, yes, Mel, the years may have passed for Glenn Close but you're still a lithe, hot young thing. As for the more obvious issue of misogyny, the sense of disgust of older women is so deeply entrenched in Hollywood that even when the role is specifically for an older woman, no one wants to see an actual older woman on screen. Far better to haul in Angelina and sod the obvious discrepancies.

I'm not sure I buy the author's reasoning here.

I highly doubt that male stars demand women their age to be cast as their mothers for vanity reasons.

As for the ''sense of disgust,'' there is some truth to that, as we see in the Botoxed and lifted faces of many an aging female star.

But really, it all comes down to economics. Most of these movies play to younger male audiences, and not many 17 year old boys would be attracted to a Susan Sarandon or a Meryl Streep. If there is a female role at all in these films, it better be filled by a hot young chick to bring 'em in to the box office.

It isn't called MILF for nothing.

Go read the whole thing and get back to me.

Comments

[skdadl]

I do think that "sense of disgust" at older women is real, and not just in show biz -- it's a cultural thing, although maybe hot chicks like us can help to change that a bit. ;-)

(Why did I have to be born on the cutting edge? I'd rather have been ten years behind, so's to get some of the benefits rather than doing all the work.)

Never mind. In moods like this, I just mutter away to myself, "Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren," and then I watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5JAPkvnyso

(You have to wait for the Helen Mirren bit.)

[deBeauxOs]

That photograph should be a warning to anyone who might consider renting the movie Alexander that it is to the film Gladiator what Twilight is to The Hunger.

[Kat]

One that wasn't mentioned in the article was that Angela Lansbury was only three years older than Laurence Harvey, yet played his mother in The Manchurian Candidate -- a film IMHO that was never especially aimed at 17-year-old boys.

Lansbury's performance, and that of Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (five years older than Dustin Hoffman) made me appreciate what an amazing acting job these women have to do to come across as being a generation older than their male peers. On the DVD version of Manchurian Candidate that I have, Lansbury quips in the "special features" that she didn't wear any aging makeup for her role -- but she's convincing to a terrifying degree.

The casting "rules" are ridiculous, but hats off to the actors who turn in great performances despite the absurdities.

[neko]

I was with it until Forrest Gump and Back to the Future.

It's easier, in the makeup chair, to make someone look older than to make them look younger. So in any given film that has a lot of flashbacks or time travel, it would be easier to cast someone who's age matches the 'younger' self of the character, then rely on makeup to make them older. Which is just what they did with Sally Field in Forrest Gump and Lea Thompson in Back to the Future.

Once you start complaining that Lea Thompson was miscast as Marty McFly's Mother circa 1985 when she spends most of the movie being Marty McFly's Not-Yet-Mother circa 1955... I think the argument looses a lot of weight.

[Paul]

The widespread use of the acronym "MILF" today is an indication of the general and widespread sexual appreciation and admiration of older women by younger men.

It may also be a reaction *against* the cliche fashion choices and behaviours exhibited by those in all aspects of the trade in sexual fantasy, which bears little relation to what "normal women" look like. That uniform has become so stylized as to become a caricature - with little relevance to the women men generally fantasize about or admire in their daily lives.

I do think there is some credence to the idea that both Hollywood and "traditional" porn is lagging behind audience taste in these depictions. We see the same thing in the fashion industry as well.

[Mark]

In the same vein, if women of all ages didn't find older men attractive, then they too would get typecast as diaper-wearing geezers instead of dashing secret agents. I've heard many women complain about 45-year-old guys who only want to date 30-year-old women, but as they used to say "it takes two to tango."

If 30-year-old women were *all* disgusted with older men hitting on them, then it would stop (30-year-old women don't routinely date 60-year-old men, after all.) Unfortunately, enough women will date older guys that they are perceived to retain attractiveness in a way that women the same age do not.

[Ashley]

Heh, don't think anyone has mentioned yet Eileen Herlie playing Sir Laurence Olivier's mother in the 1948 film version of Hamlet.
Eileen Herlie's age - 28
Laurence Olivier's age - 41.

Yeah.

I have to agree with Neko, having studied some of theater's make up techniques I know personally how it is much much easier to age someone than to make them look younger.

I am also reminded of a part in the movie The First Wive's Club;
"Don't you want to play parts your own age?"
'My age? You don't understand, there are three ages for women in Hollywood: Babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy!'

[Sebastian Stoker]

Great point Paul.

The admiration of older women by young men is very common in my experience. People talk about this all the time. Men of all ages lust after mature sexy actresses, and women of all ages appreciate their achievement(s).

What I do not see discussed as often is the tendency to mock male actors who are trying to play too young. Michael Douglas - and his saggy butt - comes to mind. These older actors become the subjects of long-running jokes and gags. Most actors with any sense move on, and either get out of acting altogether or take on the dad or Dad roles. Even the rather dim Mel Gibson stopped playing the young turk. Though maybe his bald patch and developing troll-like physique were more factors than any common sense.

Older actresses accepting the mom roles are admired, and when stretching to play older are lauded, while older actors faking youth are pathetic and fooling only themselves...and some studio execs...the ones with trophy wives.