Book Club: Jane Fonda reveals studios didn't want older actors

The plot: four older women reinvigorate their sex lives after reading Fifty Shades of Grey. The problem? Studios didn’t want older actors.

Actors Mary Steenburgen, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Diane Keaton attend the premiere of Book Club.

The film is about four older women reinvigorating their sex lives after reading Fifty Shades of Grey. The only problem? The studios did not want older actors.

Jane Fonda, 80, said ageism was “alive and well” in Hollywood after revealing that studio executives had demanded that younger actors should replace her and Diane Keaton, 72, in the forthcoming film Book Club, which also stars Mary Steenburgen, 65, and Candice Bergen, 72.

The director, Bill Holderman, said that studios had applied a “tremendous amount of pressure” to reduce the ages of the characters to their late forties. The creators persevered, however, and found an independent company to finance the film, which focuses on four women who read the sexually explicit EL James novel, which changes their approach to relationships.

Fonda said that, despite moves in the film industry towards gender equality, change was coming only slowly. “It’s an industry that’s very much driven by youth and beauty,” she said. “Ageism is alive and well.”

Steenburgen, her co-star and fellow Oscar winner, said the industry wanted older women to disappear. “That’s a shame, because people should be able to enjoy life and be reflected in movies and television scripts as long as they’re alive,” she said.

Keaton, who won an Academy Award for Annie Hall, said: “It’s tough always for older people. They’re used less frequently in every field — it’s not just in the performing arts.”

Research by an American university into the film industry has determined that older men find it easier than older women to win roles. The Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University found that 46 per cent of male characters in top Hollywood films last year were over 40, while only 29 per cent of female characters were.

Martha Lauzen, the lead researcher, said: “The majority of mainstream films continue to reflect the dreams and desires of the white male creatives and executives who work behind the scenes.

“I suspect that if more women occupied executive suites at the studios and creative positions behind the scenes, we would see more films featuring female characters of all ages.”

Another study by the same university found that only 24 per cent of protagonists in the 100 highest grossing films last year were female, a decline from 29 per cent in 2016. A separate study showed that 79 per cent of the 100 highest grossing films had 10 or more male characters with speaking roles, while only 32 per cent had ten or more female roles with lines.

THE TIMES