For decades, she prowled across our screens, hunting fresh meat to satisfy her ferocious sexual appetite. She rampaged through the tabloids too, as high-profile pairings put a celebrity gloss on the term. Now, the cougar has returned — and this time, she’s biting back Zac Efron as Chris Cole and Nicole Kidman as Brooke Harwood in A Family Affair.
Photo: Aaron Epstein/Netflix To be a Hollywood cougar was once the stuff of scandal, a titillating taboo, from Anne Bancroft’s Mrs Robinson in The Graduate and Joan Collins’ Alexis Carrington in Dynasty to Eva Longoria’s Gabrielle in Desperate Housewives. Jennifer Coolidge’s turn as Stifler’s mom in American Pie represented a teen boy’s fantasy: an insatiable mentor who “knew what to do” in the bedroom, and a mocking update of Mrs Robinson, played for cheap laughs. This year, we’ve seen a new wave of films spotlighting relationships between older women and younger men.
In May, The Idea of You became a massive streaming hit and Amazon MGM Studios’ biggest romcom ever, featuring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old divorcee swept up in a romance with the 24-year-old frontman of a One Direction-esque boy band, played by rising star Nicholas Galitzine. In June, Netflix’s A Family Affair cast Nicole Kidman, 57, as a widowed author who falls in love with an action movie star, played by Zac Efron, 36. Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.
