The photo above is of Amy Adams at the Arrival premiere this weekend. Amy brought her husband Darren Le Gallo and daughter Aviana to the premiere. Amy wore Versace from their 2017 Spring Collection. Don’t let that photo fool you, the dress is a trainwreck. I kind of liked it from this side view – nice colors, interesting variety of fabrics, great fit. But from the front it looks like the dress is trying to morph into several other dresses and the result is an ocular migraine. Amy knows this too because it was very hard to find a full front photo of the dress. She is turned sideways in most of them.
Arrival is getting excellent reviews and might bring Amy a sixth Oscar nomination. Or maybe a seventh because she’ll get her sixth for Nocturnal Animals – seriously she is such a great actress. She always turns in an impressive performance, whether it is a fun film like Enchanted, a sexy film like American Hustle or a quiet but powerful drama like Junebug. Amy is usually singled out in any film she’s in. The irony is, it took changing her hair to make her stand out. During her TimesTalk on Wednesday, Amy said her career took off after she dyed her blonde hair red when she was cast on Rob Lowe’s Dr. Vegas T.V. show in 2004.
Amy Adams, the five-time Academy Award-nominated star of stage and screen, owes her acting career to being a redhead.
The actress spoke at the New York Times-hosted TimesTalk event on Wednesday, where she revealed that changing her hair color from strawberry blonde to red dramatically influenced her chances of getting cast in films.
“Based on roles that I was getting, called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde and the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb,” Adams, 42, revealed.
“It was great, I liked that. But in all seriousness, it’s just hair color. It was really fascinating to see just one element of yourself change people’s perception and that became a very powerful tool for me even in my acting,” the mother of one continued.
“If you can change one very small thing and create an entirely different perception to the outside world based on one thing, and that was actually an important lesson for me to learn, I didn’t quite get that before then,” she said.
“It really changed things up. People began to see me in a different way, for different roles” Adams continued, adding, “I don’t know if I can give credit to just the hair color, but maybe it did help people see me past blonde.”
Amy has talked about how changing her hair color affected her career before. I don’t think it’s just a talking point for her, though, I think the psychology behind it genuinely fascinates her. I read her comments as she is grateful that her hair color opened some new doors to her but it was bittersweet to realize how much people rely on appearance to judge someone. She’s not wrong, though, is she? I form opinions on characters based on certain stereotypes when watching movies. I wonder how many of those assumptions bled off-screen within the industry, though? I think that’s what Amy is really trying to say. And I love that she used that to layer her characters. She is very smart with her portrayals; it’s not always obvious why your love her performance so much.
Amy told Graham Norton that they are developing Disenchanted, the sequel to Enchanted. I have no idea where the sequel will go but I’ll still go see it. I’m a sucker for fairy tales and Amy. I just realized I never showed my kids Enchanted. I wanted them to be familiar with the Disney films being parodied before they saw it. Guess what I am doing tonight???
Photo credit: WENN and Fame/Flynet Photos
I think Emma Stone has experienced the same response with her choice of hair colour
Hectate, spot on about the dress. At first I was like, wow Amy great dress. And then I scrolled to see the front. What were they thinking? Or not thinking is the question. Wow train wreck is right.
Love love love Amy. And I agree that she is fascinated with the psychology of hair color. Changing her opportunities. Unfortunately we are a society based on what we see: we eat with our eyes, we make character accessments based on what a person looks like and so much more. Good for Amy for being tuned in. My girl crush. Love her!
She’s a good actress but I just find her so dull. I think its because she has such an everyday person look to her, she’s pretty but not any different looking than a lot of people in real life. And I’ve just never really gotten into her interviews, and holy hell she’s worn some less than stellar gowns.
She seems nice enough but I’m kind of meh on her.
This is where I stand on her too. I can’t dislike her, because she’s never said or done anything remotely dislikeable, but neither have I ever heard her take a stand on anything in an interview. I just find her a bit boring. She’s a very good actress with a wide range but with the exception of Junebug I’ve never really been blown away by her either.
