Cool dude Michael Bay body-shamed Kate Beckinsale while making 'Pearl Harbor'
Can a movie about a tragedy really be great without huge boobs?
That is an actual quandary allegedly faced by director and explosion enthusiast Michael Bay back when he cast Kate Beckinsale in Pearl Harbor. You know, one of those movies about a real attack and the resulting loss of life.
Beckinsale discussed how she didn't "fit the type of actress Michael Bay had met before,” on The Graham Norton Show.
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“I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blonde,” she continued.
Beckinsale herself was baffled when Bay made demands that seemed to go against what the character she was playing would actually do.
“I’d just had my daughter and had lost weight, but I was told that if I got the part, I’d have to work out. And I just didn’t understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.”
But despite wanting her to be hotter, Bay didn't want an actress that was too hot. Back in 2001, he told Movieline he "didn't want someone who was too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone's too pretty.”
He went on to cite Kate Winslet in as an example of the look he was going for, "When you look at Titanic, Kate Winslet is pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful. That makes it work better for women.” Makes sense -- "not overwhelmingly beautiful" is most people's go-to description of Winslet.
On The Graham Norton Show, Beckinsale recalled what it was like to promote Pearl Harbor with Bay making those comments.
"When he was asked about me, he’d say, ‘Kate wasn’t so attractive that she would alienate the female audience.’ He kept saying it everywhere we went — and we went to a lot of places!”
You may wonder, in that case, what Bay said about the physical attractiveness of Beckinsale's co-stars, Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. Beckinsale recalls nothing: "He said, "'I have worked with Ben before and I love him, and Josh is so manly and a wonderful actor.’”
Don't worry, Bay, you're not too attractive to be a male director in Hollywood!
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Topics Celebrities
Tricia Gilbride was a Reporter for Mashable Watercooler. Tricia focused on the intersection of celebrity culture and the Internet. Previously, she worked as a fashion writer and a social media manager. She also edits Women-Artists.org, a blog and annual print publication, and looks exactly like her cat.
