Kaus:
It’s . . . hard to believe that [Jake] Gyllenhaal is in demand because, as recounted by Snead, “there is nobody else around to cast as an under-40 romantic male lead.” She’s asking readers to suggest names. … Wasn’t it only a few days ago that The New York Observer was telling us about a shortage of romantic female leads? No wonder Hollywood is in trouble. (“Can’t we get a penguin in that role?”) …
Of course, I doubt very much that there’s a shortage of attractive and talented young actors and actresses in the movie business. If Hollywood is having trouble making young stars who can handle these kinds of roles and connect with the public, maybe it needs to start casting them in movies with better scripts and more appeal to the public. Bad movies don’t make stars.
Jeff Goldstein told me that Chris Klein is available. 🙂
A quick look through IMDB confirms my suspicion that there is currently a glut of right-around-40 male movie stars, which is probably limiting the options for those a few years younger. Hugh Grant is 45. George Clooney is 44. Tom Crusie and Jim Carrey are both 43. Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp are 42. Russell Crowe is 41. John Cusack and Adam Sandler (!) are 39. Will Smith is 37.
In ten years or less, those guys will stop being the leads of most of the movies, and new guys will take their places.
I’m 46, in so-so shape, only okay looking, but I’ll work for cheap and am willing to do love scenes with Sandra Bullock as long as it takes to get them absolutely perfect.
Not sure about Jerry’s thesis above. Did Cary Grant stop being cast as the lead when he turned 55? Oh, that’s right-there’s no no one comparable to Grant today. Nor to Bogie or Cagney, for that matter.