MICHELLE PFEIFFER - 50-YEAR-OLD PFEIFFER SAYS AGE NO BARRIER IN MOVIES

50-YEAR-OLD PFEIFFER SAYS AGE NO BARRIER IN MOVIES

At the Berlin Film Festival, Michelle Pfeiffer, who turns 51 in April but looks half her age, fielded numerous questions concerning her growing old and the opportunities for older actresses in movies. Promoting her latest film, Cheri , directed by Stephen Frears, in which she portrays a 19th century courtesan who initiates a young man into sex and has a six-year affair with him, she remarked that the many recent films in which older actresses appear opposite younger actors is "a positive step in the right direction." To another reporter's question about whether she found reaching middle age "liberating," she replied that it made her "more grateful for what you have, and you really count your blessings." Asked about the perception that older actresses have difficulty finding jobs in Hollywood, she said that her own experience refutes that notion. "It is true that the older you get the fewer parts there are, but at the same time there are fewer movies being made and there are fewer parts for actors in general." Still, she said, becoming older has allowed her to do what she enjoys most -- "character work." And, she observed, "The older you get, the roles you get actually become more interesting."

10/02/2009