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Tag: maggie gyllenhaal

  • Emma Thompson Serves Up Four-Letter Words Over Hollywood Sexism

    Emma Thompson is not impressed with how Hollywood handles women, especially women of a certain age. And that age is not nearly as high as you might think. Add to that the expectations and “beauty standards” that actresses are expected to meet, and Emma Thompson is actually a little pissed off.

    “I think it’s still completely shit actually,” Thompson candidly informed Radio Times. “I don’t think there’s any appreciable improvement and I think that for women, the question of how they are supposed to look is worse than it was even when I was young. So, no, I am not impressed at all.”

    A classic example of how what Emma Thompson is so fired up about works in Hollywood was brought to light this year by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

    “I’m 37,” Gyllenhaal said, “and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”

    The practice of getting younger actresses to play older roles runs contrary to what had long been the classic wisdom in film and theatre. Used to be, you got an actor to play down in age. The logic was that this person had already been through that part of life and could represent it accurately and with honesty.

    But now Hollywood swings the other way, putting looks above experience and skill. Story lines pairing younger actresses with older leading men are quite common.

    Emma Stone recently addressed this. Stone herself has been the beneficiary of such castings. But she won’t be young forever.

    “It’s rampant in Hollywood and it’s definitely been that way for a long time, both culturally and in movies,” Stone says. “But in Irrational Man, the film is contingent upon the age difference; the movie is about that disparity. And when I did Magic in the Moonlight, Colin Firth and I talked about the gap which was huge, absolutely, because he was born the same year as my dad,” Stone says.

    As for Thompson, her latest film, The Legend of Barney Thompson, casts her as older. Thompson is only 56, but was cast as a 77-year-old woman.

    “It would be really nice to get someone who is actually 77 to play her,” Thompson said, “but it’s a wildly comic role and I couldn’t resist.”

    The occasional role cast younger is one thing, but Hollywood seems to have a deep-seated issue with older actresses now.

    “When I was younger,” Emma Thompson says, “I really did think we were on our way to a better world and when I look at it now, it is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women and I find that very disturbing and sad.”

    “So I get behind as many young female performers as I can and actually a lot of the conversations I have with them are about exactly the fact that we are facing and writing about the same things and nothing has changed, and that some forms of sexism and unpleasantness to women have become more entrenched and indeed more prevalent.”

  • Emma Stone Plays Much Younger Love Interest in Woody Allen Film. Again.

    Woody Allen is so smitten with Emma Stone, he can’t say enough.

    “Her allure is everything: She’s beautiful, she’s bright, she’s gifted, she’s sexy, she’s intelligent, she can do comedy, she can do serious things, she sings, she dances, she’s a pleasure to work with,”

    Woody Allen cast Emma Stone in his film Irrational Man. Stone plays an undergrad who falls for an older college professor.

    “I think she’s going to be the biggest female star in America over the next couple years,” Allen enthused about his leading lady. “She’s phenomenal. It’s just a pleasure to, you know, you come in in the morning at 7:30 on the set, and there’s Emma Stone: Your heart gets a little boost of adrenaline.”

    So does that mean Woody Allen will keep casting Emma Stone?

    “Well, she’s not in my next film,” he says. “But if I had anything that was right for her – and she was not doing another film at the time, she was available – I’d certainly hope that she would do it.”

    And what about Emma Stone? Maybe that depends on if she would be again cast as a younger woman involved with an older man. Irrational Man was the fourth film in which Stone played a woman in a relationship with an older man.

    Stone was opposite Bradley Cooper in Aloha, Ed Norton in Birdman, Colin Firth in Magic in the Moonlight, and now opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Irrational Man.

    Remember that Maggie Gyllenhaal recently claimed she was passed over for a role opposite an older man. The reason was shocking.

    “I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”

    How does Emma Stone feel about this tendency in Hollywood?

    “It’s rampant in Hollywood and it’s definitely been that way for a long time, both culturally and in movies. But in Irrational Man, the film is contingent upon the age difference; the movie is about that disparity. And when I did Magic in the Moonlight Colin Firth and I talked about the gap which was huge, absolutely, because he was born the same year as my dad,” Stone says.

    “There’s a lot of conversation about how we want to see people represented on screen and what we need to change as a business to reflect culture in a clearer way and not in an idealized way. There are some flaws in the system,” Stone says.

