Back in January, Blake Lively was cast in a lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s new film, The Bitter Pill. Blake would have playing a woman in the midst of some kind of nervous breakdown, a wife of newly-released felon, being heavily medicated by her therapist – with Channing Tatum playing the husband and Jude Law playing the therapist. When Blake’s attachment to the film was announced, everyone was like “WTF?”. Including the financial backers for the film, who demanded that Lively’s role be recast. Which it was – Soderbergh ended up recasting the role with Rooney Mara. These are some photos of Rooney and Jude Law on the NYC set yesterday.
As you can see, Rooney is wearing either a really busted wig or really a really tacky-looking weave for her role. Us Weekly says it’s totally a wig, and they describe it as “ombre”. I just call it ugly, though. Like, I understand the fascination with wigs and stuff, and I understand that Rooney couldn’t and shouldn’t have her “Dragon Tattoo” hair for another film. But if you’re going to go through the process of getting a realistic-looking wig, does it have to look like you’re making poor Rooney wear a skinned cat on her head? It looks cheap. It makes Rooney look cheap.
This makes me think that Sodergergh is actively trying to make a film about characters living within very modest means. Which makes me wonder… why was Rooney Mara cast? She’s got that Gwyneth Paltrow-esque snotty, bored voice. She sounds like what she is – a rich girl. Not that Blake Lively would have been better – I’m not saying that! If the female character is supposed to be poor and busted, try to cast someone who isn’t justly typecast as a “bored rich girl”. There should be other options besides Blake Lively and Rooney Mara, for goodness sake.
Maybe that’s why Jude Law looks so sad.
Photos courtesy of WENN and Fame/Flynet.
Sadly, I prefer this dead cat look to her Dragon hair.
I second this.
3rd!!
smh @ Jude’s wonky hairline
That is the hair of a woman having a nervous breakdown, so it’s perfect!
And she may come across as an insufferable person, but she did a great job in TGWTDT.
she looks like Mischa Barton
I agree. Mischa Barton on a good day.
Totally!
Only seeing this for Jude!
With this wig she really looks like the troll dolls I played with as a kid. You know, when you pushed their frizzy hair down past their ears. Ahh childhood memories.
Agreed. I also think the same anytime I see Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, although they’re a bit more creepy to me. Kinda like aye-ayes…if you don’t what an aye-aye is, google it. Safe for work.
Love Jude Law. He is only saving grace in this movie.
I have come to really like him as well. I thought he was over-hyped in the beginning of his career but have come to really enjoy his work over the years- especially with SH and SH2. He and RDJ have crazy chemistry.
Patricia looks cute when she smiles. Still an asshole but a pretty asshole.(I am having a good day so I will try to be nice.) The wig looks like they had to skin dead ginger rats together and then either made it into a wig or glued in tracks on her head. Will wait and see about her performance though. If I can be impressed by Channing Tatum then maybe she will impress me. I highly doubt it though but I will give her another chance. But if she gives another interview where she talks about how young she looks or says something really stupid then all bets are off. Goop took years to be that annoying; this girl has only been around two minutes.
I smell Oscar nom #2.
Wig or not she is ugly and creepy. I would never watch any movie with this girl in it.
Poor Jude! I can’t even keep a straight face typing that.
I don’t see what the fuss is all about. Who cares? The wig seems suitable for the role.
Everyone seems to forget that before Dragon, Rooney dressed like a mousey, frilly gal.
and the weeve looks pretty close to her natural hair color judging from old pics of her.
Just here for Jude.
Mara+ Blake= whatever.
Just here for Jude
Mara + Blake = whatever
She looks to me like she’s 12.
Saw these pics yesterday and thought the same thing. That wig looks like crap, and not in a girl having a nervous breakdown so my hair looks like crap kind of way. Just piss poor quality.
I didn’t think any film could top Twilight Eclipse in the bad wig department but looks like this might be a contender.
UGH, I hate Rooney Mara. Just really can’t stand her…for no logical reason. Just a visceral reaction.
Yeah, me too. Don’t tell me there wasn’t another actress available?!!
I hate her, too. So much that I wish Blake had gotten the part instead, and I don’t like her either.
That is one busted wig. I feel sorry for her that they are going low rent. If the character’s supposed to be poor it makes sense but I think she’s supposed to be well enough to have a personal shrink and be a house wife.
She’s a creepy little thing.
You need to keep in mind that hair color can look VERY different on camera in film with lighting and post production effects. Like Colin Ferrel in Alexandar….his roots looked AWFUL in real life, but in the film they gave his hair depth. I think the coloring of her hair frames her face in a certain way. She is supposed to be in the midst of a breakdown, and the hair color will add to that.
