Represent
It's great that Jennifer Weiner has a movie out based on one of her books, and that it's getting good reviews, and that she's happy about it. But Toni Colette, as wonderful as she is, is not fat. Can't we please for the love of god stop with this size ten "movie fat" shit and let some fat actress represent?
posted by mo pie at 11:15 AM
10 Comments:
If I recall correctly (I read the novel pretty recently), Rose is described as a size 14 - "larger" than her sister, and "fat" according to societal standards, but not really fat (anyone who can buy clothes in the "regular" section is NOT FAT, IMO).
Now, I haven't had a good look at Toni lately (and there wasn't a full-body shot during the movie preview), so I don't know whether she fits that description, but I never really pictured Rose as fat - just not skinny.
I really enjoyed the novel, so I'll probably still see the movie.
psst...that's why there is a link in the original post.
psst...that's why there's a link in the original post.
I went to a preview of the film on Tuesday, and no, Rose (Toni Collette) is definitely not fat. But compared to Maggie (Cameron Diaz), she isn't the 'skinny sister' either. Personally, I liked the way Rose looked better.
The movie is actually well worth seeing. The first half-hour is pretty lame, but it builds into the rest of the story very well - and has some surprising depth.
One of the things that happens when you sign over the rights of a book to a movie company is that they get some creative liberties to make it more "appealing" or to adapt the story to fit in X amount of time or whatever they choose to do. So, yeah, Jennifer Weiner is happy about the movie overall, but do you think she would come out and say, "Hey, you screwed up my story? The older sister isn't fat enough!" Of course not. Even if she hated the movie, you'd hear at least some praises, because she'd want to defend her work.
Personally, I've not seen the movie (yet), but I did read the book and the book is good and what I've read about the movie seems to give it good reviews overall.
I also remember reading somewhere that Toni C said she would not be gaining any more weight for any film, but then this came along and because she loved the part she compromised by gaining less than what they wanted.
i sometimes wonder if she got pidgeonholed as a fat actress when she did Muriel's Wedding (remember her squeezed into white satin?) But she hasn't been anywhere near "fat" for years....
I actually saw Jen Weiner at a reading she was doing for her new book this week. During the Q&A some lady mentioned Toni Colette's lack of pudge compared to the character. Weiner responded that Toni actually did gain 30 pounds for the role, but that it didn't look like much on her. The studio wanted a big name and also someone who could hold her own with Shirley McLaine. Sadly, they couldn't find anyone bigger than a size 6 to fit the bill...
I was totally disppointed with the Bridget Jones movies for this reason: I found it insulting that they didn't bother to find a size-appropriate, British actress for the lead role. Why was that so hard? Why did the producers act like they had no choice but to go back to the usual over-exposed skinny American actresses that we see all the time? Zellweger shouldn't have to compromise her health like that when there are SO MANY average-sized women who could have done that role.
Anonymous's theory could be true. I remember reading that TC was 13 stone (182 pounds) for Muriel's Wedding, which at the time was heavier than me by some way. But she still looked smaller, in my opinion. I think she's tallish, which would make a difference...
But I agree about Bridget Jones. What's quite strange is that the character in the books was never that overweight, if you look at the numbers. The calorie-counting was just a side of her obsessiveness. (And she was dark-haired.) A British size 14 is only a US 10...
And what happened to the scene in which Bridget gets down to eight stone and people tell her she looks too thin and ill? (That's a rhetorical question.)
Bridget's weight in the books fluctuates between 132lbs (at the most) and 110 lbs (after prison etc. in the second one). But its usually in the 125lb range.
Now her height is not speicified but the general impression one gets is that she is of average height at least. So its hard to see why she would be considered even mildly overweight at average height and 125lbs.
If anything Zellweger in the second movie seemed heavier than the Bridget in the books.
*shrug*
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