  • Amy Schumer Gets Death Threats

    Amy Schumer doesn’t think of herself as a feminist icon. And perhaps that is what makes her the ideal feminist icon. Amy Schumer isn’t trying to be anything but herself, and she demands that she not be required to throw in a super-skinny body to boot in order to be taken as seriously as the next guy.

    Amy Schumer told Glamour recently, in an interview conducted by her own sister, that being a feminist is not a vocation for her.

    “I don’t try to be feminist. I just am,” Schumer said. “It’s innately inside me. I have no interest in trying to be the perfect feminist, but I do believe feminists are in good hands with me.”

    While there are many actresses shining a light on what it is like to be a female in Hollywood, Schumer is getting notice because she has flipped the bird at establishment norms from the very beginning. It is shocking to hear Maggie Gyllenhaal say, “I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55.”

    Schumer takes those kinds of ridiculous events and throws them on screen large, enlisting powerhouse actresses like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patricia Arquette, and Tina Fey to make her point.

    “For women, we’re taught to eat less until we disappear,” Amy Schumer says. “And trained to believe that if you don’t look like everyone else, then you’re unlovable. And men are not trained that way. Men can look like whatever and still date a supermodel.”

    “Every woman deals with it most every day of their lives,” Schumer says of sexism. “Growing up, it’s just in your day-to-day. There are all these preconceived notions of what it means to be a woman or a girl, and straying from those ideas of femininity is sort of shocking to people. I felt angered by that as a kid. I felt like that was unjust. Like that was not right.”

    Sure, there are some who want Amy Schumer to sit down and hush, but that kind of thing only spurs her on.

    “I have gotten death threats—that was scary,” Schumer admits. “But it just made me want to use my voice more.”

  • Jane Fonda Surprised She’s Still Getting Roles

    Jane Fonda is no newcomer to the argument about how women are treated in the film industry. Fonda has been fighting that fight all her career. For a woman who made tremendous amounts of money in a fitness endeavor, Fonda is adamant that looks not be the determiner of a woman’s worth.

    “The perception of men as they get older is vastly different from women,” Jane Fonda recently told the Daily Mirror. “Men are seen as becoming elegant and more desirable, whereas women are seen as having lost their beauty and attractiveness. It’s as if we become devalued because only our beauty defines us.”

    Fonda is joined in this chorus nowadays by a raft of other actresses who are angry that they are being told they are too old to be paired alongside even far older actors.

    “There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,” Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed in a recent interview. “I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”

    Jane Fonda concurs with that finding.

    “I’m surprised I’m still getting opportunities because, for women, once you reach 40 or 50 it’s very difficult to find work,” Fonda says.

    Many other actresses have come forward, joined by men who see the same discrimination, to point out that the media often reports on what a man is doing, but on what a woman is wearing.

  • Maggie Gyllenhaal Talks Sex, Nudity at ‘Hollywood Reporter’ Roundtable

    Maggie Gyllenhaal dished about both sex and nudity with regard to the film world at a recent Hollywood Reporter roundtable. The conversation also included Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Jessica Lange, Ruth Wilson, and Lizzy Caplan.

    As sex and nudity so often do, the points Maggie Gyllenhaal made on the subjects added definite intrigue to the roundtable discussion.

    The Honourable Woman star spoke of how she was told on more than once occasion that she didn’t quite live up to Hollywood’s standards for beauty or sexuality.

    “When I was really young, I auditioned for this really bad movie with vampires,” Maggie Gyllenhaal shared. “I wore a dress to the audition that I thought was really hot. Then I was told I wasn’t hot enough. My manager at the time said, ‘Would you go back and sex it up a little bit?’ So I put on leather pants, a pink leopard skinny camisole and did the audition again and still didn’t get the part. (Laughter.) After that, I was like, ‘OK, f— this!’”

    Sex scenes in films hold a great deal of intrigue for the actress.

    “I think sex in film is so interesting,” Maggie Gyllenhall says. “It’s uncomfortable to take your clothes off in front of people you don’t know, but it can be an opportunity for really interesting acting. I’m 37, and I’ve had two babies, and I’m really interested in nudity now.”

