All that glitters isn’t gold. For the longest time, Eva Mendes was considered an A-list actress that was making impact working with some of the most prolific actors in the industry. Her list of credits included ‘Training Day’ and ‘Out of Time’ alongside Denzel Washington, ‘All About The Benjamins’ with Ice Cube and Mike Epps, ‘Once Upon A Time In Mexico’ with Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp, and ‘Hitch’ with Will Smith.
However, at the turn of 2011, the amount of significant roles started to decrease and Mendes was finding herself disenchanted with Hollywood. During an interview on the ‘Fitzy and Wippa’ podcast, the star clarified that among the reasons why she retreated from the limelight after 2014 was because of the lack of good roles.
“I was not excited about the stereotypical roles being offered to me at the time,” Mendes said. “Especially after working on the film Lost River – that was a dream project. That’s a tough act to follow.”
‘Lost River’ is the directorial debut of her husband, actor Ryan Gosling. The couple have two children together, also another reason why Mendes took a break from the industry.
Mendes continued, “I took time off to be with the kids because they were just so little — our older one just turned eight. But, it’s also because there are just some pretty s****y roles being offered to me and I’m just so sick of taking them. I was sick of it! I said, ‘You know what, it’s not worth it.’ If I’m going to go away for a few months, I might as well do something that’s damn good.”
Meanwhile, Gosling, who had a slightly rocky start in Hollywood, landed iconic roles in ‘Remember The Titans’ and ‘The Notebook.’ Since then, his career has skyrocketed and he’s added some hefty notches to his belt, including ‘ The Big Short,’ ‘La La Land,’ and ‘The Nice Guys, to name a few.
Although everyone has their own unique path, the double standard for male and female actors in Hollywood are made more apparent by Mendes’ trajectory in comparison to Gosling’s. In spite of the glaring differentiation, Mendes is willing to take up acting once more with a few stipulations.
“I would get back into acting for a great role,” Mendes added. “Like, before kids, I was kinda up for anything, you know, if it was a fun project. But now I won’t do violence. I don’t want to do sexuality. The list is short.”
