Yesterday Hecate covered an interview with Jamie Lee Curtis in which Curtis sounded willfully clueless about ageism in Hollywood. She said, if you missed it, “I see nothing but women of a certain age working today. The two women on my show are me and Kirstie Alley, who is 65. I just don’t see it. Things have changed and that’s never been a thing for me. I’ve had other things, but that hasn’t been it.” Ok so she personalized it and it’s hard to tell if she’s generalizing to other women, but it sure sounds like it. Later on she said she didn’t have any ambition and that jobs just fell in her lap without acknowledging that she comes from a Hollywood dynasty, so there were a couple of “huh” moments in that interview.
Well Curtis might be blinded by her own charmed life, but Ryan Murphy, who created Glee, Scream Queens (on which Curtis stars) and American Horror Story does see that there’s a problem for women over 40 looking for work in Hollywood. That’s why he employs so many older women on his shows. He’s also making another show in 2017 covering the feud of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, called Feud. How is Ryan Murphy so freaking productive? He’s like Shonda Rhimes, they just keep making shows people love.
Ryan Murphy is a huge fan of stars and pop culture, which makes him an incredible salesman when it comes to casting big-name talent in projects (Lady Gaga, Kate Hudson, John Travolta, and Gwyneth Paltrow).
“I am interested in being a showman and I am interested in show business,” he admits to EW. “I love a star. I love a twinkly. I love being with them. The first time I met Jessica Lange I couldn’t believe it.”
But he also has a fondness for casting actors who have been underutilized by the industry and giving them juicy, career-reviving roles. “I feel like it’s ridiculous that women over 40 aren’t working,” he says. “It’s ridiculous. So I just am doing a show about that now, Feud.”
Feud, which premieres on FX in 2017, is the story of the rivalry between Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) and Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) on the set of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Say what you will about Murphy, his shows are diverse and they include older women. I saw Whatever Happened to Baby Jane ages ago and I don’t really remember it (I’m like that, unless I write about something I’ll forget the details), I need to rewatch that movie. That came out in 1962, when Betty Davis was 54 and Joan Crawford was around the same age. (Her birth year is disputed as she seems to have fudged it.) I would be interested in watching at least the first episode of that show but I’m sure it will be over the top like every other show Murphy makes. Some people really enjoy that though and I know plenty of people who watch his shows.
Murphy also told EW about the homophobia he experienced on network WB when making his first show, Popular. Executives would give him notes asking to make characters “less gay” and he called it “relentlessly homophobic.”
Whatever happened to baby Jane is amazing. Bette Davis was chilling. They usually start to play it on Turner Classic (I think that’s the channel) around now till Halloween.
Absolutely, its one of my fave movies of all time. Amazing performances
God yes! I love, love that movie and I CANNOT wait until Feud comes out. There’s a really good book out about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford’s relationship. Give it a read!
Also just because Jamie Lee Curtis hasn’t experienced ageism doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!
“I’m writing a letter to Daddy. His address is heaven above” …
Why is Demi Moore in one of these pix?? She still thinks she’s 27 lol.
I wish I had a Baby Jane doll. And I love that movie, too.
Love that film. And the insider stuff about the making of the film and the feud between the two women as well. There’s some serious dirt about old Hollywood stars out there. Stuff that makes the antics of current celebs seem tame in comparison.
Did you ever listen to the podcast about old Hollywood? It’s called You Must Remember This, and is very dishy on all the old gossip, romances, scandals, etc.
We need more people like Ryan Murphy!!
I love American Horror Story series, especially with the talented Kathy Bates,Jessica LANGE BUT KILLWD IT WITHgaga.
I love the variety but I hate how the AHS harps on it every season. I mean how many times will Lang’s characters be expected to be depressed about her supposed fading looks and youthful regreagainEven if she had a healthy ego to start out, it has to be sort of traumatic to play that roll with those sorts of lines time and again.
Jessica Lange is still a beautiful woman. She Was a Knockout When she was younger. I remember watching her in King Kong, she was breath takenly beautiful. Is takenly a word or did I just Donald Trump myself?
