Welcome to 2021, a year with, Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy actresses returning to TV to play women in their forties on Firefly Lane, a year in which we’ve looked back at Britney Spears’ career in order to reframe it and a year in which skinny jeans and side parts are apparently not cool anymore. It’s starting to feel like this year has been designed to make many of us feel old AF. Case in point: a recent viral post about Leonardo DiCaprio and Steve Martin that Father of the Bride co-writer Nancy Meyers even commented on.
Here’s the gist. Recently, a social media user dropped a hot fact right into our laps that went viral, to the point where Nancy Meyers, who famously co-wrote Father of the Bride, saw it. She then shared her own take on the fact that Steve Martin's Father of the Bride character and Leonardo DiCaprio are now of the same age.
Yes, right now, at this very moment, Titanic actor Leonardo DiCaprio is the exact same age Steve Martin was when he filmed Father of the Bride back in 1991. Now, Steve Martin famously went grey in his thirties and he was only 46 at the time he filmed Father of the Bride. In addition, Titanic itself is nearing its 25th anniversary; regardless, thinking about Leonardo DiCaprio being the same age as a dude giving away his daughter in a movie is still something I was deeply uninterested in computing related to my own age.
Look, maybe Leonardo DiCaprio looks 5 percent less amazing nowadays. He did, after all, play a character who was sort of on a downward trajectory in his career and not totally taking care of himself in Quentin Tarantino's recent Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, which doesn't help that imagery. But the fact the actor is nearing fifty is still difficult to fully comprehend. Whether it’s because DiCaprio is a longtime bachelor or simply because more time has passed than many of us are willing to admit, him being the same age as a grey-haired Steve Martin was when he played the father of a bride stands out as a stark fact, though my favorite take on the matter came from one commenter on the original Twitter post Nancy Meyers responded to, which joked:
In his defense, Steve Martin has looked 65 since he was 20.
In addition, thinking through how long ago 1991 actually was is even a little tough to fully process--30 years! Nancy Meyers and Steve Martin themselves are in their seventies now, another zinger that may or may not make you feel old AF. Or as Nancy Meyers herself noted, time passes swiftly. There are moments when the passing of time really sinks in and this is one of them for me.
Meanwhile, I don’t see Leonardo DiCaprio doing a Father of the Bride reboot anytime soon, though the cast did reunite for a popular Zoom call during quarantine last year. In case you want to feel even more weirded out, I’ll just go ahead and point out that J.LO is the same age as Ruth McClanahan was when she joined Golden Girls. You’re welcome.
