Helen Mirren has spoken out about the “ridiculous” casting choices in Hollywood that have led to older men with younger female love interests.
The 69-year-old actor, who won an Oscar in 2007 for her role in The Queen, has criticised the film industry for its sexism and ageism against older actresses. At TheWrap’s Power Breakfast, Mirren was asked about recent news that Maggie Gyllenhaal was considered too old to play the love interest of an actor 18 years her senior. “It’s fucking outrageous,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. And ’twas ever thus. We all watched James Bond as he got more and more geriatric, and his girlfriends got younger and younger. It’s so annoying.”
She also spoke about being considered a sex symbol, and how that can be limiting for an actor. “I don’t like the word sexual,” she said. “There are people who are sexual, and [others] who are less sexual. But there’s got to be another word. ‘Sexual’ is so limiting.
She added: “Being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful.”
Mirren’s comments come after a storm of negative reaction to the age-based decision after 37-year-old Gyllenhaal was turned down for a role in an unspecified movie. “It was astonishing to me,” she told TheWrap. “It made me feel bad, and then it made feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”
Mirren has previously spoken out on the sexist nature of the industry. “I’ve been lucky, but if you look at any drama it’s still five-to-one men to women,” she told Radio Times magazine in March. “There are a few women in main roles, and although it’s changing, it’s still difficult for most to earn a living. Many I grew up with are immensely talented yet can’t. It’s much easier for men.”
Mirren was last seen in Woman in Gold opposite Ryan Reynolds and will next star in the action-thriller Eye in the Sky, also featuring Alan Rickman and Aaron Paul, and the biopic Trumbo, with Bryan Cranston.
