I like Brie Larson for the same reason I like an actress like Amy Ryan – Brie’s very talented and yet there’s something unknown about her, difficult to pin down. Rather than coming across as mysterious, Brie comes across as forgettable (same as Amy Ryan), which is perfect if she wants you to be absorbed in her performance rather than focused on her “celebrity.” Brie has managed to quietly rule this year’s awards season with such a light touch – no one has anything bad to say about her, she’s never in-your-face, she’s never too much. She’s gracious and kind and… yes, forgettable (as a celebrity/personality). I was reminded of all of that as I read People Mag’s exclusive with Brie ahead of the Oscars. Brie talks about how difficult it was for her to spend years of her life getting endless criticism from casting directors and producers.
For Brie Larson, adolescence was an especially confusing time. Long before she was cast in her Oscar-nominated role in Room, Larson spent two decades going from audition to audition, only receive confusing and sometimes harsh feedback.
“You get notes about being too nice or being too dark,” the Best Actress nominee tells PEOPLE for its Oscar portfolio and video series. “Being too tall, too brown-eyed. Being too girl next door, or being too eccentric. You have to take a lot of time to pull those things apart and figure out, ‘What is helping me? What is something I can take and say, I can trust that. What is something that is not useful advice and I’m going to let go?’ ”
Larson says subjecting herself to casting directors, particularly during her teens, was trying.
“That was 20 years of trial and error, and trying to grow up and go through puberty as well was really a complicated and awkward situation. You have a bunch of people every day telling you what you are and what you’re not. And a lot of times it doesn’t match with how you see yourself at all.”
In the end, says the actress, 26, “Now I look back on it fondly because it made me every single time solidify who I was. And every time I solidified who I was, it made me more comfortable becoming other characters.”
I get that she’s telling this story as an inspirational tale of overcoming the hardships of being constantly criticized and nitpicked by casting directors for decades. But my point is… the nitpicking was misplaced because she’s always been more of a character actress, capable of slipping in and out of roles and NOT being known as a celebrity. Casting directors were probably looking for the next Angelina Jolie/Jennifer Lawrence/Reese Witherspoon and Brie is more of Amy Ryan/Kelly MacDonald type.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Sometimes she looks like Maura Tierney, although I think Tierney is more distinct and memorable looking.
Maura is another great actress who has had so much success without becoming a “celebrity”.
Whoa. Now that you mention it, I can’t un-see it.
The most talented actors/actresses are always the ones we know very little about. They just want to act. They don’t want their personal lives out there. They don’t seek attention. I respect that a lot.
+1
@world
In fact she talked about how she don’t speak with her father
Well it’s rather vague.
@Anon
No, she wasn’t vague. And the story about how her childhood was similar to her character in Room? Please
@ Anya
Well my comment was just about actors/actresses in general, not specifically her. I haven’t read enough articles about her to know what she talks about. I do know that blogs, Entertainment shows, etc. haven’t really talked about her personal life. I’ve never seen her pap’d on TMZ either.
Because she isn’t famous and not so interesting. However she already talked about her boyfriend on ET for example
Yeah the moment someone goes on a crusade round all the mags to talk about their diet and favourite creams and anxieties I’m over them as an actor. Keep some mystery ffs. Amy Adams is good at that. She’s also pretty unmemorable but in roles, she disappears into them completely.
As a tall girl myself, I too am annoyed when you hear you are too tall. Someone actually wrote that about Elizabth Debicki in the Hiddle post.
Being 182 cm it would be nice to meet a person for the first time and not get: “HOW tall are you?” as the first question.
Is she tall? I never really noticed.
She’s talented, I like her a lot.
I never noticed either.
She’s 5′ 7″… average height.
@Nutballs No, that’s about three inches taller than the average woman. I am that height and am taller than most women. Granted, it’s not super model tall, but still taller than average. Also, I’ve been an extra on many sets, and most actresses (and actors) are short. I’m talking 5’4 and under.
She’s not super tall, but I’ve read the same thing from other 5’7”/5’8” actresses like Keira Knightley. In Hollywood, where many leading men are 5’6” or smaller but try to appear as 6′, the average height for women is a few inches lower than in the regular world. I have no idea how Uma Thurman, Sigourney Weaver and the likes got through the initial castings.
Yep, most Hollywood celebs are tiny, including most men. Sigourney weaver is tall though. I saw her once on the street and I felt like she towered over me and I’m 5’8.
That’s what I meant – both Thurman and Weaver are over 5’11” which on a HW scale of female height = a mountain troll. I wonder how hard it must have been for them to get through the first castings before someone saw their potential, despite them (gasp) being taller than most male actors.
Mountain troll……bahahaha thank you for making my day!!
Too dark? What does that even mean for a white woman? Dang.
I’m a big fan of her. I appreciate solid character actors. I can barely watch movies with recognizable actors, I’m too aware of who they are (save Charlize Theron for some reason).
