Issue of Casting Isn’t as Simple as It Seems
Re: “Women vs. Men in Oscars?” (Counterpunch, March 23):
Carolyn Mackler speaks about the disappearance of older actresses in films today as if writers had merely forgotten them. It’s not that simple.
We don’t see the great roles for 40- and 50-something women because the big-ticket bucks are rarely spent on such films.
Compare the box office of Judi Dench in “Mrs. Brown” with Kate Winslet (and Leonardo DiCaprio!) in “Titanic.”
When you have a leading man who looks like a member of the singing group Hanson, don’t expect to see him cast opposite actresses, however great their talent, who could play his mother.
As the ticket-buying public has grown progressively younger, roles have become alarmingly scarce for actresses of the caliber and age of Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton and Kathy Bates and Sally Field and Julie Christie and. . . .
RON HARDCASTLE
Los Angeles
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