I swear, LA executives have no clue what we out in the real world consider attractive. I’ve realized this over the years, as Sandra Bullock said that they weren’t going to cast her for the movie Speed because they wanted someone sexy, and Gillian Anderson almost didn’t get the part of Dana Sculley because the casting directors wanted someone beautiful but in the end they chose her.
Now Alex Kingston is dumped from E/R for being “too old”.
I couldn’t stand to be an actress. Acting is a skill that improves with age and experience, but actresses are expected to do all their leading roles in their 20s and early 30s. Right around the time that you’re getting really good, you’re finished. Or worse, you get tons of awful plastic surgery to make yourself look like you’re still 35, albeit in some hideously fake way. Instead of aging gracefully, you end up a senior citizen who still looks like Barbie.
Years ago I was making notes for a screenplay about a team of international superspies who were all females in their forties. This way you could cast Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Curtis and all these other big name sexy women in the leads, and the budget for this blockbuster would only be about $50 million because as aging actresses they couldn’t demand a lot of money. I mean, what are their other options? Playing “Grandma” on a new sitcom?