I remember noticing this in a promo image a few years back for Battlestar Galactica where the contrast was particularly striking: http://content6.flixster.com/photo/63/12/80/6312800_ori.jpg

Who cares?

Yup. And it applies not only to film stars.....remember all that brouhaha about Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Her looks obviously have nothing to do with her competence in her career, but she gets "internet stoned" for daring to be in the public eye and not be young, slender and obviously pandering to the male gaze. In fact pretty much any woman is penalized with words like "hag" and "she let herself go" and "lesbian" if they cross the public eye in less than hollywood worthy shape.
Edit, I think it was Elena Kagan, my bad :)

Just stop catering to boners so we can have some content in our films. So easy. there is plenty of porn out there. Fap to that.

It's even worse than it seems, according to the google Cameron Diaz is 41 years old, 5 years older than Michael Fassbender. Javier Bardem is 44, only 3 years older than Cameron Diaz. If that is Penelope Cruz, and I can't tell from the photo but imdb says she is in the movie, she is 39 year old, three years older than Fassbender.

So not are women only not allowed to age, they are represented as being younger than men who are younger than they are, with everything that that entails.

An older woman's greatest sin is to be VISIBLE.

I'm tired of Photoshop. It was one thing to get rid of weird lighting or odd clothing wrinkles or the occasional pimple. Now women look like plastic dolls.

I agree that it is ridiculous, but as always, I'd like to take step back and ask why that has become the norm. It's certainly partly because women are attracted to older men and scars and wrinkles are marks of experience and thus masculinity, whereas men are usually attracted to younger women. I don't know what the average age of the movie going audience is, but I'd suggest that it has at least something to do with the plastic treatment of the ladies in question. Also, don't count out the possibility that the actresses have asked for a facial or that the designer wanted to be nice to them, anticipating such demands. I once took pictures of a close female friend and deliberately left some wrinkles on her face in the post, as she was 29, and smiles a lot. She actually complained that her face didn't look as plasticky as she had hoped they would.

What a horror that is. Go European. Boycott unrealistic portrayals of humanity.

Just appalling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4rTztvVx8E

Since advance one-sheets only comprise a small portion of "film marketing," it might be instructive to contrast them with the trailer.

In the trailer, Cameron Diaz (who seems to be playing a villain or femme fatale) definitely shows visible wrinkles, although her weathered beauty appears to be meant as a contrast to that of Cruz, whose soft and unblemished features underline the gentleness and innocence of her character. The distinction - problematic in itself - is unfortunately removed from the Diaz poster, which erases any trace of the hard-edged nature of her character. This choice makes no sense for the narrative, but it suggests that the advertisers were trying to undercut the grittiness of the film to widen its prospective market,

On the other hand, as awful as Javier Bardem looks in the poster, he looks downright reptilian in the trailer; it's as though every time he plays a villain, he has to invent an even worse haircut. He's actually a strikingly attractive man in person, but clearly he's meant to disappear into the role of a character that is hideous inside and out, and if anything, the poster actually softens that effect to make the star more recognizable.

Fassbender, who is still relatively new to non-art-house audiences, is in the lead role here (he is apparently the Counselor), so the posters have the unusual task of selling the young star as the archetypal world-weary leading man - a role that tends to go to older male actors. Notably, there is no equivalent archetype for leading women in crime dramas and action films.

I don't know what it's supposed to say that Brad Pitt appears prominently in the film but doesn't get his own poster, considering that he's still one of the most globally bankable actors in the industry.

One more thing that should be noted is that, while the posters give away nothing about the genre or plot, the trailer makes it clear that this is the kind of film that will be overwhelmingly marketed to men. Therefore, despite the presence of three very handsome leading males, the only characters allowed to have sex appeal in the marketing are the females.

I remember a couple of years back getting Gone With the Wind on Blu-ray. I spent the entire movie completely fascinated with Vivien Leigh's frown lines. She actually had lines on her face. I was struck by the fact that I had never been aware of her lines on any previous viewing and also that she would never be allowed to appear on screen in such a part with even the remotest hint of a wrinkle now.

why is everyone so invested in providing straw man examples of Female Actresses With Visible Skin? yes, they exist, nobody is saying that there are zero actresses with skin imperfections, because that would be, you know...INCORRECT. but as far as patterns go (and I think one of patriarchy's hallmarks is the way it informs patterns by erasing non-normative individuals), who is really going to say that aging actors and aging actresses are seen as attractive in the same way? how can you? when was the last time anybody heard an older woman called "distinguished"?

the oldest Sexiest Man Alive was Sean Connery at 59; the oldest Sexiest Woman Alive was Halle Berry at 42. his cover showed him with a deeply lined forehead and a silver mustache; any age-related imperfections that she has were Photoshopped into oblivion. Sexiest Man Alive George Clooney: salt-and-pepper hair. Sexiest Man Alive Matt Damon: wrinkles. Sexiest Man Alive Johnny Depp: looks like a skeleton mated with a wax statue. but their age supposedly informs their attractiveness. it's coded as experience and maturity. meanwhile, I don't think I read a single review of either Sex and the City movie that didn't make wisecracks about how the four lead actresses had aged poorly. yeah. clearly, older actors and older actresses are treated exactly the same, because Tina Fey has an oft-unnoticed scar on her face and it has the magical ability to eliminate all the sexism.

Penelope looks especially ridiculous, scrunching her eyebrows down with no trace of wrinkles. The people responsible for this are delusional.

Cue posts of "BUT IT'S JUSTIFIED CUS EVOPSYCHOLOGYPSYCHOBABBLE"

No country for old women.