Famke Janssen has blamed ageism for her exit from the X-Men movie franchise.
The Dutch actress was cast as superhero Dr. Jean Grey in 2000’s X-Men, and went on to reprise role in four further installments of the series.
However, Janssen hinted that it was ageism that caused her to depart the movies, with Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner playing a younger version of Jean in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse and the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
“I didn’t give up, they gave up on me. There’s a big difference,” she told Us Weekly. “It was their (producers’) decision, you know? It’s like what happens in life. You get, well not to me thankfully. But people, just like men trade women in for a younger model version. It’s like that.”
Since leaving the X-Men franchise, Janssen has appeared on TV series The Blacklist and filmed parts for movies including Michael Caton-Jones’ Asher and Cuba Gooding Jr.’s drama Louisiana Caviar.
And she’s also enjoyed making a guest appearance on Viola Davis’ hit TV show, How to Get Away with Murder, but reveals that she hadn’t met the star prior to the start of filming romantic scenes together.
“Hi, I’m Famke.’ ‘Hi, I’m Viola.’ Alright, let’s make out kind of thing,” she recalled of meeting Viola. “The opportunity to work with her and have such a strong relationship between the two of us was wonderful.”