STILL AT IT – AFTER 60

‘I’ll only give you the paper if you promise not to let the news upset you.’

Hello everyone, trust you are all enjoying summer  and the madness of current times in the World.   Maybe it was always so, but with instant news and Social Media we hear about it more quickly.  I have been keeping my head down and largely focusing on the two projects on my table at the moment…..the production of Macbeth, in which I have agreed to appear, in October at the Groundlings Theatre in Portsmouth in the UK.   Learning the lines is priority number one …it’s a massive chore and very hard work, especially as one gets a bit older, but it has to be done.  I read the other day that old acquaintance, Michael Caine goes over his lines at least a thousand times, before he actually does them on  screen.  Michael is a highly talented actor and when he speaks on screen, it does sound as if the words are coming out of his mouth for the very first time.    A friend commented recently that acting is like a muscle, it has to be exercised, to keep it strong.   He’s right.  Use it or lose it.  That’s why I am doing Lady M…it will be a real workout.

My other project is a wonderful piece REUNION, which started life as a play and which I now want make as a film.  And of course it has a terrific part for me in it!  It is a ‘right to die’ story, with basically just two people in it.   Women of a certain age like me do not have the offers rolling in and I know there are a number of terrific actresses of my generation who are “languishing in the wings”, hoping and waiting to get called.  Ladies it wont happen, we have to create our own opportunities now, if we want to carry on with our craft.

Another friend sent me an article written by Mark Harris on this subject and here is a little bit of it for your “education”!

“Meryl Streep, at 67, is no longer an outlier defying all conventional wisdom about the box-office viability of an actress north of 50; she’s part of a trend. It began a little more than a year ago, when I’ll See You in My Dreams, a tiny independent drama from a fledgling company starring the then-72-year-old Blythe Danner, a well-liked actress with no box-office track record whatsoever, grossed an unexpectedly strong $7.4 million in theaters. Last September, another indie, Grandma, with Lily Tomlin (76), took in $7 million as well. And the beginning of 2016 brought Maggie Smith (81) in the British import The Lady in the Van ($10 million), Helen Mirren (70) in the drone thriller Eye in the Sky ($18.7 million), and Sally Field (69) in the comedy-drama Hello, My Name Is Doris ($14.4 million).”

Sally Field

Blythe Danner

These are all terrific actresses and if you find the right vehicle, you can stay there in the race..  Just do it for yourself.  Don’t sit around moaning about no work for the old and or/female.  I have been “discovered” about three times in my career…audiences and the industry have very short memories, so you have to remind them of your existence. Creating media gossip about yourself, useful though it might be is not going to give you the platform …….you need to show them what you can do.

Thats all for now folks!