First too old and now not sexy enough? Color us unimpressed by Hollywood.
After a revealing interview in which Maggie Gyllenhaal shared how she was rejected from a movie for being too old at 37 to play opposite a 55-year-old male lead, she is now discussing the hardships she faced as a young actress.
Gyllenhaal told The Hollywood Reporter in a roundtable discussion that she often received feedback from casting agents and managers that she wasn't "sexy enough" to get roles -- even for terrible movies. It should be noted here Gyllenhaal is an Oscar-nominated actress, so it definitely wasn't her acting chops.
When I was starting out, I used to hear ‘no’ a lot and still do. And, ‘You’re not sexy enough. You’re not pretty enough.’ When I was really young, I auditioned for this really bad movie with vampires. I wore a dress to the audition that I thought was really hot. Then I was told I wasn’t hot enough.
She went on to say her manager encouraged her to "sex it up a little bit." So Gyllenhaal donned leather pants and a pink leopard top to audition again but still didn't land the role.
"After that, I was like, ‘OK, f*ck this!'," she says.
Unfortunately, other actresses at the roundtable like Jessica Lange and Taraji P. Henson related to Gyllenhaal's experiences.