I do think she’s got glorious hair though 😀
Have you seen “doubt”? I feel like every single performance in that movie was awesome, including hers.
thats why i really like her as an actress. you can focus on her job and not some manufactured image, scandals or “personality”. i am sure if she was more of an it girl that people go crazy for she would have won an Oscar but she will have a longer career because hers is build on work and talent not on hype.
Yeah, she becomes the character, which is somethig you can’t say for a lot of actresses. I love her so much.
I do like her as an actress and I can appreciate her ability to remain private! But some of my favourite actresses are in a similar mould, like Meryl and Viola and Cate. I’ve just never really got a sense of who Amy Adams is or what she cares about. I’m not going to pretend it’s a rational feeling :p
I think the proper concept of an actor has long been destroyed. An actor should inhabit a character. I’m not sure what her being pretty or not has to do with it? Her being “dull” personally as you say enables her to enter into any role free from preconceptions. She could be a scientist or a hooker or a homeless woman or the president or a single mother or a drug addict. Anything is possible. The more you know about actors, the less believable they can become. And that is their job… to be someone else and make you believe their story
I like her too and I am sure I have viewed several of her movies but nothing that has wowed me.
She has a non-descript face! I love Enchanted but can never register that was her in it. People can identify the great actresses like Meryl, Cate and Viola when they become the character. I’m sure many cannot make a link to her face let alone the name Amy Adams.
I liked enchanted much more than I thought I would, but I’ve never seen Amy in something I’ve disliked.
The hair colour thing IS fascinating. People have so many notions on how hair colour IS someone’s personality.
Apparently more women dye their hair red after a break up than any other colour.
I’m so looking forward to this movie. I just hate that Jeremy renner is in it….. I don’t get why he’s in everything…..? He isn’t likeable at all in my opinion.
I second that (about Jeremey Renner). I can’t exactly put my finger on why I find him so off-putting, but I just find him gross.
Amy wanted him for the role and they are friends so he did it for her.
the hair colour thing is funny. i’m a natural brunette (light brown) but i dye my hair blonde, and people do behave differently. it’s like i seem to be more approachable as a blonde.
But people keep claiming ‘it’s just hair’ when talking about natural vs. weaves with black women. Or short vs. long when talking about any woman’s attraction level in society. Or blond vs. any other colour. Nah, it’s an indicator for a million things, usually negative if you’re a woman that doesn’t conform to current beauty standards.
I know that black women are on the receiving end of a tonne of discrimination when they go natural; but I think that natural hair on a black woman is stunning. I love afros so much! I think it is like a crown and makes a woman look like royalty. I think all of the intricate cool braiding and other styles also look amazing. I hope to see a day when black women can wear their hair any damn way they want without any discrimination or negative responses.
You should visit Africa.
We don’t have the politicised cultural reading of our hair. It comes in every hairstyle you can imagine. Natural, unatural, braids, dreads, weaves, wigs, threads, shaved, big ol’Afros, wrapped head-dresses using cloth or mud, corn-rowed, relaxed, coloured. It’s just hair.
Hopefully Disenchanted is more recent Disney parody than just the first 3 princesses with a Ariel personally they went with Enchanted. I am a Renaissance girl and the first 3 and Disney marketing not is all what Disney is.Despite this being the public perception is among expecially with the older people. The “Disney princesses need to be saved” thing was really dated. I want more “I want song”, different cultures and goofy father parody from the Renaissance and twist villlain parody of the Revival. And maybe some mocking of the direct to DVDs and glitter merchandise. And hopefully a CGI part even though I would like to see traditional animation again. And even though Idina Menzel already has had a song in a Disney film it would be fun if she would be in the film and get to sing this time.
When it comes to actresses & singers, it seems like the most iconic/successful blondes are usually natural brunettes while the redheads are usually natural blondes.
