He made his name playing the roguish romantic leads in The Holiday, The Talented Mr Ripley and Alfie, but Jude Law has revealed that he regrets that he didn't play less attractive roles in his younger years.
The 51-year-old actor, who admits that he found it ‘satisfying’ to play the portly Henry VIII in his new film, historical drama Firebrand, says that he found himself trying to play against his looks earlier on in his career.
‘I didn’t feel like I really ever leaned into playing handsome, but there were roles that required an attractive energy,’ he told DuJour magazine. ‘I was trying to play against my looks in my early ‘20s, and now that I’m saggy and balding, I wish I had played it up.’
Jude revealed that he has taken on different roles that ‘have not leaned in to any sort of attraction’, adding, ‘It’s been satisfying not having to turn that switch on.’
Jude’s comments are meant to be self-deprecating, but they belie his male privilege: he can still get a decent lead role as in the case of Firebrand. His female counterparts in Hollywood, meanwhile, cannot embrace physical ageing in the same way.
‘There’s so much misogynist chatter in response to us that would never. Happen. About. A. Man,’ Sarah Jessica Parker told Vogue. ‘‘Grey hair grey hair grey hair. Does she have grey hair?’ I’m sitting with Andy Cohen and he has a full head of grey hair and he’s exquisite. Why is it OK for him?’
The Sex And The City star, 59, went on, ‘Especially on social media, everyone has something to say. ‘She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles.’ It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly OK with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better.’ SJP added, ‘I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop ageing? Disappear?’
Andie MacDowell, who has embraced her grey hair, agreed with SJP. ‘I suffered in this business as an actress, with people always wanting me to look younger. I feel valuable where I am,’ she said. ‘I don’t want people to have the expectation that I need to look younger to have value or to be beautiful or desirable.’
The Four Weddings And A Funeral actress, 66, continued, ‘We don’t do that to men! We love an older man. We love men as they age. I would love the same expectation for women.’
The Matrix star Carrie-Anne Moss has also spoken about how actors don’t have the same pressure to remain youthful. ‘It’s not easy being in this business. There’s a lot of external pressure. It’s a stereotypical story, working with men that are so much older and ageing. And people are enjoying the ageing of them – while I’m much younger than they are,’ she said.
She revealed that she was offered a grandmother role, the day after she turned 40. ‘It happened overnight. I went from being a girl to the mother to beyond the mother,’ she said.
Meanwhile, actors such as Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise and Colin Firth continue to be given prominent lead roles. But it is spiriting to see the likes of Olivia Colman (50), Annette Bening (66) and Michelle Yeoh (61) changing Hollywood standards as they prove that age is just a number, bagging leading roles and awards nominations as they go.