It would seem that once again Australian actor Russell Crowe doesn't know what he's talking about. According to the latest gossip news updates, both Fast and Furious 8 newcomer, Helen Mirren, and Hollywood icon, Merle Streep, have refuted his claims that they've always been awash in satisfying movie roles, because they are willing to play women closer to their own age. It seems that both silver screen legends insist that they saw a sharp decline in fulfilling employment opportunities right around the time they turned 40, unlike their male counterparts.
Despite the fact that his own career in Hollywood has been virtually non-existent over the last ten years, Russell Crowe called foul during a recent interview with Australian Women's Weekly when the subject of age and sexism in Hollywood was broached:
"To be honest, I think you'll find that the woman who is saying that (the roles have dried up) is the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can't understand why she's not being cast as the 21 year old.
"Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that's bullsh*t, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be. If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor."
Unfortunately, for Crowe and Meryl Streep alike, if the Into the Woods actress does really have 10,000 examples of "age appropriate" roles that she's been offered since turning 40 at least 80 percent have been to play the exact same part: the witch.
Streep told People magazine that she has most certainly felt the bitter sting of being marginalized in Hollywood thanks to nothing more than her age:
"I would say our culture is pretty youth-obsessed.
"When I was 40, I was offered three witch [roles]. I was not offered any female adventurers or love interests or heroes or demons.
"I was offered witches because I was 'old' at 40."
Helen Mirren even went a step further during a recent breakfast hosted by The Wrap, when it was mentioned that 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal had was supposedly deemed too old to play the love interest of the 50-year-old lead -- calling out the film industry as having long been systematically sexist (via IndieWire):
"It's ridiculous, honestly. It's so annoying.
"We all watched James Bond as he got more and more geriatric, and his girlfriends got younger and younger."
Perhaps, Russell Crowe should think twice next time before he starts trying to force his opinions into the mouths of his betters or else develop some more palatable opinions.
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