Yahoo Lifestyle Hollywood’s age gap problem is spiralling out of control
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To say that sexism is an issue in Hollywood is hardly new, but a series of graphs put together by Vulture reveal just how depressingly glaring the age gap is between the actors and actresses cast as romantic duos.
To wit: Emma Stone, at the age of 25, was paired with 54-year-old Sean Penn in 2013’s Gangster Squad. In 2014’s Magic in the Moonlight, her character falls for 53-year-old Colin Firth who was a whopping 28 years her senior.
Jennifer Lawrence has twice been cast opposite Bradley Cooper, who as Vulture astutely points out, was old enough to drive when she was born.
Then there’s Scarlett Johansson, who during her 20s was frequently cast as as the love interest of men well into their 30s and 40s like 39-year-old Javier Bardem and 41-year-old Matt Damon. Most recently, her character in Avengers: Age of Ultron is romanced by 47-year-old Mark Ruffalo. Lets not forget Johansson's breakthrough role at 19 in Lost in Translation saw her character have a platonic affair with then 52-year-old Bill Murray.
Stephen Fellowes from IndieWIre recently investigated successful comedies released in the 20 years to 2014 and found that the average age of women onscreen has never (yes, never) been older than that of their male love interests.
A number of big screen hits have featured couples with glaring age gaps. Leonardo Di Caprio was 39 in Wolf of Wall Street, as opposed to 23-year-old Margot Robbie who played his wife. In Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts was 22 while Richard Gere was 40.
All this comes only days after Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that at 37 she was recently deemed “too old” to play the girlfriend 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,” Gyllenhaal said.
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