Ageism is ‘alive and well’ in Hollywood, says Jane Fonda, 80

JANE FONDA has branded ageism in Hollywood “alive and well” after studio bosses wanted younger stars to front a movie instead of her and fellow Oscarwinner Diane Keaton.

The women star alongside Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen in Book Club, a film about four older friends who reinvigorate their sex lives after reading Fifty Shades of Grey.

But the film’s creators resorted to making it independently after they said executives told them they would only produce the movie if the characters were younger.

Speaking in Los Angeles, Steenburgen said it was a “miracle” that it ever got made, while Fonda, 80, added that it was an example of age discrimination’s prevalence in Hollywood.

Director Bill Holderman said studios had applied a “tremendous amount of pressure” to reduce the ages of the characters to their late forties, despite pitching the recognisable stars.

“It’s an industry that’s very much driven by youth and beauty. Ageism is alive and well,” said Fonda, who won Oscars with Coming Home and Klute. “I think that’s beginning to change, though.” Keaton, 72, who won an Oscar for Annie Hall, said it demonstrates the difficulties faced by older women in the industry and in other fields.

“It means it’s tough. But it’s tough always for older people. They’re used less frequently in every field – it’s not just in the performing arts,” she said.

Steenburgen described Book Club, out in UK cinemas on June 1, as “quietly subversive and revolutionary”.