Hollywood thinks 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal is too old to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man

Maggie Gyllenhaal.
(Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

The award-winning indie darling of movies like Secretary, Frank, and Crazy Heart revealed what we all know in our hearts to be true — that Hollywood is a terrible place for women.

In an interview with The Wrap, the 37-year-old actress said she was turned down for a movie recently because she was told she was too old to play the love interest of a man 18 years her senior. "It was astonishing to me," she said. "It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh."

Perhaps due to that droll sense of humor, Gyllenhaal said she's not in total despair over such rampant ageism, thanks to the inspiring ladies that surround her. "A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now," she said, "playing real women, complicated women."

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Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.