Maggie Gyllenhaal: I Was Told I Was Too Old At 37

The actress was deemed too old to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man.

Maggie Gyllenhaal has revealed she was recently turned down for a movie role because she was too old to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. Maggie is 37.

'There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,' she said during an interview for an upcoming issue of TheWrap Magazine.

'I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.'

Well, good on Maggie for having a sense of humour about it, because the depressing statistics about sexism in Hollywood make for very unfunny reading. A recent study showed that women accounted for only 15 percent of protagonists, 29 percent of major characters and 30 percent of all speaking characters in 2013. And over the past 17 years, women only represent 7 percent of directors, 11 percent of writers, and 18 percent of editors on the most successful films.

But, despite the recent slam, Maggie said she was hopeful for women. 'A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now, playing real women, complicated women,' said the actress. 'I don’t feel despairing at all. And I’m more looking with hope for something fascinating.'

Getting older when you're a Hollywood actress is no picnic. Here, some of the world's biggest stars explain what that feels like.