I had issues with the hidden meaning of King Kong but damn that woman was beautiful
Breathtakingly is a word and I just freaking died that you said you Trumped yourself. Bwaaahahahah
Jessica Lange’s face kills me. To butcher that beautiful face like she did remains a crime in my book and her face didn’t settle back into it’s original lines pre-surgery.
Agree LAK. These beautiful women under going mutilating sugeries to try to stay young for Hollywood is heart breaking. Their doctors should lose their licenses.
His shows are not my cup of tea but I’m happy more experienced actresses are getting work. Curtis was born privleged so she does see the discrepencies or she is being willfully obtuse.
‘Popular’ is one of my favorite shows I had no idea he produced(?) it!! That show was clever and hilarious but also tongue in cheek and kitschy. Perfect casting too.
Loved that show. Never understood why it wasn’t a huge hit.
I loved Popular and I love what Ryan is saying here. I hope he can continue to make great show with diverse casts for a long time.
Sigh. I am really enjoying AHS so far this season. But I so wish they could get Jessica Lange back.
He really has done a lot for diversity in tv.
I loved Popular… the first season. If some if not all of his other shows didn’t also suffer from a similar problem (great first season, quality of subsequential seasons nosedives) I’d be more inclined to believe that Popular’s second season oddness was solely because of network intrusion.
I usually liked the first seasons of his shows too, but when left to his own devices, IMO he is not a good storyteller and doesn’t know how to finish. Then when he switched to the self contained seasons like AHS, each season started great and finished terribly. I think he’s good at big ideas, but not the follow through, if that makes sense.
The OJ mini series was great though, but that was following along a true story.
That all said, I do appreciate that he writes so many roles for women, and women of all ages.
I have never understood ageism as everyone is headed in that direction unless one dies young.
Exactly. I never got it either.
Naturally, ageism makes no sense. But in Hollywood (and other parts of society), ageism has a distinctly sexist co-efficient where women no longer in the first bloom of youth are subject to a sort of prejudice. That’s why a thirtysomething Maggie Gyllenhaal gets told she’s to old to play the wife of a 50-something man, and why nobody raised an eyelash when Harrison Ford, also in his 50s, was paired up with a dewy 29-year-old Anne Heche. Millions more examples of that, of course.
I loved “Adoration,” which came and went without the loads of fanfare it deserved. Naomi Watts and Robin Wright were perfectly cast as over-40s who did not whine about their maturing looks or act like their younger partners weren’t very lucky to have them.
I think he is a bad writer and just has some of the worst storylines but he does walk the talk and hires actors from almost all spheres.
I am not a fan of his shows (not a fan of horror or that pop tart glee) and saw only people versus oj and it was good. But his actions do reflect his thinking and amen for that. And what about susan sarandon and jessica lange in one room? Seems like if there is anyone who could handle that, it could be Ryan Murphy
I like that he does this and I love love love Kathy Bates and Jessica Lang. I am 39 and I want to see real characters on tv and in movies. I am just not interested in the same old 20 something “kids” doing the same old tired junk. It’s lazy.
Oh, you have to rewatch Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. I did about three years ago. It was soooo good. And the performances were simply brilliant .
Oh I totally agree with you. Bette Davis was marvelous as being that aging, bitter woman. I was a huge Bette Davis fan.
Nice to see you Abbess. I totally agree, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane was so chilling, and is a classic. When you think that Bette Davis was only in her 50s, but could act everyone else off the screen, it is a telling indictment to how shamefully Hollywood treated, and is still treating aging actresses. Tossing them aside for younger and fresher, all the time. I recall reading how they demolished Davis’ career as she aged, and how badly treated she felt. If a tough dame like her was so badly used, one can only imagine the generations of talent that have been casually dismissed by the Hollywood patriarchy. Jack Warner apparently was notorious for demeaning and belittling aging actresses. It seems his legacy, and others like him, continues to this day. One can only hope that this is changing for the better, with strong female roles of all ages being written, and funded. It would certainly be of more interest to me than most of the fluff that fills our screens these days.
I will always wonder how season three of popular would’ve started, since the season two finale was so epic. Then it just ended…
I want to see Feud
I cannot WAIT for Fued. Can’t wait!
Good on Ryan Murphy, but I think he is fighting an uphill battle in many ways. It is not only Hollywood that values youth and beauty over age and experience.