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Home , Melissa McCarthy, Sandra Bullock

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013

Julia Roberts Oprah Winfrey

Melissa McCarthy Actresses over 40 are hotter than ever in

or decades, the age of 40 was the point of no return for the these roles without the career and life experience that they devel- majority of Hollywood’s leading ladies of film. But there’s been oped when they were younger. And I loved Elaine.” Fa seismic shift in the way the industry and moviegoers view “aging” top actresses, and today their clout and box-office muscle Hollywood Is Wising Up have never been greater. A decade ago, it would have been hard to imagine a film like this Forty-nine-year-old is getting a ton of attention for year’s “Blue Jasmine” making $30 million. But the Woody Allen joint her starring role in the space epic “Gravity,” but this was already a in which Blanchett plays a middle-aged woman struggling to find great year overall for actresses over 40. Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer her footing after her swindling husband is jailed has done just that. Aniston and Melissa McCarthy all starred in breakout box-office hits. While roles designed specifically for women of that age group And there are more high-profile movies with women over 40 in remain the exception, Hollywood is making more movies that appeal plum roles still to come. will star opposite Tom to older audiences of late. Meryl Hanks in the Mary Poppins tale “Saving Mr. Banks,” due on Dec. 13. “The studios are seeing there’s an audience out there and saying Streep And later that month, 64-year-old - who’s been an let’s make something for them to see,” said Paura. “Look at last exception to the rule for some time - will be featured with Julia Christmas, when you had ‘Les Miserables,’ ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Argo’ all out Roberts, who turns 46 on Monday, in the drama “August: Osage there at the same time, all doing great business. It’s a realization that County.” Their success has been artistic as well as commercial. The this is an under-served and very viable audience.” Where progress is five top contenders for the Best Actress Oscar, according to the most apparent is with movies like “The Heat” or “Gravity,” in which GoldDerby.com experts, are Bullock, Streep, Thompson (54), Cate the protagonists almost certainly would have been male a decade Blanchett (44) and (78). If those end up being the five ago. And “The Heat” showed that women can be as foul-mouthed, nominees, the average age in the category will be almost 58. obnoxious - and funny - as men. There are a lot of reasons things have changed. Here are six: Young Actresses Aren’t Translating The Box Office Other than and , there aren’t Nothing breaks down barriers like a healthy bottom line and many actresses under 40 who can sell tickets overseas, an increasing- over-40 actresses have delivered this year. Bullock and McCarthy ly critical component when movies are developed and cast today. were cop buddies in 2013’s biggest comedy “The Heat,” which has That’s not necessarily a gender issue - there aren’t many young men taken in $228 million worldwide. Jennifer Aniston drove the sum- who can, either. But Roberts, Streep, Bullock, and mer’s surprise hit “We’re the Millers.” And the popularity of 57-year- can - while , and old Oprah Winfrey had a great deal to do with the success of “Lee generally don’t. But that’s nothing time won’t cure, Daniels’ The Butler,” an Oscar contender that has already served up according to casting director Liroff. Sandra $130 million worldwide. Their success has crossed genres, too. Vera “These young women are at exactly the stage the legends we’re Bullock Farmiga starred in the year’s biggest horror hit, “The Conjuring,” and talking about were back then,” she said. topped the box office with the dark thriller “The Call” in March. Even , who played Tony Stark’s gal pal in the We Saw It on TV year’s highest-grossing movie, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3,” is 41. “When you see a Robin Wright on ‘House of Cards’ or on ‘American Horror Story,’ I think people and - and Audiences Are Getting Older Hollywood - take notice,” said Martha Lauzen, executive director of A lot of the people who saw Oprah in “The Butler” also saw her in the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San “The Color Purple” back in 1985. The same goes for “Gravity” viewers, Diego State University. She gives the small screen a lot of the credit who recalled Bullock in 1994’s “Speed.” That gives moviegoers a for women’s gains in film. “TV has been leading the way recently. A sense of connection, as with long-time friends. few years ago, when was in ‘Damages’ and Kyra “The Baby Boomer generation has been going to the movies all of Sedgwick in ‘The Closer’ started showing how incredibly talented their lives and they’ve never stopped,” said Catherine Paura, chair- they were, I’m sure that some of that seeped into film.” man and chief executive of Capstone Global Marketing and Research. “They want to see narrative-driven movies, with strong sto- But Let’s Not Get Carried Away ries that they can relate to. They’re in the habit of going to the While a number of elite over-40 actresses are making their mark Emma movies, and they like them, especially when their stars are in them.” as never before, the situation hasn’t changed that much for most of Thompson More than a third of all movie tickets purchased in the U.S. last year them. While 55 percent of film roles went to women in their 20s and were by people past 40, so these actresses don’t seem old to them at 30s, just 13 percent went to women in the 40s, according to the 2012 all. And Baby Boomers now represent 28 percent of the populace, so report “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World.” the trend is here to stay. “Attitudes toward women, gender and age are deeply embed- ded,” said Lauzen. “These are very stable attitudes that take a long They’re Getting Better with Age time to evolve, but with steady and continued success our culture People watched Julia Louis-Dreyfus yuck it up on TV’s “Seinfeld” will be moved.” — back when they were in their 20s and 30s and she was, too. But any- one’s who’s seen her nuanced portrayal of a discombobulated single mother taking a tentative step toward romance in “Enough Said,” has to be impressed with how far she’s come since her Elaine days. “You look at people like her or Sandra Bullock and people say they’re hit- ting their stride as actresses,” said casting director Marci Liroff, who specializes in feature films and TV, “but they couldn’t have excelled in