OSCAR-NOMINATED actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, 37, has revealed that she recently lost out on a role because she was ‘too old’.

In an interview with The Wrap, Gyllenhaal said that although she was initially angry about the knock back, she had to laugh at how farcical it was.

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“There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,” she said.

I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.

Twitter has reacted with incredulity:

This has been par for the course in Hollywood for quite some time, but the tides are slowly starting to turn – for example, Monica Bellucci, 50, was cast as a love interest for Daniel Craig, 47, in the new James Bond film.

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Gyllenhaal said that despite this setback, she does believe things are getting better for women in the movie business:

A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now, playing real women, complicated women. I don’t feel despairing at all. And I’m looking with hope for something fascinating.

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