Okay, so
I have some really mixed feelings on Brie Larson being cast as Captain Marvel. On one hand, she’s an awesome actress who I’m sure is more than capable of taking on this role. She even sort of looks like how I would envision a real-life Carol Danvers - if Carol Danvers was one of the twenty somethings playing opposite Lena Dunham on Girls. Larson is 26. Danvers is probably in her mid-30s when she gets her powers, maybe even in her early 40s. What does this say about Marvel, who still hasn’t confirmed a standalone Black Widow movie (despite half-heartedly committing to maybe making one recently), that their first pick to play their first female hero in her own movie is someone who is ten or fifteen years younger than the actual character? What about someone like Emily Blunt or Charlize Theron, both of whom have proven themselves in action roles before? Are 33 and 40 too old for a lead role? For many female actresses (unless they’re Meryl Streep), the answer is often “yes.” I can’t say I’m surprised because this is just how Hollywood works, but that doesn’t do much to help take the sting out of it.
I think their main reason for casting a younger actress is similar to the reasons for a younger spiderman. They have big plans for their franchise and they plan on keeping these characters around for a long while.
They'd want someone to grow into the role since they'll be in several movies over what, the next ten years? At least? I agree it sucks that older women don't get cast as much in roles that aren't just 'protagonists mother' or something, but I don't think that's their entire mindset, you know?
I don't think they just cast whoever they think will sell. (Though they do this of course, but I don't think it's their only motivation) They cast people who believe have potential for long periods of time, who have some sort of guarantee that they can still portray this role in the future. At the rate Marvel is going currently, playing a marvel character is not just one role, it's a lifetime career in a sense. A younger actor is a better guarantee in this case, in their eyes
Plus as much as I love Emily Blunt, I know she's expressed before that she doesn't like doing sequels, so I'm not sure Marvel would be her thing. And I don't know about Charlize, but would she still want be playing the same role when she's 50something? Maybe she would, no one knows, but I don't doubt Marvel approached her, being one of the biggest names for female actors in action movies as of late, and they definitely approached Emily Blunt before, so it's not like they refuse to consider older actresses.
All I'm saying is it's not just about being afraid to cast older women, there's a lot more of a thought process that goes into it, but obviously I don't work at marvel or anything, I could be entirely wrong, this is just an interpretation after all.
