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Hollywood for Grownups: Will Smith Crashes Back, Along With Demi Moore, Sarah McLachlan and Matt Dillon, Who All Have New Projects

Plus how Woody Harrelson cashes in


spinner image Demi Moore, Will Smith, Sarah McLachlan and Woody Harrelson on a purple, blue and green background
(Left to right) Demi Moore, Will Smith, Sarah McLachlan and Woody Harrelson
AARP (Kristy Sparow/Getty Images; Joshua Sammer/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Dominique Charriau/Getty Images)

It’s amazing how suddenly everything old is new again in Hollywood. According to one mega-producer, the 50+ audience is to blame.

spinner image Merle Ginsberg

Hollywood for Grownups

Hollywood reporter Merle Ginsberg has written about celebrities, film, TV, music and fashion for publications including The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Cosmopolitan and more. Each week she’ll cover celebrity news for AARP’s Hollywood for Grownups column.

spinner image Woody Harrelson attends the photocall for Triangle of Sadness during the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France
Woody Harrelson
Dominique Charriau/Getty Images

Woody Harrelson Goes Spiritual

Woody Harrelson, 62, doesn’t draw the line between work and pleasure. He turns his extracurricular passions — he and cannabis are old friends — into businesses. Last fall, he joined up with wellness entrepreneur Amy Holmwood on Holistic Spirits Company (HSC), a booze brand made from sustainable contents that protect the environment. When the line expanded from New York to California late last month, the admitted health food freak popped into Holy Water, a West Hollywood “conscious” cocktail bar he co-owns. There, he shared some curated concoctions featuring HSC’s plant-based, additive-free, non-GMO vodka and gin with wine and spirits reporters. Holy Water, by the way, is next door to the Woods, a weed lounge that Harrelson and HBO’s Bill Maher, 68, opened two years ago. Yet none of these avocations seem to be slowing the actor down; to date, Harrelson has 80 films and 18 TV projects under his belt.

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spinner image Demi Moore attends the Chopard Once Upon A Time Opening at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France.
Demi Moore
Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

Reinventing Demi Moore

She was the toast of May’s Cannes Film Fest, but the red carpet doesn’t stop there for the career comeback of Demi Moore, 61. Until Ryan Murphy’s dishy streamer smash Feud: Capote vs. The Swans aired on FX earlier this year, Moore hadn’t had a high-profile role since 2011’s Margin Call. But in addition to starring in the much-lauded edgy The Substance, an upcoming September film about a woman who finds the drug equivalent to a (gory) fountain of youth, Moore will play the wife of a powerful Texas oilman in 54-year-old Taylor Sheridan’s latest series Landman. The series will costar Billy Bob Thornton, 68, and Jon Hamm, 53, and is due on Paramount+ this fall. Then Moore will voice an animated movie while developing a couple’s therapy TV series she will star in called Dirty Diana. Moore’s eldest daughter, Rumer Willis, is calling all the attention on her mom the “Demi-ssance.” She and her two sisters have launched a group chat to hype, specifically, Moore’s fabulous fashion choices. In Cannes and at its glam Cannes amfAR benefit, Moore donned gorgeous couture gowns by Schiaparelli, Armani and Balenciaga, all while accessorizing with her adorable, portable pint-size chihuahua Pilaf. Maer Roshan, coeditor of The Hollywood Reporter, tells me, “Demi Moore is still as beautiful as ever. She will be a full-blown movie star again.”

spinner image Will Smith attends the Berlin premiere of Bad Boys For Life; Sarah McLachlan at the Wayuu Taya Foundation 20th Anniversary Gala; Matt Dillon at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival
(Left to right) Will Smith, Sarah McLachlan and Matt Dillon
AARP (Joshua Sammer/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Will Smith, Sarah McLachlan and Matt Dillon Are Also on the Comeback Trail

Demi Moore isn’t the only one showing up on the Hollywood scene after a long absence. Scandal-plagued Will Smith, 55, now seems to want to mend his reputation since the slap heard around the world two years ago.  He’s been on the road promoting Bad Boys: Ride or Die (which led the box office weekend June 5 with a $56 million debut) with costar Martin Lawrence, 59. And Smith’s new hour-long untitled Netflix comedy special, with celeb guests, sketches and musical performances, will air in 2025, three years after the streamer dumped their collective project Fast and Loose. Singer Sarah McLachlan, 56, who adopted a skiing/surfing lifestyle for the last 20 years, is now on tour for the 30th anniversary of her album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and preparing to record new songs. And Matt Dillon, 60, who had taken up painting in recent years, stars as Marlon Brando in Being Maria, the Cannes hit about Last Tango in Paris star Maria Schneider. It’s his first headline role in two decades. Megaproducer Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Feud) attributes entertainment’s old-is-new trend to mature audiences and their desire for nostalgia. “Streamer viewers are more and more on the older side,” Murphy, 58, told me. “They’re looking for mature content with the stars they relate to, grew up with. They’re nostalgic — as am I.”

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