Laura Dern is saying what a lot of actresses have been thinking for years, and she’s not holding back. The Oscar winner, who has been making the rounds promoting her latest film, “Is This Thing On?,” reuniting with co-star Will Arnett, and even teaming back up with “Jurassic Park” icons Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum for a Super Bowl ad, is opening up about Hollywood’s ongoing obsession with youth, calling attention to the lack of meaningful roles for older women while embracing aging as something powerful, not something to hide.
At the same time, Laura Dern is navigating a deeply personal chapter, choosing to slow down her schedule as she mourns the loss of her mother, actress Diane Ladd, and raises awareness for the disease that took her life.
Laura Dern Redefines What’s Sexy
Dern also opened up about how her understanding of confidence and sexuality has evolved over time.
“You know, it’s interesting: What they think you want to explore as a female actor is so bizarre,” she told AARP’s Movies for Grownups. “Like to explore sexuality at 20 in my case meant, ‘Tell me who you want me to be, or what you think is sexy or pretty, and I’ll try to mimic that in a film. I don’t know my own self or my own sexuality yet.’”
She added, “But at 50, it’s like, ‘This is what’s interesting. This is what’s sexy. That’s what’s unattractive. This is what feels human.’ Vulnerability is sexuality.”
Grown-Up Love Stories Bring A Different Kind Of Heat
According to Dern, intimacy later in life carries a different kind of power, one that Hollywood doesn’t often showcase.
“When [Will Arnett and I] were reading the scene in ‘Is This Thing On?’ where we were talking about what we didn’t like in the relationship or in each other, and Bradley Cooper, our director, was like, ‘That scene was so sexy.’ And I just loved that,” she said.
“I loved that this filmmaker saw communication as hot and intimacy as erotic,” the actress added. “Because it’s not what you get to see in movies, and it only worked because it’s about a marriage of 26 years. You know, it’s not about new infatuation.”
Laura Dern Calls Out Hollywood’s Lack Of Stories About Aging
While she embraces this stage of life, Dern didn’t hold back when addressing what she sees as a major gap in the industry.
“My mom would always say that ageism when you look great isn’t quite as overt, but she’s like, ‘How many movies do we have of 80-year-olds?’” she said before thanking Michael Haneke, the 83-year-old Austrian screenwriter and director of 2012’s Oscar-winning “Amour,” among others.
“We have them more. But it’s very rare to see films about what I’ve just walked through with my mother and her journey with IPF,” she said. “Where are those stories? Where are the love stories between us and our parents in cinema, in television?”
Dern Gets Real About Life’s Hardest Truths
Dern ended on a deeply reflective note, pointing out how little society and Hollywood prepare people for the realities of aging.
“We all know what it’s like to be a kid, but we don’t know how to grow old,” she said. “And we don’t know how to find community around it, and how to talk about our fear of disease, of losing life, of losing loved ones. It’s pretty amazing in a community of storytellers that there are hardly any stories about that, and yet it’s inescapable for us all to face.”
Laura Dern Teases What’s Next In Her Career
Even as she takes time to reflect and reset, Laura Dern made it clear she’s far from slowing down. Looking ahead, the actress revealed she has several exciting projects in the works, including a collaboration with longtime friend and co-star Nicole Kidman.
“There are a couple of projects that Nicole Kidman and I have, a film we’re excited about that’s in development, and another show that I’m working hard at right now,” Dern shared.
While she’s intentionally taking a moment for herself, she reassured fans there’s plenty to look forward to. “So there are exciting things to come,” she said. “But I’m taking a little time and then will get back to work.”
