Banderas got acquainted with these struggles when his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, slammed Hollywood saying that getting quality movie roles in her 50s has been difficult.
Antonio Banderas believes that society, not just Hollywood, is to blame for the unjust pressures placed on women today to preserve their youthfulness. "I try to be as natural as possible. I understand though, especially [for] women, the tremendous pressure that they receive in a place like Hollywood, where thousands of new girls arrive every year all fresh and new, and when you're getting to a certain age, they can feel the push of these things," Banderas said in a 2015 interview with the UK's Press Association, per HuffPost.
The actor, who is now 62, stated at the time that men, not just because of Hollywood, but also because of cultural standards, have it easier as they age than women. "It's more cruel unfortunately for women than men," Banderas said. "There's a social convention that allows men to grow older and not be so criticized and pushed about beauty, and for women it's different. It's ridiculous, but that's the way that we created image around ourselves."
Antonio Banderas says when it comes to ageism in Hollywood, society is to blame. http://t.co/WqrlRhW5fJ @sixtyandme pic.twitter.com/fEstXx1N5h
— Sixty and Me (@sixtyandme) March 27, 2015
Maybe Banderas got acquainted with these struggles when his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, slammed Hollywood saying that getting quality movie roles in her 50s has been difficult. "It is what I never thought would happen when I was in my 20s and 30s, hearing actresses bitch about not getting any work when they turned 50," she said in a 2013 interview. "Now I understand it, it is just different."
He has previously also spoken out against plastic surgery, claiming that it just isn't for him, despite the pressures of the industry. In a 2011 interview with The Telegraph, Banderas said, "I think everybody can do what they want to do but I am starting to like grey hair and wrinkles and find them interesting."
In preparation for the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Banderas sat in a downtown Toronto hotel room in 2019. He was watching his most recent movie, Pain and Glory, a semi-autobiographical tale about the real-life director of the movie, renowned Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, who struggles to find creative inspiration while aging and ill. He ultimately won the Best Actor prize for the movie at the Cannes Film Festival that year. The character made sure the actor was considering aging and reinventing himself.
“I put a lot of effort when [Almodóvar] called me to do this movie and just cleaned myself from old patterns … I said, ‘Okay, let’s start from zero. I’m going to try and find myself in a different body in a different look in a different Banderas.’ And recognizing many things, that actually I am grown up, that I am now a year from being 60, and that you shouldn’t be afraid of showing that to audiences and to yourself,” he shared with Everything Zoomer.
Banderas appears to have accepted his advancing years and is still producing movies, with movies such as The Enforcer and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
References:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/antonio-banderas-aging-women-in-hollywood_n_6931666
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Dia Dipasupil
