Anne Hathaway Tackles Ageism In Hollywood, Lost Roles To ’24-Year-Olds’
Some people were shocked when it was announced that Anne Hathaway would be returning to the small screen. Especially after her Oscar win for Les Miserables, and being featured in many blockbuster projects after that.
Now, it looks like we have a bit of a hint as to why Hathaway has decided to make the switch from film into television. In an interview with Glamour UK, Hathaway alluded that it’s difficult to be in your thirties in Hollywood.
“I can’t complain about it because I benefitted from it. When I was in my early twenties, parts would be written for women in their fifties and I would get them. And now I’m in my early thirties and I’m like, ‘Why did that 24-year-old get that part?'”
She continued, “I was that 24-year-old once, I can’t be upset about it, it’s the way things are. All I can do right now is think that thankfully you have built up perhaps a little bit of cachet and can tell stories that interest you and if people go to see them you’ll be allowed to make more.”
Hathaway is definitely not the first actress to speak about ageism and sexism that exists in Hollywood for females. Maggie Gyllenhaal told The Wrap about missing out on roles because she’s too old.
“There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time. 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.”
For the record, Gyllenhaal turned to television in The Honourable Woman and has since been nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the series. Although there are still problems in Hollywood, Gyllenhaal remained hopeful.
“A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now, playing real women, complicated women. I don’t feel despairing at all. And I’m more looking with hope for something fascinating.”
As for Anne Hathaway, as the Inquisitr reported, she will be starring in a limited series called The Ambassador’s Wife. The series is based on a novel by Jennifer Steil about a British woman who gets kidnapped while in Yemen, which sets off a whole ordeal for the woman and her husband, who just happens to be an ambassador.
Of the project, Mark Gordon said, “The Ambassador’s Wife’ is an incredible story that pulls you in immediately and resonates with all of us based on the images and news headlines that are pervasive in our lives today. We are so fortunate to have Anne starring in this timely, gripping and compassionate drama. She is in a league all her own, and we cannot think of anyone who can better portray Steil’s complex heroine.”
[Photo by Stuart C. Wilson / Getty Images]
