WASHINGTON — They say that women actors are having an easier time in Hollywood as they age out of the ingénue phase, but Maggie Gyllenhaal would say there’s still room for improvement.
The Oscar nominee tells The Wrap that she was recently up for a part where she was to play the lover of a 55-year-old man. She was ultimately turned down, she says, because she’s too old.
She’s 37.
She tells The Wrap that it was one of the “things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,” but that she’s adjusting.
“It made me feel bad, and then it made feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”
The Wrap adds that the ACLU is asking state and federal agencies to investigate studios, networks and talent agencies for possible charges of workplace discrimination. A recent study finds that 12 percent of the protagonists in the 100 biggest-grossing films of 2014 are women, and that the numbers are getting worse, not better.
Still, Gyllenhaal tells The Wrap she’s hopeful overall.
“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.”
h/t TIME
