Turns out, 2019 was a good year at the movies for baby boomers. In fact, half of the actors who received Oscar nominations in 2020, which was announced last week, are over 50 years old.
Baby Boom nominees include my favorite Tom Hanks, 63, in A Beautiful Neighborhood Day, as well as Joe Pesci, 76, in The Irishman, Brad Pitt, 56, in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, Jonathan. Pryce, 72, in The Two Popes, Antonio Banderas, 59 in Pain and Glory, and Kathy Bates, 71, in Richard Jewell.
Add in old men like Oscar-nominated Anthony Hopkins, 82, in The Two Popes and Al Pacino, 79, in The Irishman, as well as actresses over 50 Renée Zellweger, 50, in Judy and Laura Dern, 52, in Marriage Story.
All of the nominated directors are also over 50, with the exception of 49-year-old Todd Phillips, director of Joker. Nominees include Martin Scorsese, 77, for The Irishman, Bong Joon Ho, 50, for Parasite, Sam Mendes, 54, for 1917, and Quentin Tarantino, 56, for Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.
The film Knives Out was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and featured an older cast that included Jame Lee Curtis, 61, Don Johnson, 70, Daniel Craig, 51, and Christopher Plummer, 90.
Cinema has often reflected society’s attitudes towards the 50+ crowd who in real life are often mocked or ignored. If Hollywood ridiculed an ethnic group or the disabled in movies, people would be in an uproar. So why do people quietly tolerate the way movies poke fun at older people? I still hope that Hollywood, and society in general, have not completely forgotten the value of older people with their knowledge, life experience and insight. Perhaps this is a step in the right direction.
Of course, there is controversy that none of the directors were women this year and there are far more older men nominated in the acting categories than older women. While the average age of men nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor is 61.3, the average age of women nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress is 39.8. Older women in Hollywood have always been judged more harshly than older men. Apparently, there are more advances in that regard.
The 92nd edition of the Oscars will be televised live on February 9, 2020 at 9:00 p.m. M. ET and 5:00 p.m. M., Pacific Time, on ABC.
