Russell Crowe may have the biggest box office movie of 2014 in his native Australia, but in a recent interview, the Oscar winning actor just managed to earn the ire of women around the world after he made contentious comments about actresses and age-appropriate roles.
While his comments were released two weeks back, it wasn't until early this week that his words were interpreted as sexism.
While he was promoting his directorial debut "The Water Diviner," he talked about the experience of playing a father of three grown sons in the film, specifically that he couldn't have possibly played the role 20 years ago—at which point Crowe began to talk about women's place in movies.
"The best thing about the industry I'm in -- movies -- is that there are roles for people in all different stages of life. To be honest, I think you'll find that the woman who is saying that [the roles have dried up] is the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can't understand why she's not being cast as the 21-year-old."
He then mentions several Hollywood actresses who are exceptions—
"Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that's bullshit, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be. If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor. If you are trying to pretend that you're still the young buck when you're my age, it just doesn't work."
"I have heard of an actress, part of her fee negotiation was getting the number of children she was supposed to have lessened. Can you believe this? This [character] was a woman with four children, and there were reasons why she had to have four children -- mainly, she lived in a cold climate and there was nothing to do but fornicate all day -- so quit arguing, just play the role!"
"The point is, you do have to be prepared to accept that there are stages in life. So I can't be the Gladiator forever."
This interview, as expected, prompted numerous headlines dripping with vitriol, citing Crowe as a sexist who says older women don't' get movie roles because they don't act their age.
No comments have been issued by Crowe or his reps regarding the matter.