Actress Emma Thompson called attention to the sexism of the Hollywood cast, saying that when a woman is over 50, she becomes “invisible”.
“You’re over 50 and you’re invisible,” Thompson said in a recent interview at CultureBlast podcast. O True love and Late night Star was asked what she thought was offered to play the role of Mother Teresa when she was just 50 years old.
Thompson explained how she will play a character who says something unique, which she finds interesting.
“But, you know, this woman I’m about to play is very interesting, one of the things she said to this young man – he says, ‘You’re perfectly attractive, why can’t you find another guy?’ And she said, ‘Because the only people willing to sleep with me are people my age, and I want to sleep with someone younger than me,’ ”said Thompson.
“Well, I never heard a woman say that on the screen,” continued the actress, adding that if someone like George Clooney said it on the screen, it would be “completely acceptable”.
“It is totally acceptable for George Clooney – who is charming – to have someone 40 years younger than him or 30 years younger than him,” said Thompson. “If I have someone playing against me in a romantic way, they have to exhume someone, because I’m 61 now. It is completely and totally unbalanced. “
During the interview, Thompson also noted that, in the face of an apparent rise in feminism, the heroines of the entertainment industry were given male roles, rather than having the opportunity to represent the unique aspects of women who can also be heroic, such as childbirth.
“So, all the female screenwriters I talk to, I say, ‘Well, what’s the story?’ Because it’s not good enough to just give the weapons to women and then make them tough too, ”said Thompson. “Now women have to be tough – if they’re feminine the way they used to be, and they’re not tough, then they’re not welcome. Furthermore, they are not allowed to cry, apparently, anymore, because we just have to be like men. “
“And I remember thinking, ‘Well, that’s not what we meant’,” continued the actress. “What is female heroin? Who is that? What does she do? Because she doesn’t have the resources to make Superman, to make Godfather, that is not the point. This is not where our heroism resides. So, how can we make it heroic? “
“Why aren’t there films about giving birth to cry out loud?” Thompson added. “Does anyone know about this? No. No. Everything is hidden. All of our heroism is hidden, because what we’ve done is just give women the same roles as men, and that’s not the point. “
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