Hollywood & The Sin of Ageing

I recently watched Woody Allen's film Magic in the Moonlight. It was good except for one thing I found rather disturbing. I'll let hilarious and talented actress Anna Kendrick's recent tweet explain my slight nausea.

"Excited about all these up-and-coming leading men. (And their future on-screen wives, who could be born any day now!) #Miracles".

Thanks Anna. Magic in Moonlight is a romantic comedy starring Colin Firth (55) and Emma Stone (27). Before jumping the gun and blaming writer/director Woody Allen and all that his name and history implies, the issue is a lot more complicated than the allegations that have followed him for the later part of his career. Truth is as such: If you're a woman, aging in Hollywood isn't an option. Once you hit forty, life simply throws you away.

I am sick of seeing couples on screen where older men are coupled with bizarrely younger female leads. Edge of Tomorrow (Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt), Dark Shadows (Johnny Depp and Bella Heathcote), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Steve Carell and Keira Knightley) the list goes on. It's ridiculous.
Given this status quo, actresses in Hollywood have the options of either disappearing or somehow, find a way to reverse the laws of nature and remain youthful. Enter the miracle curse of plastic surgery.
We have no idea if Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Reece Witherspoon have ever gone under the knife but seriously, what are they drinking? We'd have to say though that the most successful age defying actress of our time has to be Demi Moore. At 53 Demi looks amazing, like jaw dropping, eye popping, wow, amazing. However, she's allegedly sick of spending time and money to maintain a youthful appearance to please fans, Hollywood, herself or whoever else is watching. She's even let her greys grow out. Sacrilegious Hollywood behaviour apparently.

Then you have the unfortunate incidents where some of our favourite leading ladies, in this insane quest to maintain relevance, have botched up their faces. Meg Ryan, Renée Zellweger, Courtney Cox, Melanie Griffiths, Daryl Hannah, Nichole Kidman (sometimes) - why?

There are a few actresses though that, despite the insane pressure of Hollywood, look their age and are still breaking the box office. Julia Roberts looks amazing and is great along George Clooney in their latest film Money Monster, Julianne Moore continues to act in a range of versatile roles that can only be played by woman of her age and experience, and of course the queen of the screen Meryl Streep who, at 67, is paving the way for a younger generation of actresses to be playing their age and still be box office successes.

Despite these few examples, Hollywood still has a problem. There needs to be more Anna Kendricks speaking out, there needs to be more actresses refusing to going under the knife (let's leave that for the reality stars please) and there definitely needs to be more actresses on screen playing their age. Also, shocking as it may sound, we need more leading men to speak up. I can't think of one actor who has publically condemned this disturbing phenomena. It's shameful.

There is also a responsibility on us, the audience, to say something. If Hollywood has decided that it's the norm for male actors to age on screen while actresses are expected to vanish along with their wrinkles and grey hairs, then we as lovers of films and stories need to point out this unnatural pattern that has to go away. No matter how good of a movie Magic in the Moonlight was, sorry Woody, but watching Colin and Emma as a couple was plain weird and wrong. And worse of all, it showed in the utter lack of chemistry between the two which is ultimately why Magic in the Moonlight wasn't as good as it was supposed to be.