The OP is subconsciously expressing his own fear of eventual old age.
That's not a flaw. All of us go through life thinking that we will be the first person in the history of the human race that will not age into decrepitude and eventual death. When we see it in someone else, it sets up cognitive dissonance. At some fundamental level we're trying to grapple with it as a reality that we ourselves are going to eventually have to face.
I often think that it must be especially hard for big name actors to see their aging so clearly depicted in movies. Pacino and De Niro, Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, etc... the movies from their youthful prime are still part of the culture. Youtube, streaming services, film retrospectives... Every day they get to compare their current aged status to their younger, vibrant selves on the screen. They get to read stories about their glory days of film and be reminded that those days are receding far behind them.
I sometimes wonder if that's the reason that some actors... Gene Hackman, Jack Nicolson as examples... simply retire quietly without fanfare. They don't want to face the inevitable retrospectives and film essays that would serve to remind them how old they are.
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user111 (358)
4 years ago
I heard Nicholson retired because he literally could not remember his lines anymore. No point in wasting anyone else's time and money going on set and proving once again that he is incapable of delivering his lines at his age.
But yeah, I hear where you're coming from. I remember being horrified watching Road to Perdition seeing how old and decrepit Paul Newman looked in his twilight years and similarly Robert Redford in Spy Game when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was one of my favorite flicks growing up. I knew a guy who literally got rid of all the mirrors in his house as he grew older just because of how much he hated seeing his "old" self. I know I have a far harder time looking at myself in the mirror as I age.
I think the less cognizant you are of your physical looks in your younger years, the better off you are handling aging. Movie stars must have it rough since so much of their livelihood depends on how good they look. The unattractive and ugly, or even those that just think they're ugly, ironically must have it easiest even as they get less attractive and uglier with age.
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