George R.R. Martin published a fascinating blog spot a few weeks ago.
People expected an update on The Winds of Winter, and they got one. The author’s fans do not expect the book to ever see the light of day. They think Martin is making too much money from the live-action adaptations of his books to care about finishing the fantasy fiction series that made him a household name.
The author pushed back against that narrative, insisting that his determination to complete The Winds of Winter had not wavered. However, the biggest story to come out of the blog post was Martin’s candid admission that he was getting old (77), and old age was not fun.
He refused to downplay the highs he had experienced in recent years (global fame, award-winning TV shows, etc). But those successes were greatly diluted by the dark times stemming from the many friends he lost in recent months and the bouts of depression that plague him as a result.
The passing of so many artists, writers, and celebrities he was not only acquainted with, but whose work meant the world to Martin has only deepened his melancholy. The author is convinced that, as challenging as his life has become in recent times, the worst is probably yet to come.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was every bit the triumph he hoped it would be. And yet, the promotional campaign for the TV show, which involved weeks of travel and interviews, took its toll because Martin’s body can’t keep up with the demands of his job.
The author’s admissions about his failing physical and mental health are fascinating because Hollywood has a controversial relationship with old age.
They populate every film and TV show with the youngest, most attractive talent they can find, partly because audiences don’t know how to process the idea that Brad Pitt was once the romantic lead in every Rom-Com during the 2000s, and now he is more likely to star as the grizzled grandfather in a postapocalyptic thriller.
Gabrielle Union was playing the teenage cheerleader at 34. Now (52), she is the single mother in a Tyler Perry drama trying to find love after all her children leave the nest. Hugh Grant was such a diabolical villain in Heretic, a 2024 psychological horror film, because his days as a bumbling heartthrob in *Notting Hill *are long gone.
The public routinely criticizes Hollywood’s ageism. Women, in particular, are usually thrown to the wayside once they start to wrinkle. Men fare better. However, they also have a ceiling. No studio will risk $200M on a Denzel Washington-led film when Tom Holland is right there.
But maybe we are wrong to blame Hollywood for this trend. After all, film studios are driven by greed. They will do anything that makes them money, regardless the moral or ethical implications. More often than not, they succeed by giving audiences what they want.
And a cursory glance at the discourse online suggests that audiences want young, attractive faces. Do you remember the conversation Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny triggered?
Among other things, many longtime Indiana Jones fans admitted that seeing their hero become a decrepit old man made them sad. To be clear, I’m not talking about people who hated the character’s questionable depiction in the film.
A section of the fanbase was simply uncomfortable with the idea that the dashing archeologist who fought nazis in the 80s was unlikely to survive a trip up a single flight of stairs in 2026. You get the sense that audiences don’t want to see aging actors/celebrities because it reminds them of their own mortality, and the fact that we are all gradually turning to dust with each passing day.
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