Considering the Hollywood’s daunting leanings towards the young, 2022 has been an encouraging year for older actors in tough roles.
The lineup of heavy-hitting films directed by strong fiftysomethings included Tom Gormican’s ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’, with 58-year-old Nicolas Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself through high-intensity action sequences, making generous tribute to action films. of his past.
“Top Gun: Maverick” by Joseph Kosinski was perhaps the flagship title of this quiet trend. Perhaps because we’re used to seeing Tom Cruise do his own stunts with jaw-dropping acrobatics across countless action movies, we often forget that our ageless movie star is now 60 years old.
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s ferocious “The Woman King” was another standout example of this group, with Viola Davis’ Nanisca leading a group of female warriors protecting the African kingdom of Dahomey.
“When I first went there, I thought, ‘There’s no way I’m going to make it,'” Davis admits to thinking when she joined the cast. “I was 56 years old. All the other girls are in their thirties. But after a few weeks, I felt badass. I like Nanisca’s physical strength. I felt shameless about it.
“As you get older, you feel like your life is over. But it’s not over at 50. So having this opportunity in your 50s to kick ass on screen is amazing,” says Ke Huy Quan about starring in Daniels’ multiverse hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which finds Quan playing Waymond Wang in several different universes, including one that involves some awesome action sequences.
Quan is already the comeback story of the year; he was formerly better known as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and Data in “Goonies”. Having not acted in nearly 20 years, Quan prepared vigorously for the film, getting in shape and learning all the moves. To grab Waymond emotionally, he had to give himself permission to release his emotions that he had always internalized, in keeping with his traditional Chinese upbringing. He also has a full team of coaches. “Acting coach, body movement coach, voice coach. It was really something.”
Quan’s behind-the-camera work with Wong Kar Wai, one of his all-time favorite filmmakers, proved helpful. “I saw him lead Tony Leung in ‘2046.’ And I paid tribute to him with a whole universe.
Working in the second unit with action director Corey Yuen on films such as “X-Men” and “The One” was also a must-have experience for learning the language.
of action.
“When I walked in front of the camera for the fanny pack sequence, I was doing it [behind the camera] for a long time.”
Though she doesn’t have traditional action scenes in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness,” Dolly De Leon — whose capable Abigail achieves superpower status among a crowd of incompetent shipwreck survivors — relishes the belated authority of his character.
De Leon already knew how to do most of the things Abigail had to address in Östlund’s satire. She could already start a fire thanks to a survival training program she participated in. When the director asked, “Do you know how to clean a fish?” she was also able to say yes. “Growing up in the Philippines, we weren’t rich. My dad was a good provider, but he didn’t make that much money. When I was 12 or 13, he used to bring home fish for dinner. And I was in charge of gutting the fish. I even know how to kill a chicken, remove the feathers and chop everything up. I didn’t have to study anything.
She adds, “The entertainment industry has focused a lot on young people for a long time, probably because they look good. This perception that one can only be interesting if one is beautiful, young and fresh is unfortunate. I believe people peak in their 50s. That’s when they are even more beautiful than their 20s because they are wiser, sexier, more confident. It really makes a story more interesting to tell the world.