- The article starts with the most recent case, from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Tom Cruise, who is 53, is paired with queen Rebecca Ferguson, who's 31;
- Maggie Gyllenhaal was told she was too old, at 37, to be paired with a 55-year-old actor (she won't say who);
- [Banned Source] analyzed the careers of 10 middle-aged male stars, in relation to their female co-stars. Some examples: Denzel Washington, at 60, was tending towards woman of 35 as co-stars; Harrison Ford in Six Days Seven Nights, he was 55 and Anne Heche was 29; Johnny Depp always liked the younger kind – Keira Knightly was 21 he was 43 in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Amber Heard was 25 when they did The Rum Diary. He was 48.
- Tom Cruise and George Clooney started with older women (Rebecca De Mornay, Kelly McGillis for Tom & Holly Hunter and Michelle Pfeiffer for George), then went younger;
- BUT... don't blame men! #NotAllMen tbh.
Even if they wanted to cast older women, many producers and directors would oppose it. Few female stars over 40 have the market power of their male counterparts. There are many reasons for that – but one is that a large part of the audience wants to look at young and pretty women, preferably new ones.- That reality is changing though... Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Judi Dench and Helen Mirren, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett bring audiences with them; Charlize Theron, who's just turned 40
(like that's old), is the new heartthrob of truckers everywhere;
- Kristen Stewart pulled out of Focus when Will Smith (at 44) replaced Ben Affleck (then 40). The age gap was too much for her.
Interesting full article at the
SOURCE