Movies for Grownups

AARP The Magazine recognized the winners of the annual Movies for Grownups® Awards, celebrating 2024’s standout films and TV shows that speak directly to a powerful 50-plus audience. The program aired on February 23, 2025 on PBS's Great Performances. 

The Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups was awarded to A Complete Unknown, which portrays Bob Dylan through his earliest folk music success, including his time with folk icon Joan Baez through his breaking with folk traditions by the controversial use of electric instruments.

"A Complete Unknown" theatrical release poster 

Alan Cumming, the Tony- and Emmy Award-winning host of the widely lauded competition show The Traitors, returned as the host of AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards.

Alan Cumming hosted the awards ceremony, photo courtesy Getty Images for AARP 

“People are living longer, healthier and more vibrant lives than ever before, and AARP created Movies for Grownups to celebrate entertainment that better reflects this reality,” said AARP CEO Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan. “These movies and TV shows reflect and connect with older adults, and help audiences of all ages have a better appreciation of living throughout all their years.”

AARP CEO Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, photo courtesy of Getty Images for AARP 

Critically acclaimed stage and screen actress Glenn Close received the Career Achievement Award, the event’s top honor. (Read more information about Glenn Close following this article.)

Glenn Close, photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 

The event’s highlights included Demi Moore, awarded Best Actress for her role in The Substance, who remarked on the surprising joy she feels about getting older, saying, “I hope that this film and this moment serves as a reminder that we don’t fade. We evolve, and there is no expiration date for talent, passion, curiosity, and purpose.” Another memorable moment from the evening was when Chief Royal Ramey, a former inmate-turned-CEO of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, presented the award for Best Ensemble to Sing Sing, which was accepted by Colman Domingo and former inmate, Clarence Maclin, who thanked AARP for the honor. 

John Stamos presented Demi Moore with the Best Actress award

 

 

Best Actor honoree Adrien Brody provided an emotional speech about his upbringing, saying, “When I was a boy, an only child in Queens – surrounded by a lot of harshness and things I couldn’t understand, or defend myself or others in this world against – I prayed to God to be a grownup, so I would somehow be empowered to have a voice. I realize that prayer has been answered through my work.”

Best Actor honoree Adrien Brody, photo courtesy of Getty Images for AARP

 

 

For more than two decades, AARP’s Movies for Grownups has recognized the talent and experience of older actors and filmmakers. AARP continues to champion movies for grownups by grownups, by advocating for the 50-plus audience, and encouraging films and TV shows that resonate with older viewers.

The complete list of the annual Movies for Grownups Awards Nominees and Winners:

• Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups: A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Gladiator II and September 5.

Winner: A Complete Unknown

• Best Actress: Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Demi Moore (The Substance) and June Squibb (Thelma).

Winner: Demi Moore (The Substance)

• Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Daniel Craig (Queer), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) and Jude Law (The Order).

Winner: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

• Best Supporting Actress: Joan Chen (Didi), Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys), Lesley Manville (Queer), Connie Nielsen (Gladiator II) and Isabella Rossellini (Conclave).

Winner: Joan Chen (Didi)

• Best Supporting Actor: Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Peter Sarsgaard (September 5), Stanley Tucci (Conclave) and Denzel Washington (Gladiator II).

Winner: Peter Sarsgaard (September 5)

• Best Director: Pedro Almodóvar (The Room Next Door), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Edward Berger (Conclave), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown) and Ridley Scott (Gladiator II).

Winner: Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

• Best Screenwriter: Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Jay Cocks and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox (Wicked), Peter Straughan (Conclave), and Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts (Dune: Part Two).

Winner: Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox (Wicked)

• Best Ensemble: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, A Complete Unknown, His Three Daughters, September 5 and Sing Sing.

Winner: Sing Sing

• Best Actress (TV): Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country), Jean Smart (Hacks), Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building) and Sofia Vergara (Griselda).

