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ANT-MAN ACTRESS REDEFINES AGING TROPE

By April 3, 2019Film & TV, Longevity

Other than Marvel icon Stan Lee’s ubiquitous cameos, the super hero genre is not known for showcasing “mature” adults. So, it is refreshing to see 74-year old Michael Douglas playing a pivotal role in the “Ant-man” franchise.

Better still, though, is watching co-star Evangeline Lilly in her buzz-worthy performance as The Wasp, side-kick to Paul Rudd’s Ant-man. In a recent “Celeb Interview” with Maude Garrett, Lilly is asked whether she ever starts thinking, as an actress in her late-30s, how she got to be a super hero. Her candid response is encouraging, inspiring and a joy to watch and read …

I still have moments where I think, like, well any day now I’m gonna be too old to play the role. And then I think, What are we gonna do? Then I realize, no wait a minute, that’s totally backwards thinking. It’s the other way around. It’s like how incredible that the world has realized women are probably at their most powerful in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. And that they grow into their power, as does any human being with age. Not that their power suddenly dissolves with age.

I wear that mantle with pride. And I’m very open about my age. I don’t do any work, and I’m going to age as I age; and am aging as I age.

One of the things that kept happening on the set is that I have a few grays and I refuse … I love my grays. They’re my “sparklies.” I love them and I don’t want anyone to pluck them. So, no one was allowed to touch them or dye them. But then the cinematographer would be doing a scene and he’d be calling my hair person, “What is in her hair? There’s something shiny. The light’s reflecting off of something in her hair.” And she goes, “That’s her gray. And she won’t let me pull them out.”

Though their age does not define either actor, the success of Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly should encourage Hollywood to feel more confident with authentically representing the aging experience. Learn more about the new initiative to encourage this direction at Wise Up On Aging.

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