Jennifer Ehle+Colin Firth - how the film industry has treated them...

[Tensmumym]

Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth were famously in Pride and Prejudice as partners. I've just discovered that the 45 year old Jennifer played the mother of the 25 year old Dakota Johnson in the film Fifty Shades of Grey. here Meanwhile, the 54 year old Colin played as the love interest opposite the 26 year old Emma Stone. here

Colin Firth b1960 was happy to play opposite Julianne More b1960 and Nicholas Hoult b 1989 in single Man.

Interesting article here on age gaps in films.

#still fucking at 50? As per that video

#notmyhusbandsmum ?

#mindtheagegap ?

WRT that article it would be interesting to know about the character ages too.

Eg Dustin obviously not playing 30. Casting women as older characters so they still look good despite being OMG 40 in the script. Is Colin Firth playing his age and the actress playing her age?

OMG Dustin H was 30 when he played the graduate?

My world has collapsed.

Dustin Hoffman aged actually 18 if you'd like to compare.

God, was Bancroft only 36 when The Graduate was filmed? Her character must have been around 10 years older, and she was certainly made up to look older. Not quite the casting faux pas of Michelle Pfeiffer taking on a role made famous by Kathy Bates but still.

I remember when the remake of the Thomas Crown Affair was released, there was quite a lot of (positive) fuss made about the fact Renee Russo was the same age as Pierce Brosnan, it would have been completely ridiculous if her character had been played by a 20 year old. In the original, McQueen is 11 years older than Dunaway.

He was playing a 21 year old.

He looked every bit of 30 in it. I found the film really weird when I first saw it, as a teen probably. What they looked like didn't make sense.

Most women on american tv and some of ours from the age of about 16 to 45 look about 36.

I am going to have to watch the Graduate again.

I remember him looking a bit younger than her, but I think he conveyed youth more by mannerisms and gaucheness.

Remember Olivia Newton John and Rizzo and Kenickie? I swear they were all 30 odd

I wonder if they cast him rather than, oh, I don't know, a 21 year old because they thought a 21 year old would find it too icky to kiss a 36 year old.

*21 year old man kissing a 36 year old woman, obviously the other way round would not be at all icky.

#mindthegap

I thinks it's really creepy when they cast men with much younger women, most of my friends married people of a similar age as I assume most people do.
Has anyone turned down a role because of an age difference?

As an aside I went to college with Anna Friels brother

Stockard Channing was 33 when she was in Grease. Although to be honest she is so awesome I would watch her playing a teenager now (she is 71). Newton-John was nearly 30 and Travolta in his mid-twenties.

I thought the weird age thing in The Graduate was well known?

Grease is questionable for other reasons but at least everyone was consistent in being the wrong age.

#mindthegap is good

Agree with so many of these posts. Also that The Thomas Crown Affair is great watching as an antidote to this crap. Rene Russo is amazing in it and really makes you wonder why the hell any film maker feels the need to only cast 20-something women as 50- and 60-something men's love interests.

I love #mindthegap! Great to see so many more posts on this thread.

Jim Carey and Zooey Deschanel in 'Yes Man' was one where the age difference was really striking. I was hoping they wouldn't get together at the end!

Sandra Bullock has been in a few films where it's gone the other way. She is 13 years older than Ryan Reynolds, 11 years older than Bradley Cooper, 6 years older than Ben Chaplin and Matthew McConaughey. In most of her other films she's around the same age as her male co-star, she's a few years older than Tim McGraw and Harry Connick Jr. A few years younger than George Clooney and Hugh Grant. The only ones I can think who were quite a bit older are Tom Hanks (8 years older) and Bill Pullman (10 years older). The Bill Pullman film was very early on when she probably didn't have much say in who her co-star was.

Good on Sandra Bullock! Our #mindthegap mascot. I wonder how that came to be.

So what do we do? tweet to male stars and film-makers with the hashtag. Presumably we'd have to um, co-ordinate to get a twitterstorm (?) to get it trending anyway.

In most films they don't mention the age of the characters unless it's a plot point ( The Graduate, Something's Gotta Give) - so I don't think that's the "excuse"

With no indication of ages or make up to age them, then the assumption can only be that they are the ages they are in real life.

Although ages aren't mentioned there are clues. Someone mentioned someone 2 years older than Robert Carlyle playing his mum, so whether he's playing a character younger than him or her playing a character older than her we can presume a script age gap of minimum 16 years, more likely 25, rather than 2.

So what are they saying? What is their reasoning? Are they using make up to age them? If so is their reasoning that no one wants to see those ageing boring actresses, they are not a pull on cinema goers so better to get a young actress whose in the gossip mags in. Or that we can't be expected to look at woman who shows her age so get in a younger actress and subtly age her in a way that she's still attractive and slim and pert but just with a few flatteringly placed laughter lines so our eyes are not assaulted by genuine age?

I can just about get that there is an assumption that women cinema goers still find older actors attractive as love interests, but men won't find women of the same age attractive as love interests so they just think 'ooh, the ladies love George Clooney, let's get him in' then 'ooh, Jennifer Lawrence was voted hottest babe last year by Nuts magazine, let's see if she's interested' but I don't really get the mum thing.

actresses the same age, 54, as George Clooney:

Heather Locklear
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - in the video posted above!
Meg Ryan
Nia Peeples
Serena Scott Thomas
Mariel Hemmingway - she gets a mention upthread too.

Most of these actresses look younger than 54 in the pics I've just seen. Most of them look younger than 44.

George does also look good though.

I'm sure EverydaySexism would be interested in #mindthegap as would other actresses who have spoken out on this and related matters - Jennifer Ehle, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rose McGowan

Buchanan [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/05/26/leading_men_age_but_their_love_interest_don_t.html]] who wrote this piece. Lauren Laverne, The Pool

Sure, George looks good. Everyone in Hollywood looks good.

But one of the reasons (apart from good bones) is because Hollywood pairs 50 something men with 20 something women, it gives the men an additional shine of attractiveness.

I like #mindthegap v good!

I also don't fancy george, never seen the appeal. I've never gone for older men, or silver fox types, or anything like that. I like my men young and strong and buff and good-looking, given a choice in terms of screen eye-candy. But I'm not given that so often am I, because women are supposed to not mind about looks so much or something, while men are rarely presented with a female in a film over about 30 as "eye candy" as god they can hardly be expected to fancy someone that old now can they.

The double standards are appalling.