Hollywood heavyweight, Russell Crowe, raised a lot of carefully manicured eyebrows earlier this week after an article published in the lAustralian Women’s Weekly had him sprouting ‘ageist’ comments against women in hollywood.
When asked if he would ever consider doing another Gladiator film, the Academy-Award-winner-turned-NRL-club-owner said that he wanted to stick to roles more ‘age appropriate’. When asked about the perceived discrepancies between the sexes in Hollywood he responded:
“The best thing about the industry I’m in – movies – is that there are roles for people in all different stages of life. 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.”
Crowe continued to back up his statement by saying, “Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why [the ageism rumors] are bullshit, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be.”
Meryl Streep, world’s classiest lady, responded to these comments during a recent interview while promoting her new film, Into the Woods, where she was quick to come to Russell’s defence.
“The Russell Crowe thing, I’m so glad you asked about it. I read what he said—all of what he said . . . [his statements] have been misappropriated . . . what he was talking about. He was talking about himself. The journalist asked him, ‘Why don’t you do another Gladiator, you know, everybody loved that.’ He said, ‘I’m too old. I can’t be the gladiator anymore. I’m playing parts that are appropriate to my age. I agree with him. It’s good to live within the place that you are.”
Academy Award nominated actress, Jessica Chastain had a different tone when asked about his comments.
“I think he’s getting his foot stuck in his mouth,” Jessica told reporters on Tuesday at the National Board of Review awards gala in New York City.
“I think there are some incredible actresses in their 50s and 60s that are not getting opportunities in films. And for someone to say there are plenty of roles for women that age – they’re not going to the movies enough.”
Ouch.
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Top Comments
Somehow English actresses seem to fair a little better than American or Australian ones. You can find really popular shows like Downton Abbey, Cranford, Miranda or Call the Midwife with fantastic casts including women over 50 who look their real age. And there are quite a few films that have come out in the last few years with fantastic actresses like Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench etc. But American equivalents of these? They're much harder to find. Even Meryl Streep seems to go to England to work these days for half of her films, and she is a screen legend. So for the just very very good actresses over 50, let alone over 60, or over 70?
On the other hand, actors like Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Robert Downey Jnr and Brad Pitt, all around 50 or more, are amongst the highest paid actors in Hollywood, and make several films a year as the leading star. There's no comparison.
Does anyone really care what he says?