Welcome to Hollywood, a fantasy world where actresses are told they're "not f**kable" enough to carry leading roles and "too old" to play the love interest of someone who is actually their age.
In a recent interview with Glamour UK, Elizabeth Banks dished on her own experience with a sexist, ageist casting experience for 2002's "Spider-Man."
"I screen-tested for the role of Mary-Jane Watson in the first 'Spider-Man' movie, opposite Tobey Maguire," the actress said. "Tobey and I are basically the same age and I was told I was too old to play her. I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s what I’ve signed up for.'"
Banks was 28 at the time the movie hit theaters and Maguire, who is 16 months younger, was around 26. The role went to Kirsten Dunst, who was 20 when the movie came out (probably around 18 during casting). Though Banks didn't get the part she initially tried out for, she ended up nabbing a role as secretary Betty Brant in the franchise.
"Vinyl" actress Olivia Wilde recently told shock jock Howard Stern that she was considered "too old" for the role of Leonardo DiCaprio's love interest in 2013's "The Wolf of Wall Street." She was 28 at the time of filming (we're sensing a theme here). Apparently, Wilde was just "too sophisticated" for the part.
"I thought ‘Oh, that sounds nice. I like that feedback. I didn’t get the part but I’m a very sophisticated person,'" Wilde told Stern. "And then I found out later that they actually said old."
Then-22-year-old Margot Robbie got the coveted role, playing opposite a 38-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio. Because age, of course, is only a number when it comes to men in Hollywood.
*Goes to find a quiet place to scream.*
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