    Fake doesn’t translate into sexy for Maggie Gyllenhaal. In a world–especially in her Hollywood world–where so many people have undergone cosmetic procedures to capture their eternal youth, there’s something very refreshing about her attitude.

    “Isn’t it so much hotter to see a woman on TV who looks like an actual woman, someone whose arms aren’t perfect?” she asks. “I am much more turned on when I see people’s bodies that look like bodies I recognize.”

    Maggie Gyllenhaal has grown into an actress that many now revere as not just amazingly talented, but incredibly sexy as well.

    Do you suppose her competition from that long-ago vampire movie is still in the acting business? And if so, is she as naturally beautiful as Maggie Gyllenhaal?

  • Maggie Gyllenhaal Wants Film Sex: ‘I’m Really Interested In Nudity Now’

    Maggie Gyllenhaal has arrived. If her own body of work and fantastic reputation weren’t enough to indicate that, then her inclusion in a roundtable conversation with a pantheon of fantastic actresses should.

    Maggie Gyllenhaal sat down with Jessica Lange, Lizzy Caplan, Viola Davis, Ruth Wilson, and Taraji P. Henson for a Hollywood Reporter roundtable that covered all the hot touch points about actresses in the business today. Race, sexism, and aging were dissected and chewed over among these A-list talents.

    Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that she used to be told that she was not “sexy enough” or “pretty enough” for parts she auditioned for. Gyllenhaal told one story that illustrated her point.

    “When I was really young, I auditioned for this really bad movie with vampires,” Gyllenhaal recounted. “I wore a dress to the audition that I thought was really hot. Then I was told I wasn’t hot enough. My manager at the time said, ‘Would you go back and sex it up a little bit?’ So I put on leather pants, a pink leopard skinny camisole and did the audition again and still didn’t get the part. (Laughter.) After that, I was like, ‘OK, f— this!’”

    That doesn’t mean that Gyllenhaal is not interested in doing sex scenes on film.

    “I think sex in film is so interesting,” Gyllenhall says now. “It’s uncomfortable to take your clothes off in front of people you don’t know, but it can be an opportunity for really interesting acting. I’m 37, and I’ve had two babies, and I’m really interested in nudity now.”

    The interesting thing is that, by rejecting the demands of others regarding how “sexy” she was supposed to look, Maggie Gyllenhaal has achieved sex symbol status. This allows Gyllenhaal to begin to explore that part of film without the sordid difficulties it may hold for actresses who were aiming to “be sexy” in a role.

    “I was interested in it [when I was younger], too. But I was never the actress asked to be the hot girl who took her clothes off on her first day of work. I was never objectified that way.”

    But Maggie Gyllenhaal is not interested in fake, plastic representations of femininity and looks.

    “Isn’t it so much hotter to see a woman on TV who looks like an actual woman, someone whose arms aren’t perfect?” Gyllenhaal asks. “I am much more turned on when I see people’s bodies that look like bodies I recognize.”

  • Maggie Gyllenhaal Discusses Hardships In Getting Movie Roles

    In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Maggie Gyllenhaal talked about her rejections for casting roles in the past. Gyllenhaal shared all the negative criticisms casting agents had told her.

    During a roundtable, the 37-year-old actress was sarcastically asked if she ever considered quitting acting. The actress recalled that she received plenty of ‘NOs’ during casting calls. Gyllenhall admitted that even today, she still gets that answer despite her success in Hollywood.

    “When I was starting out, I used to hear ‘no’ a lot and still do,” said Gyllenhaal.

    The worst lines that Gyllenhaal has admitted to hearing were ‘you’re not sexy enough’ and ‘you’re not pretty enough’.

    “When I was really young, I auditioned for this really bad movie with vampires. I wore a dress to the audition that I thought was really hot. Then I was told I wasn’t hot enough,” added Gyllenhaal.

    One person on the roundtable panel, Empire’s Taraji P. Henson, seconded the actress’s statement saying that she too had been told the same things before.

    Gyllenhaal said she tried even harder to appear sexy at auditions after being told by her manager to “sex it up a little bit.” The actress then wore leather pants and a pink leopard top during another audition but she still failed to get the role.

    “After that, I was like, OK, f*ck this!,” she exasperated.

    Apart from being rejected due to her looks, Gyllenhaal has also been denied roles due to her age. She revealed that at age 37, she was rejected as being too old to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man.

