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."

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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.