Today is my 43rd birthday. Hollywood wants to make you believe that 40 is old, passe. But I want to just say out loud that is bullshit.
And now maybe Hollywood is thinking that us 40 somethings are still worthy, at least of magazine covers. It seems that the September issues (you know the really thick ones that kick off the fall) of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle all feature 40 something movie stars on the covers. Vogue‘s got Halle Berry (when is she going to be in another film?), Bazaar‘s got Jennifer Aniston (who is about to release another clunker called The Switch), and Elle‘s got Julia Roberts who opens this weekend with Eat Pray Love.
I am not surprised that people are starting to wake up and are paying more attention to actresses over 40. As the Hollywood Reporter piece says, there are very few 20 somethings (or even 30 somethings) that are really lighting up the box office now except for Kristen Stewart and I would add Amanda Seyfried.
But their older peers are still going strong, and actually I think that the most visible woman in Hollywood today is 65 year old Helen Mirren who will be seen in four movies this year. Count em – Love Ranch, Red, The Debt, and The Tempest. Pretty cool.
And if you think that it’s just about movies, you are wrong. TV audiences are getting older too. The median audiences for the broadcast networks are: ABC- 51; CBS-55; NBC-49; Fox-44.
The oldest skewed show on all of TV is The Good Wife. It’s also one of the most successful shows and has one of the strongest female characters on TV.
Just a reminder that we all just get better with age.
Over-40 actresses dominate Sept. magazines (Hollywood Reporter)
Broadcast audience older than ever (Hollywood Reporter)
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Kristen Stewart isn’t a box office draw. She’s only “successful” because of the Twilight franchise. Without Twilight, she is nothing. Most of her other films aren’t as financially successful.
Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie (I don’t think she’s 40 yet?), Meryl Streep, can draw in large audiences.
Angelina is 35 (she’s 6 months older than me so I remember). But Naomi Watts, who has two movies coming out this fall and is one of my favourite actresses, is 42 and as far as I can see only gets better 9and prettier!) with age.
Also, Helen Mirren just turned 65 and I think she could and should play all roles in everything.
Happy Birthday, Melissa. Yes, we do all get better with age.
Happy Birthday, Melissa!!! Congrats on another orbit around the sun~ may you enjoy many more!
Now that we are accepting actresses and women in general as vibrant human beings after 40, can we also stop photoshopping them to the unrecognizable and robotron like degree as we see here with on the cover of a magazine?
What I enjoyed most about Duplicity was Julia Roberts wrinkles on the big screen. Seriously, that made it worth my 12 bucks.
Happy Birthday Melissa! I saw this article online last night and thought of you. Glad you read it, too. I must confess, I have a love/hate relationship with aging (I’m 38 and just started pulling out gray hairs on a regular basis) but I agree. I’m a better, happier human being than I ever was in my 20s. And I’m only getting better. So I certainly don’t plan on riding off into the sunset at 40. :) May next year be the best one yet for you!
Happy birthday, dear Melissa, happy birthday to you! I hope you’re having a lovely day–
Happy Birthday Melissa! Wishing you a great day.
A Leo? How could we not know? But of course Darrrlink! (say it like Zaza).
Well, gun up for the next week – we need for you to take on the douches that give an A+ to American Beauty and other movies about lost males in the suburban married dream rebelling yet say Eat, Pray, Love shows a too selfish woman (see USA Today).
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