I wonder if the latter is partly due to freckles still being seen as a flaw by many people? That is, natural redheads are much more likely to have freckled skin. And while red hair on women is seen as attractive, freckles remain (unfairly) maligned and in the case of celebrities, often treated like something that detracts from someone’s beauty and needs to be airbrushed out of existence.
Its because on camera the natural rosy tones of the majority of redheads, combined with the freckles that some redheads also have, can look blemished or rough in texture. I used to work behind the scenes in filming.
So when casting for a redhead the casting people are, effectively, looking for a natural warm blonde with fair enough skin that can complement red hair, and then they hand them some hair dye or book them in at a salon. It was easier for the camera people, lighting people and the director, apparently.
I now work bts at a theatre and it is so much better: natural redheads are very welcome. In fact, due to the intense and particular lighting in theatres redheads look quite striking onstage.
What Lovisa L said vis a vis camera translation of skintones.
That isn’t her daughter, it is the actress who plays her daughter. Amy doesn’t put her child on display for the media.
Really? She looks adorable.
Wait, she’s not a natural red head?
I honestly thought she was.
Amy Adams offers a wide range of performances in her movies. I was awed by her performance in The Master, especially the scene seated at the end of the bed furiously spitting out her thoughts on a strategy of attack.
Julia Roberts has personality.
It’s peculiar about hair colour and the way it can change perceptions. It can also make or break careers (for women mostly. I cannot think of male equivalent tbh.)
Some hair-swaps that did career good:
Christina Hendricks, Emma Stone, Molly Ringwald, Eleanor Tomlinson (all blonde to red).
Eva Green, Katy Perry, Zooey Deschanel, Dita von Teese (blonde to brunette).
Kate Winslet, Marilyn Monroe (brunette to blonde).
Alyson Hannigan, Rita Hayworth (brunette to red)
Nicole Kidman and Londsay Lohan went from red to blonde too (although I think red suits them better).
Throw in Sarah Michelle Geller and Diana, Princess of Wales who started out ashy blonde and looked better the blonder they were.
GOOP: mousy brown to Blonde
SMG once dyed her hair brunette and i don’t think it suited her.
Nicole and Lindsey definitely look better red.
Ps: i never thought much about Nicole bleaching her skin, but now we are discussing camera translation of skin tone, do you think that’s a possible reason?
Most of the examples really suit their adopted colour: for example I can’t imagine Molly Ringwald, Alyson Hannigan or Eva Green as possessing anything other than their adopted hair colours.
re: Nicole. I think she had a lot of resurfacing procedures done to her face to even the tone and fade her freckles. Peels, micro-dermabrasion? Definitely. Bleaching? Very possibly. She’s very fair so it wouldn’t be as obvious on her as on someone with a richer skintone, and she’s lost pretty much all of her skin’s natural redhead rosiness and diffuse freckles I’m sure she’s tried to tone-correct her skin due to behind the scenes feedback/criticism on how her skin presents onscreen. I think Olivia Munn has also done some heavy duty freckle removing via resurfacing,etc. too, possibly also due to negativity from behind the camera.
I remember being told that freckles, unless dark, few in number and well defined, were too difficult to translate well on camera. Numerous, diffused freckles were the most difficult to film/light succesfully.
Sarah Michelle Geller’s natural color is a dark brunette, which, personally, I think looks much more striking on her. I remember when she started out on All My Children as Susan Lucci’s daughter, Kendall.
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/437271445041084246/
I believe it. I don’t know if it’s the hair or just the difference in parts, but there’s a huge shift (anyone remember her stint on The Office? Flirtatious, fun, and different from what we subsequently saw from her for a while)
I am a fan of Amy Adams in any version: blonde, brunette or ginger
Have fun eatching Enchanted with your kids, Hecate!
Amy Adams is a fabulous actress. I loved her in American Hustle. I hope she gets her Oscar.
Emma Stone has said something similar. That when she was blonde she would constantly get roles like “the cheerleader” and not much else.
I love Amy Adams