Kim Cattrall Talks About Hollywood Ageism And Creating Her Own Roles
Kim Cattrall, famous for her role as Samantha on Sex and the City, recently spoke out about ageism in Hollywood. She spoke to Victoria Derbyshire of the BBC about the roles that are available to women after a certain age and the perception Hollywood has of women.
Kim Cattrall said that she is not ready to be typecast as “a very, very older woman” at 60 years old. Cattrall does not want to play “someone who is grotesque” and says that she doesn’t feel that way. She pointed out that 60 years old today is much different from the age of 60 of her mother’s generation. She feels that she is still youthful because of the things that she has done to challenge herself mentally and physically.
Kim Cattrall spoke about the roles that are available in Hollywood. She says that Hollywood basically puts women her age into two categories. They are either “wanting to be young in a very desperate way or someone who has given up.” Cattrall believes that women that are 60 and older should not be forced into only those two categories.
Kim says that she became an executive producers so that she doesn’t have to depend on Hollywood for jobs. Cattrall was the executive producer and the star of the new series Sensitive Skin, which is currently available on HBO. It’s a comedy but it also addresses some serious issues that women deal with in their older years.
Kim Cattrall says that she doesn’t feel pressure to look a certain way because of how people expect her to look. She looks the way she does because it makes her feel good.
Cattrall says that ageism in Hollywood starts as a whisper. She gets called in for a meeting because she knows that they want to see how she looks these days. It’s a “polite way” to check her out.
In an interview with ABC, Kim Cattrall said that “At 35, it seems women reach their ‘expiration date’ in Hollywood.” She thinks that women in Hollywood don’t get roles that reflect their reality because it doesn’t make money or because people don’t want to think of older women a certain way.
Kim Cattrall is not alone in pointing out that there is definitely some ageism going on in Hollywood. Recently, Orange Is The New Black star Jamie Denbo spoke about her experience with ageism in Hollywood when she was turned down for the role of the wife of a 57-year-old man. She’s only 43 years old, so she was not impressed that this specific actor had requested that the person who played his wife should be 38 years old or younger. Denbo went on a Twitter rant to vent her frustration on the situation.
Other stars that have spoken out about ageism in Hollywood include Kathy Griffin, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Jessica Lange, and Julianne Moore. Maggie Gyllenhaal had a similar experience to Jamie Denbo’s just last year when she was told she was too old to play wife to a man that was 18 years her senior.
Kim Cattrall isn’t sitting back and waiting for the roles to come in though. As mentioned, she’s creating roles for herself and for other women by taking on the position of executive producer. That gives her more leverage and more control over the movies and shows that she works on.
Kim has also been talking with Sarah Jessica Parker who has mentioned to the media that there is a possibility that there will be a third Sex and the City movie. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
What do you think about all this? Are women like Kim Cattrall right? Do women of a certain age have to take matters into their own hands in order to get the kind of roles that they want in Hollywood? Is it right that a woman like Kim Cattrall is only offered roles that are either a stereotype or a caricature? Tell us what you think in the comments section.
[Featured Image by Jason Bahr/Getty Images]
