Last year, the brutal body horror The Substance exposed how the media machine works and how it destroys an individual both mentally and physically by enforcing beauty ideals and forcing perfection. While Coralie Fargeat's film stylizes and exaggerates using the tools of the genre, it fundamentally conveys important truths, with sad and infuriating real-life examples from both Hollywood's past and present. One such example was shared by Marvel Cinematic Universe star, Kat Dennings, in a recent interview.
Dennings recently spoke to People magazine about her debut sitcom, Shifting Gears. In this interview, she reflected on the humiliating experience she had early in her career when she was a child, due to a casting director. The 38-year-old actress started her career in the early 2000s, appearing in episodes of Sex and the City and the comedy Raising Dad. She did not reveal which early (prospective) project led to the incident but shared the following:
"Back then, when I went to auditions and was starting out, the working conditions in the industry were very different compared to now. Openness wasn’t really a thing. It was pretty tough. I received a lot of negative feedback, and people didn’t hold back. [...] It was pretty mind-blowing to think about. I wondered how anyone could dare to speak to a child like that. It was insane! For example, I was only 12 years old at the time. I went to an audition, finished it, and then my manager called me, and I asked how it went. They didn’t sugarcoat it: 'Well, they said you’re not pretty enough and that you’re also fat.'"
However, Dennings wasn’t intimidated, even at such a young age. She simply decided not to care about such negative comments:
"This is how I looked at it. For some reason, it didn’t break me mentally. I thought, ‘I’ll show them!’ I’m grateful to my parents because they told me those people were idiots, not to listen to them. And I also thought, 'These are the idiots, not me.'"
The actress believes that today such instances are much less common, or at least there are fewer opportunities for abuse, because body positivity, inclusivity, and diversity are now key aspects of the film and TV industry. Of course, Kate Winslet has a slightly different opinion on this, as she has experienced similar body shaming, both during Titanic and more recently. Sydney Sweeney also faced degrading comments from a female producer.
