At 28, Elizabeth Banks Was Too Old and Haggard to Play Mary-Jane Watson in Spider-Man

Banks told Glamour:

“I screen-tested for the role of Mary-Jane Watson in the first Spider-Man movie, opposite Tobey Maguire…Tobey and I are basically the same age and I was told I was too old to play her. I’m like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s what I’ve signed up for.’”

The role, of course, went to Kristen Dunst who, at only 18, was young enough to think that upside-down kiss in the rain thing was romantic. Banks was cast in a minor role in the series: she appeared as secretary Betty Brant in three of the franchise films.

There’s probably some takeaway from this about the trajectory of a women’s career in Hollywood: at 18, an actress is still a love interest and ingenue, but by 28, she’s a secretary in a bad wig.