There isn’t a point in life when we suddenly figure it all out Life is filled with experiences and lessons, and the process never ends. In an interview with AARP The Magazine, the cast of the 2013 film, Last Vegas, talks about life and what growing up is all about. Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline are the stars of the new movie. Last Vegas is about three sixty-something year-old men who take a break from their mundane lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single friend.
The director of the film, Jon Turteltaub, could not be more pleased with the cast. “I was worried about these legends gelling, but one boisterous dinner together was all it took. Michael was instantly team quarterback, Kevin was class clown, Morgan was the lovable troublemaker and Bobby was the cool, aloof one. It was a lot like other friendships between men. The more they got to know each other, the more they insulted each other.”
It is sometimes assumed that Hollywood is only a place for the young, but this isn’t true. “It’s not how old you are but how you are old, as the saying goes. Actors don’t have ages—we have age ranges. But I have to wear a hearing aid in this movie and let my hair and beard go white, so I felt every bit my age,” Kevin Kline said. There is a place in the acting world for every age. Besides, age is just a number. According to Morgan Freeman, “You feel like you feel. Age is arbitrary. Some days on the golf course, I feel like I’m 90. Other days, 50.”
So what do the guys have to say about the wisdom that comes with age? Well according to Michael Douglas, “You don’t change that much. The kid in you is still there. You’re supposed to get wise and more mature, but you have the same foibles, insecurities, good things, bad things.” It is generally assumed that one day it will all come together and we’ll have all the answers … but maybe that point won’t ever really come. There’s always more to learn and there’s always room to grow.
If there’s one thing to be said, it’s that life is short. “I never thought I would reach this age. Really. I was fairly certain that with my lifestyle, it would have been truncated some time back. I was always the one who dared to jump out the second-story window,” Freeman said. No one realizes how quick the years pass until you look back. It’s important to look at life like a gift and appreciate every single day. During the interview, Robert DeNiro said, “You know the end is near, not that you think it’s going to happen to you. You read the obits and see somebody passed who shouldn’t have. You feel, ‘Wow, he was so young.’ It’s a bit of luck just being here.”
Being open to life and everything it has to offer is the only way to live. Although age doesn’t necessarily provide total wisdom, it does come with a sort of freedom. Michael Freeman explained this freedom stating, “Doesn’t matter if it’s morning or night. Friend hands you a glass, you look him in the eye and say ‘Cheers.’”
