"Noah" star Russell Crowe says his female Hollywood colleagues should act their age both onscreen and off.
In an interview with Australia's Women's Weekly, the "Gladiator" actor, 50, explained that he believes actresses should embrace roles similar to their actual ages. Crowe said that "there are roles for people in all different stages of life," but women have a hard time accepting them.
"To be honest, I think you'll find that the woman who is saying that [the good roles for women have dried up is] the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can't understand why she's not being cast as the 21-year-old," he told the magazine.
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Fortunately for his female co-workers, there are plenty of actresses who can completely prove the stigma untrue. Naming a few of Hollywood's elite actresses, Crowe said that there is plenty of work for women who are getting older as long as they are willing to play roles created for their age.
"Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that's bulls--t, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be," he said. "If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor. If you are trying to pretend that you're still the young buck when you're my age, it just doesn't work."
No one—actress or not—wants to age, Crowe argued.
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"I have heard of an actress, part of her fee negotiation was getting the number of children she was supposed to have lessened. Can you believe this? This [character] was a woman with four children, and there were reasons why she had to have four children—mainly, she lived in a cold climate and there was nothing to do but fornicate all day—so quit arguing, just play the role!"
Crowe added that regardless of gender, age comes to us all. "The point is, you do have to be prepared to accept that there are stages in life. So I can't be the 'Gladiator' forever."
