Geena Davis reveals she once lost out on a role because a male actor 20 years older than her said she was 'too old' to play his love interest

• Geena Davis recalled how an older male costar once said she was "too old" to play his love interest.
• According to the "Thelma & Louise" star, the actor in question was 20 years her senior.

Geena Davis said a male costar 20 years her senior once told her she was "too old" to play his love interest in a film.

"A certain male actor that was making a movie said that I was too old to be his romantic interest, and I was 20 years younger than him," Davis revealed on a recent episode of the Allison Interviews podcast with Allison Kugel, per Deadline.

According to Davis, she lost out on the part because of the actor's comments.

The actress condemned ageism in Hollywood, calling it "very strange and so prevalent."

"Women peak in their 20s and 30s, and men peak in their 40s and 50s as far as actors go. So the male stars of the movies want to appear to be younger than they are, or they want to appeal to younger people, so they always want a costar who is really young," Davis said of the industry's mentality regarding age and gender.

"That is why that happens and that is why women don't get cast very much after 40 and 50. It is because they are felt to be too old to be a romantic interest," she added.

Davis has starred in classic films like "The Fly," "Beetlejuice," and "A League of Their Own."

She also founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004, an organization "working collaboratively within the entertainment industry to create gender balance, foster inclusion and reduce negative stereotyping in family entertainment media," per their website.