Unrealistic age of female actors

What evidence is there that having unrealistic age gaps between actors is a 'winning formula'? Do cinema goers really think "I will only go to that film provided the man is at least 15 years older than the woman"?

The oft quoted formula is that boys go to movies, and and girls go to movies their boyfriends like. Hollywood has believed that since the silents.

I love TLK Chewy. Destiny is all...

What evidence is there that having unrealistic age gaps between actors is a 'winning formula'? Do cinema goers really think "I will only go to that film provided the man is at least 15 years older than the woman"?

Are we really contesting the fact that men's attention is more likely to be held by a bombastic 25-30yo than a 55yo?

It’s a good series - apart from some ott accents and yes, ‘boarding school’ sirens. Everytime Uhtred hatches a new plan I think of Vicky the Viking 😂

Chewy, a 14 year old who has bunked off from her private boarding school to go to said music festival.

I can’t watch these films they creep me out

I've not yet made it to episode 2 and I did enjoy the last series.

I thought music festival too!

OP a timely thread we’re binge watching the Last Kingdom and I’m struggling with Skade - a powerful female siren who grown men can’t resistant yet she looks like a 14 year old at a music festival, atrocious casting.

It's damaging because it normalises power imbalances in the relationships between men and women. And perpetuates the message that women’s only capitol is their youth.

I think this might have contributed to Walters’ being perceived as older than she is.

Well, exactly. That's the point we've been making.

When young actresses are routinely cast in roles clearly written for older women - see Jennifer Lawrence - and when on-screen couples feature a large age gap which we aren't supposed to notice, then we start to perceive women as being older than same-age or even older men. That's why it's so damaging.

Funny you should mention the age gap in "Wolf of Wall Street."

In real life, Robbie and Di Caprio's characters were about the same age.

Isnt it a simple fact that in the Hollywood bubble. They don't see it as huge age gaps. In the real world the 22 year age gap between Margot Robbie and Will Smith in Focus or 16 year age gap between Di Caprio in Wolf of Wall Street is unusual. In that world it's more than normal.

Julie Walters often played older than she was, eg GBH (where the character could have easily been played by an actress of the right age) and in Victoria Woods’ ‘Acorn Antiques’ sketches. I think this might have contributed to Walters’ being perceived as older than she is.

I remember the Independent commending the Bridges of Madison County for 'daring' to cast 46 year old Meryl Streep in the lead, but also saying that they should have cast a mid forties male lead, not 65 year old Clint Eastwood. So right. Clint ruined that film. I think I was early 20s and it was the first time it was brought to the front of my mind.

In a similar vein, I remember watching 'National Treasure' recently and thinking, isn't Robbie Coltrane a lot younger than Julie Walters (they were husband and wife) when in fact, they are exactly the same age. Just shows how, even when you're aware of the problem, the ubiquity of significant age gaps sways your thinking.

Foy and Matt Smith’s ages are comparable but if, say, Smith had been forty he’d have been the right age for the character by the end of the series while Foy would have been about the right age at the start. An age gap wouldn’t have been such an issue.*

Well, maybe, but the point people are making is that the age gap almost involves the man being older than the woman. Even in your hypothetical example, the man is older, as is the case in the real example from "The Crown" which I mentioned - Matthew Goode being 10 years older than Vanessa Kirby, even though the characters they portray were the same age in real life.

I believe that in productions spanning a long period, the preference is to cast younger actors, for the simple reason that it's much easier to age an actor than to make him or her look younger. However, this applies to both men and women, so no practical reason why the man should almost always be older.

No, I’m just drawing a distinction between long-spanning drama and short spanned drama. Foy and Matt Smith’s ages are comparable but if, say, Smith had been forty he’d have been the right age for the character by the end of the series while Foy would have been about the right age at the start. An age gap wouldn’t have been such an issue.

I don't think anyone here has criticised Clare Foy's casting though, have they?

To put it another way, Elizabeth is almost twice as old in Foys last episode as she was in her first.

Each season of The Crown spans a decade so Clare Foy played Elizabeth over a twenty year period.

I think there’s a big difference between this kind of long-spanned drama and, say, an action film that covers a few days at most.

So you had to go all the way back to the 1970s to find a film where the woman is unrealistically older - though only by a few years? Films where the reverse happens - and often with a much bigger age gap - come out all the time. I could name you several from the last few years without even thinking about it much.

And Sandra Bullock (50 odd, I think) playing a new Mum in Bird Box

And Grease with Olivia Newton John (now 70) and John Travolta (now 64). Six year age gap

...sorry. Townsend. Ignore me.

"Princess Margaret and Armstrong Jones were the same age."

You what?

Him born 1914, her born 1930.