If you don't love a good story of Hollywood drama, then are you even living? The best kind of drama is the kind you're not involved in, so when celebrities start going after each other, you can bet I'm grabbing the popcorn!
The feud I'm currently living for is between Jacki Weaver and Anjelica Huston, who are in a war of words after Huston made some not-so-nice comments about Weaver's new movie.
In case you weren't aware, Weaver is starring in a new movie with Diane Keaton, Pam Grier, and Rhea Perlman, called Poms, which follows a group of older women who form a cheerleading squad at their retirement community, trying to prove that age is just a number. Grier has spoken out about the movie, saying it's important for visibility.
"[It used to be that] women are erased and invisible after they get a certain age, but once we started saying, "˜We're not invisible "” we're full of life, we take care of kids, we're still viable to society.' And once you own that, then you get offered to sit at the table," Grier said.
Someone who doesn't really care about all that is Huston, who trivialized the movie in an interview with Vulture. Huston was never specifically asked about Poms, but in a question about how she gets lured into movie roles now, she more or less named the movie in so many words.
"Quite honestly, I'm looking for movies that impress me in some way, that aren't apologetically humble or humiliating like, "Band of cheerleaders gets back together for one last hurrah," you know," she said. "An old-lady cheerleader movie. I don't like that kind of thing. If I'm going to be an old lady "” and I'm sort of touching old lady these days "” at least I want to be a special old lady. I don't want to be relegated to some has-been making a comeback. I hate comebacks."
Not quite the rah-rah camaraderie people are looking for among women today, right? Weaver responded to Huston's comments in her own interview with Vanity Fair, and she didn't hold back.
"I just laughed," Weaver said. "And then I said, "˜Well, she can go f*** herself.' I was kind of disappointed. I had always been an admirer of Anjelica. And I thought, "˜That's a bit mean and petty.' I would say she must be going through menopause, but she must have had that ages ago."
Weaver admits, though, that Huston is partially right: there aren't too many roles for older women in Hollywood that aren't all about making a comeback.
"That's the problem"”there's so much ageism in our society," she said. "And a lot of it comes from the ages. People are people. Some of us got here sooner than others. A lot of my close friends are in their thirties. Except for the creakiness in your bones, I don't think there is really that much difference between us when we really get to know each other."
Despite calling her petty, Weaver did try to sympathize with Huston for being so harsh on Poms. She has a theory as to why she might be upset.
"Anjelica sounds sad at the moment, I have to say," Weaver pointed out. "I think she must be a bit disappointed or she wouldn't be slagging on people for no reason, including herself, saying she's an "˜old lady.'"
The feud may not be at the level of Better Davis and Joan Crawford, but it's definitely one of the juicier ones we've seen in a while.