I think she meant “too dark” as in character (like dark and brooding) not skin wise. But I could be wrong.
@INeedANap @Poppy No, I thought it meant skin tone/hair/eye color. Cindy Crawford said she was told the same thing. I’ve met white people personally who’ve complained to me, a black woman, about how they feel overlooked because they don’t have pale skin, light hair or blue eyes. I guess they were trying to relate to me or empathize.
I took it to mean dark as brooding, like Poppy, because she paired it with “too nice”, just as she paired the contradictions of “too girl next door” and “too eccentric.”
Brie is listed as 5’7 which is just slightly above average height. But since so many leading actors are so tiny she might look too big next too him. So really it’s the men’s fault for being so short but women are punished for it for having good genetics.
I’m 5’7 1/2, and people have made comments about my height throughout my life. I know it’s not super tall, but it’s noticeable enough. I like my height and wish I could’ve been maybe an inch or so taller. That said, if I wear heels, I’m pretty much 5’10, and that provokes even more comments/questions. It also makes me taller than my 5’9 husband.
I think another part of the problem is that casting directors/producers often have an idea in mind before they start seeing actors, so if they’re picturing someone tiny, and someone of average height comes in, they could respond with “too tall”.
It must be very hard to not take all that personally, but often it’s probably just the actor not matching the idea in their heads, not a comment on the actor themselves, hopefully.
Tall is good genetics?
In my country 5,7 or 5,8 is average height for women.
She’s really forgettable and boring. And this story about “poor me” is really old and tiring now
I don’t like that hair colour in the photo up there in the blue dress… it’s too ‘nothing’ for her
She needs something a bit richer/darker or lighter (she looks lovely blonde) – and slightly darker brows – my opinion anyway!
I watched an interview with Brie the other day and really liked her at first, but then she started to sound way too serious and self-important. How hard shooting Room for her was, emotionally, harder than for anyone else on the set which, eh, sure, but she seemed to have forgotten that this kind of sh-t actually HAPPENS to people and she was just acting it. I like her as an actress, but I hope she doesn’t get too pretentious.
Sounds like…normal casting.
I find her forgettable, and I didn’t see anything extraordinary or even remarkable about her performance in Room. I’ve been underwhelmed with every nominated performance this year except for Mark Ruffalo’s in Spotlight. I haven’t seen Revenant, though. Not my kind of movie, and I don’t care to watch Leo.
This is what I want. An actress who wants to be in known for acting not a famous “celebrity “. Take note Alicia Vikander.
As a POC it’s kinda cool to be in our own resolve of well i was born black etc i dont fit that standard whatev and you appreciate your own look and start to feel bless for such…. BUT and a big BUT
I can’t imagine as a white person being told in an audition room that hmmmm you’re too dark or yeah that ginger look isnt what we’re going for… it must feel like a slap in the face or punch in the neck…. seriously …. in a larger look you see how taylor, ashley (from high school musical), lindsay lohan, and justin timberlake conformed to wasping-nordic narrative of features (damaged fried blond straight hair, nose jobs, and or super skinny lean unhealthy bodies) because they dont look like how the white larger society narrative wants them to be…. that really gotta suck
Side note when other white people DO NOT fit that nordic waspy anesthetic they are called exotic or (i love this… or NOT A CLASSIC BEAUTY) or put in femme fatale roles and villianous stuff, brooding etc…I imagine as a such it gotta be like WTF damn being white’s not enough…. as a POC you come through the door knowing society is gonna play that game so you just shake your head or laugh or educate and keep forging forward because at the end of the day its different from you and yea…
I try to empathize (NEVER sympathize) but im trying to comprehend
Based on a line Renee Zellwegger said in “White Oleander” about casting directors (her character was an actress, how meta) that “too dark” means hair. But I haven’t seen it in a long time. What the movie it will tell you. Or ask an actor if you know somebody in LA.
*hair or eyes
I think she is really grateful for where she’s at, and trying to highlight that almost every actress gets rejected 99% of the time even if she’s subjectively attractive based on looks alone. It isn’t a bad or “woe is me” move. Especially young women, they are just supposed to put up with being typecast, and not fitting any one type is tricky. I briefly pursued acting in NY in my youth, and got told I should go for high school parts well into my twenties, which grossed me out, that I was a “Drew Barrymore” type – I love Drew, but other than similar age/hair/eye color we look/are nothing alike. I was young and serious about my study, not willing to check the “yes, to nudity” box on nearly every audition form. Like, regardless of if the part called for it, the box was usually there. I am sure I could have worked more had I checked that box. The industry really is a monster. And no, no one forces you to try to make it, but it still needs a whole lot less sexism in the way it treats women.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/11/blonde-fit-smokin-hot-hollywood-producer-shares-sexist-scripts-on-twitter