The two-time Oscar-winning star Sally Field is speaking out this week to complain that roles for “older women” are “hard to find” in Hollywood.
Field Sounds Off
Field, who is turning 80 later this year, is currently promoting her new Netflix movie Remarkably Bright Creatures. During an interview with the TODAY show host Willie Geist, Field was asked if she ever thinks about her legacy.
“I don’t even think about it. I really think about what’s next. And will there be a next, you know?” Field replied.
“As you get older… boy, (roles are) hard to find,” she continued. “People don’t think older women are interesting, I guess. But I got news for you, it’s all those older women who raised you.”
In Remarkably Bright Creatures, Field portrays a grieving widow who works as a custodian at an aquarium. There, she becomes friends with a younger man, played by Lewis Pullman, who is on a quest to find his father. Throughout the movie, the two of them help one another heal as they also bond with a giant Pacific octopus.
Field described her character as being “an old woman who has grief in her life” after the death of her husband.
“But there’s a deeper grief that she hides and holds,” she added. “And it has kept her away from the world.”
Field went on to reveal that she and Pullman ad-libbed some of the scenes where their characters get to know each other.
“We began to improvise, and we just were these people,” she explained. “Just, bam, right out of the chute.”
Check out the trailer for Remarkably Bright Creatures below.
Field’s Passion For Acting
During another appearance on the TODAY show last week, Field said that she has always wanted to be an actor. Indeed, acting is in her blood, as her mother Margaret Field was also an actor. On top of that, her stepfather Jock Mahoney was a successful Hollywood stuntman.
“This is what I do. I’m an actor. And I’m proud to be an actor,” Field said. “As I get older, and I’m months away from being 80, (finding) the roles about 80-year-old women is my dream. That’s it.”
Recalling the first time she took the stage as a small child, Field remembered, “I left my body. I was doing something but I didn’t tell myself to do it.”
“I heard my voice for the first time,” she stated of acting. “And I could be mean, I could be all sorts of things I wasn’t allowed to be.”
When asked if acting has always been a natural fit for her, Field replied, “I guess so… I would’ve been a nurse or … I don’t know what I would’ve been.”
Field’s Success In Acting
Field has certainly had a hugely successful career as an actress. Indeed, she has two Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony nomination to her name. Though she will be turning 80 this year, Field has no intention of slowing down. Instead, she’s still looking to the future.
“[Acting] is what I do,” Field recently told People Magazine. “I’m supposed to go into rehearsals for a play at the end of summer. I still have my head down, and I’m always hoping to get better.”
Field is a true living legend, and there will never be another one like her. Though it’s unfortunate that finding roles for older women isn’t easy, we applaud Field for persevering and continuing to show the world that age really is just a number.
God bless you, Sally Field!