Wow, scrape off all that paint, take away the designer gowns and she’s pretty ordinary. If the character is supposed to be trashy looking they should have stuck with Blake.
It doesn’t matter anyway. Soderbergh hasn’t done a good film in years.
she looks like the girl in SOCIAL NETWORK:in clear she looks alike herself before dRAGON TATOO movie
Isn’t she supposed to be sexy? If so, she’s miscast.
Jude Law is short and balding. I never saw the appeal.
I smell a flop!
They were saying the same thing before Dragon Tattoo and she proved them wrong.
The wig does look horrible but I’m sure there’s a purpose behind it, she’s not filming some cheap indie movie.
Yeah I trust they know what they’re doing with her hair style. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and think she’ll be good in this. Far better than Blake L for sure.
Lol at sad Jude Law, though!
If they’re going for busted, Lohan’s got it all.
Why shouldn’t she get a role of a poor/middle class woman simply because she isn’t or has never been poor or middle class? An actors personal life shouldn’t be a factor when determining if they are right for the role. In order to play a crack head, must you be a crack head? What about a stripper or pimp? In order to accurately portray a character, you have to live that life? I don’t get that logic. They’re actors.
I just wish people would stop moaning about who directors cast in THEIR films. Just like w/HG, same thing w/Blake. It is their vision and if they think a certain actor can bring it to life, then so be it. If you like the final product, you like it. If not–oh well.
ITA.
Of course you’re right but I doubt the writer actually believes that an actor’s background has to match the character s/he is playing.
I think it’s more that lot of people dislike Rooney Mara personally, and when you dislike someone, rational thought goes out the window.
blake was never cast. They were negotiating for her to star..her agents wanted too much money..saying she had huge offers for other films..after weeks of this..Megan Ellison, who was financing the film bailed because she didn’t like casting Blake in the first place. Soderbergh stuck with the idea of Blake in the lead and went and found other people to finance the movie instead..after all of that a week goes by and Blake’s agent was still saying she needed more money and couldn’t get her to commit….So it was THEN that he walked away from casting her in the lead.
Rooney read the script and committed the same day.
and that’s not a wig…it’s her hair with extensions..how many more things can u get wrong in this story. Blake loses because of her agents.and what big movie is Blake doing instead? nothing.
oh, I love this.
But how do you know Blake’s team wanted more money? As I understood it after Ellison backed out, Soderbergh shopped around the project and saw it would be hard to get funding with Blake on board, so they canned Blake and went with Mara. One day after Mara was cast, bingo! Funding.
If you follow what went down on The Playlist, it looks like Soderbergh thought he had a deal with his cast of choice, which included Lively, and his producer was confident enough to leak the info only to have the financiers pull the rug out once Mara made it known that she wanted the role. It came on the heels of his latest film underperforming at the box office and Mara’s Oscar nom so he wasn’t in a strong bargaining position. It’s hard to get his type of films financed these days as it is. He moved on to this film after financing fell through on another project.
“only to have the financiers pull the rug out once Mara made it known that she wanted the role.”
I did closely follow the story and I don’t think that’s what happened at all. Ellison clearly did not want Lively (or maybe that was an excuse because she didn’t believe in the project anyway). Ellison did not pull out because of Mara. A week passed after Ellison droped out. Blake was then dropped from the project.
Sorry, but I’m not believing a word of this. It sounds like it is coming from the same source who tried to blame Blake Lively’s pr for leaking her casting to The Playlist prematurely, despite the fact that The Playlist frequently had the scoop on all Soderbergh projects, including this one, and obviously had inside source there. Possibly the same source who who provided IMDb with the info that Mara and Olivia Wilde (yeah, her again) had turned down the role the minute the film hit the IMDb listings.
Definitely busted and miscast.
That is some boring casting.
Jude can act and is interesting; the other two belong on Dawson’s Creek 2012 or something.
She looks bad, but it’s hardly a glamour role. Not really seeing the potential for chemistry with Jude Law though, much less Tatum. We’ll see how it turns out. Law and Zeta-Jones plus Soderbergh make it worth a look.
Why cast Rooney Mara? What a bizarre question – she was just nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, has a starring role in a high-profile franchise, and got tremendously positive reviews for her first major role.
She hasn’t been typecast as a “bored rich girl” – her parts in this, the Malick film, and TGWTDT are totally different – most actresses would kill for the chance to play such a diverse set of characters and be handpicked by legendary directors like Fincher & Malick.
Mara may be annoying on a personal level, but as an actress, there is no mystery about the fact that she is a hot property.
I HATE ombre hair.
Wow, I think she looks completely forgettable with long hair. I guess that hair and goth look really did make her stand out.
As an aside, I can completely see a new “Sad Jude” meme from that first picture of him.