Winner: Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country)

• Best Actor (TV): Billy Crudup (The Morning Show), Idris Elba (Hijack), Jon Hamm (Fargo), Gary Oldman (Slow Horses) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Shōgun).

Winner: Jon Hamm (Fargo)

• Best TV Series or Limited Series: The Crown, Hacks, Palm Royale, Shōgun, and Slow Horses. 

Winner: Shōgun

• Best Intergenerational Film: Didi, Here, His Three Daughters, The Piano Lesson and Thelma.

Winner: Thelma

• Best Time Capsule: The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Here, Maria and September 5.

Winner: A Complete Unknown

• Best Documentary: I Am: Celine Dion, Luther: Never Too Much, Piece by Piece, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, and Will & Harper.

Winner: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

AARP Foundation, a charitable affiliate of AARP, will donate proceeds raised from the Movies for Grownups Awards to local organizations to aid with Los Angeles’ wildfire recovery efforts for affected families and communities. AARP Foundation works for and with vulnerable older adults to end senior poverty and reduce financial hardship by building economic opportunity. To learn more about AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups, visit http://www.aarp.org/moviesforgrownups

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Glenn Close received this year’s Movies for Grownups^® Career Achievement Award. 

“Glenn Close starred in The Big Chill, the first blockbuster hit film about the Baby Boomer generation facing aging, and since then her career has shattered Hollywood’s outmoded, ageist stereotypes. Her steady successes exemplify what AARP’s Movies for Grownups program is all about,” said AARP EVP & Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Martha Boudreau. “We are delighted to recognize Glenn Close—who at age 35 landed her first movie role and her first Oscar nomination, and who at age 77 has a highly acclaimed career that continues to flourish.”

Glenn Close is soaring higher than ever, starring in 2024’s No. 1 Netflix horror hit The Deliverance, the upcoming Knives Out mystery Wake Up Dead Man, Ryan Murphy’s legal drama All’s Fair, The Summer Book, Back in Action, and six more shows and films—all part of a career so deserving of the Movies for Grownups® Career Achievement Award, our highest honor.

“I am so honored to receive the AARP Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award even though I feel like I’m still 35, if not younger,” says Close. “I love making movies for grownups and everyone else, and I deeply appreciate the inspiration and support of the people I have worked with over 50 years. Thank you, AARP, for this great honor.” 

Close joins a prestigious list of previous AARP Movies for Grownups Career Achievement honorees, including Jamie Lee Curtis, George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Michael Douglas, Shirley MacLaine, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Robert Redford, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro.

Glenn Close is known for illustrious performances spanning five decades. Her breakout film role as Jenny Fields in The World According to Garp (1982) and her iconic roles in The Big Chill (1983) and The Natural (1984) earned her three consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She leaped higher yet with the sexy $320 million blockbuster Fatal Attraction (1987), which earned her nominations for Academy Award and Golden Globe Best Actress honors, and Dangerous Liaisons (1988), which fetched a second Oscar Best Actress nomination and a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Actress. Her repertoire ranges from prestige dramas like The Wife (2018) to the bestseller adaptation Hillbilly Elegy (2020) to children’s films and voice acting in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Tarzan (1999).

Close has conquered the small screen as well, earning her first Primetime Emmy nomination for Something About Amelia (1984), followed by three wins: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie as Margarethe Cammermeyer in the television film Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995), and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, twice in a row, for playing Patty Hewes in Damages (2007–2012).

Close is the critically acclaimed actress of stage and screen with eight Academy Award nominations, two AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Tony Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics Choice Award, a People’s Choice Award, and three GRAMMY Award nominations.

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About AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards’ Philanthropic Goals

The annual Movies for Grownups Awards raises funds for AARP Foundation, AARP’s affiliated charity, which works for and with vulnerable older adults around the country to transform lives and build a future without senior poverty. Through vigorous legal advocacy and evidence-based solutions, and by strengthening supportive community connections, AARP Foundation fosters resilience, advances equity and restores hope.