Remember how Russell Crowe recently said in an interview that actresses should stop trying to be young and stop complaining about ageism in Hollywood because hey, Meryl Streep can still get work? Well, Meryl Streep was actually asked about Russell’s comments during a press conference for Into the Woods and her thoughts are very typically Meryl-ish:
If you’re at work and can’t watch the video, here’s a synopsis of what she said, via Vanity Fair:
As for his comments denying that actresses have a hard time being cast as they get older Streep suggested that Crowe was simply “proving a point” and that he was generally “talking about himself as most actors do.” After literally waving off his remarks, she continued, “I agree with him. It’s good to live within the place that you are.” Acknowledging the fact that she plays a witch in Into the Woods—after speaking out in the past about how she bristled at being offered similar parts once she hit the four-decade milestone—she defended her choice to take on the character. “This witch [starts out as] a very, very young woman,” she said referring to how she plays the witch at both the “young and beautiful” and “old and ugly” phases of her life. “It was easier to do that. . . to make the transformation,” she added.
Now y’all know Meryl is my ultimate queen for life so I will never say a bad word against her, but I sorta wish she talked about the bigger points here – like the fact that women wouldn’t need to be scared of getting older in Hollywood if youth wasn’t so highly valued, yada yada. However, it was a press conference for this movie, not the Meryl Streep Show or a conference on her opinions on life, so I can totally see why she answered the way she did.
I still think Russell Crowe is a dickhead, though.
You know, Russell Crowe is a bit of douche but … that doesn’t necessarily make him wrong. Is there an atmosphere that values youth, beauty and sexuality? Absolutely. Why? Because, as a consumer, like most people, I only have so much time to indulge myself with entertainment and I’d rather feel good by watching youngish people manage exciting situations: love, war, comedy, sex, etc. Noone wants to live viscerally through an aging 60 year old actress. I’m 99% more likely to watch a movie that gives me the instant feel good gratification than I am to watch the same move featuring either older actors and actresses. That’s the reality for most people. Does that suck for older actors and actresses? Sure. Does that mean they’re not talented and that they can’t make good movies? No but there is an economic factor. More movies will be made that cater to the average movie goer and the average movie goer is looking for that instant gratification. I, in my life, don’t owe it to an older actress to watch their movie because it’s considered fair that a movie is made starring an older actress. I consider myself a fan of film and I do watch more serious films that feature a wider array of actors and actresses but that’s not typical. I don’t blame producers or the big studios, they’re businesses that cater to the consumers. They have to make money and youth sells. The problem isn’t the industry, it’s their customers. But do I owe it to an actress to spend my time watching their movie rather than a younger stars…assuming they have equal talent? No. That’s the reality. We can indulge the feel good everyone’s a winner mentality and pat ourselves on the backs for being super people but the reality is that we’re a superficial society that’s more interested in ourselves than being fair and these actors and actresses that benefited in their youth from that same superficial environment have no right to complain about the lack of roles in their maturity.