    The actress justified that she never bought and will never buy into the plastic surgery tradition in Hollywood.

    “I wanted to show what a woman my age really looks like. I am much more turned on when I see people’s bodies that look like bodies I recognize,” said Gyllenhaal.

    Sadly, other actresses at the same roundtable, such as Jessica Lange and Ruth Wilson, related to Gyllenhaal’s experiences.

  • Maggie Gyllenhaal Shows Up With “Creepy” Brother Jake At Golden Globe Awards

    Jake Gyllenhaal brought his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, as his date for the Golden Globe Awards. Both are nominated for awards, Jake for his role in the film Nightcrawler, and Maggie for her role in the mini-series The Honorable Woman. Jake looked dapper in a simple but stylish tailored suit while Maggie stunned the red carpet with her rose-colored, floor-length satin gown.

    In The Honorable Woman, Maggie plays Baroness Nessa Stein, an Anglo-Israeli businesswoman embroiled in a geo-political conflict. Jake on the other hand, is nominated for his role in Nightcrawler as a sociopathic videographer with a can-do attitude who aims to make it in the tabloid business.

    “We didn’t discuss it at all before it happened,” Maggie said about their nominations. “I have to say, I do think it’s pretty cool. It will truly be more fun because he’s there.”

    “I’m happy to be with my sister,” Jake told Today show host Carson Daly. “In a weird way, I spent my childhood watching her. Looking up to her. It’s just wonderful.”

    Maggie also sang Jake’s praises for his creepy turn in Nightcrawler. “I’m tired of people saying how creepy he was in it!” she said with a laugh. “I’ve had about 15 people say to him, ‘You’re so creepy in that movie.’ I loved him in Nightcrawler. He was like a creepy clown… I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s incredible.”

    In an interview with The Daily Mail, Maggie opened up about her personal life and her relationships. She revealed that one of her prized possessions is her wedding vows with husband Peter Sarsgaard. “When we got married in 2009, my husband and I wrote our own individual vows and after the wedding my husband dived into a swimming pool with the vows in his pocket. But I managed to retrieve them, dry them out and frame them. They now hang next to our bed.”

  • Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard Welcome Second Child

    Maggie Gyllenhaal is a mom! Again! It’s still kind of hard for me to picture “Donnie Darko” and “Secretary” co-star as a mother. Not because I think she’d make a bad one, mind you, but because, in my head, she will always be Donnie Darko’s older sister. Honestly, I had no idea that Gyllenhaal and her husband Peter Sarsgaard were expecting another child. Apparently they were, as the 34 year-old actress recently gave birth to Gloria Ray, marking baby number two for the pair. Otherwise, it would just be weird.

    Maybe I’m not the only person left on the entire planet who didn’t know Gyllenhaal was pregnant. The actress claims waited until the second trimester to announce to the world that she was expecting with another child. Now I feel a little better.

    “I find it difficult to pretend you’re not pregnant, which I had to do,” Gyllenhaal told US Weekly. “I didn’t let anyone know until three and a half months this time. I went to film festivals. I’m throwing up in the bathroom and having to keep pretzels in my purse, and having to fit into dresses.”

    Folks who spend a lot of time tweeting about people they don’t know had a lot of well-wishes to send towards Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard, a few of which you can find below. In order to keep everything fair and balanced, a few snarky comments have been tossed into the mix, as well.

    (image)@heatworld_
    heat & heatworld    Aww! Maggie Gyllenhaal has given birth to her second baby girl(image) 13 minutes ago via Google ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@IO_PRGirl
    IO_PRGirl    Congratulations to Maggie Gyllenhaal on the birth of daughter Gloria Ray. We wish you all the best xxx(image) 57 minutes ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@MrWordsWorth
    Mark Campbell    Maggie Gyllenhaal curses her baby to a lifetime of obscurity with a relatively normal name.(image) 1 hour ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@melaniesnicket
    Melanie Powell    Maggie Gyllenhaal had a child. Ugly people shouldn’t pro-create :\(image) 4 minutes ago via A.plus for BlackBerry ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@candiikissed
    Rachel    I had no idea Maggie Gyllenhaal was pregnant! Haha! Congrats to her and Peter! <3(image) 30 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto