# Ugly People in "Beautifl" Roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440 "2004-02-10T13:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/1 "2004-02-10T13:37:14Z")
Re-watching “The Man in the Iron Mask” and [THIS THREAD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238836) reminded me of a gripe I have with Hollywood. I have seen several movies, TMITIM being one of them where one character (Christine) is supposed to be of such surpassing beauty (or machoness) that they are irresistible. Yet casting brings in somebody that, even after makeup gets done with them, looks, at best, plain. What is with that? The whole point of the role is just to stand around and look pretty! You would think that in Hollywood there would be more attractive starlets waiting for work than Woolworth has beads. So how do they end up so badly miscasting the “beauty” so often? And I don’t think that this is a “beauty in the eye” thing either. Any other examples and any theories about why this is are appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/2 "2004-02-10T13:39:36Z")
I think I had a seizure while typing it or something. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/3 "2004-02-10T13:42:30Z")
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I think they should be giving Kathy Bates more screen time. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/4 "2004-02-10T13:47:12Z")
Actually, you have it completely backward. Far more often it is beautiful people in “ugly” roles. Case in point: the Terence McNally play, _Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune_, a story of a homely waitress and an ex-con fry cook who fall in love. On Broadway, the role of the ugly waitress–her looks are an important point in the chacrater development–was played by Kathy Bates. In the movie version, she’s played by Michelle Pfeiffer. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/5 "2004-02-10T13:58:36Z")
Or how about Sandra Bullock in _Miss Congeniality_? Even with a bad hair style and a snorting laugh, she’s still hotter than any woman in my office. My suspension of disbelief does not extend far enough to believe anyone would find her unattractive. (Except for perverts like me, who like our women to show some curves.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/6 "2004-02-10T14:04:00Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Actually, you have it completely backward. Far more often it is beautiful people in “ugly” roles. Case in point: the Terence McNally play, _Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune_, a story of a homely waitress and an ex-con fry cook who fall in love. On Broadway, the role of the ugly waitress–her looks are an important point in the chacrater development–was played by Kathy Bates. In the movie version, she’s played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Good call. Also Nicole Kidman in **Cold Mountain** is shot as though she is Audrey Hepburn. MS Zellwegger requires less suspension of disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/7 "2004-02-10T14:39:02Z")
> [@Degrance](#): > > And I don’t think that this is a “beauty in the eye” thing either. **Everything** is a “beauty in the eye” thing when it comes to attractiveness. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/8 "2004-02-10T16:01:39Z")
> [@Degrance](#): > > Re-watching “The Man in the Iron Mask” and [THIS THREAD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238836) reminded me of a gripe I have with Hollywood. I have seen several movies, TMITIM being one of them where one character (Christine) is supposed to be of such surpassing beauty (or machoness) that they are irresistible. Yet casting brings in somebody that, even after makeup gets done with them, looks, at best, plain. I thought that Gabrielle Anwar played Christine in that movie but after checking IMDB, it appears I was mistaken. So now I don’t know what to think. The thing is, by ordinary people standards, she probably is a “surpassing beauty”. Problem is so is everyone else on screen. And if you get actors who are too pretty but unable to act, you end up with ‘The Musketeer’ - a visually pleasing yet boring and forgetable movie. “I wanted ‘Maryanne on Gilligan’s Island’ ugly, not ‘Cornelius on The Planet of the Apes’ ugly. T.V. ugly, not ugly ugly.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/9 "2004-02-10T16:28:13Z")
> [@Degrance](#): > > Re-watching “The Man in the Iron Mask” and [THIS THREAD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238836) reminded me of a gripe I have with Hollywood. I have seen several movies, TMITIM being one of them where one character (Christine) is supposed to be of such surpassing beauty (or machoness) that they are irresistible. Yet casting brings in somebody that, even after makeup gets done with them, looks, at best, plain. I never saw _The Man in the Iron Mask_, but a quick seach through the [IMDB](http://www.imdb.com) turned up [these photos](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002105/photogallery) of actress Judith Godrèche from when she was in _Ridicule_. This is the woman you’re calling “at best, plain”? I can see how she might not be your type (she’s not really my type either), but she’s certainly no hag. > [@](#): > > - > > What is with that? The whole point of the role is just to stand around and look pretty! You would think that in Hollywood there would be more attractive starlets waiting for work than Woolworth has beads. So how do they end up so badly miscasting the “beauty” so often? And I don’t think that this is a “beauty in the eye” thing either. > > Any other examples and any theories about why this is are appreciated. - Like the others in this thread, I’ve got to question your basic premise. I’ve seen plenty of films in which perfectly lovely women were cast as Plain Janes but I’ve never seen an ugly person cast as a great beauty. There are plenty of Hollywood starlets who don’t really do it for me personally (too skinny, pretty but bland, etc.), but that doesn’t mean they’re _ugly_. It sometimes does happen that period pieces cast a woman with modern supermodel/Hollywood-type good looks in a “beauty” role and she seems out of place. . .like a modern supermodel/Hollywood-type who’s been transported back in time. But again, that doesn’t mean the woman is ugly, just that she doesn’t have the best “look” for the role. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/10 "2004-02-10T16:32:09Z")
One of the most insufferable films I have ever been subjected to was “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”. I mean, give me a goddamn fucking break. Janine Garafalo (curvy, super-cute face, awesome smile, hotter than lava, I want her to do a nude scene, NOW) pining away for this guy because she knows she can’t hold a candle to Uma Thurman (pasty, anorexic-looking, fakish smile, ice queen). What, are we all fucking idiots out here in the audience? Do these Hollywood jerkoffs _really_ expect us to buy this crap? Fuck off! ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/11 "2004-02-10T20:14:51Z")
Not to join the pile-on, but I concur with everyone else who questions the premise of the OP. It is so far away from reality that I’m tempted to ask what he was smoking when he wrote it. As my evidence I submit the very bad film [Swept From The Sea](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120257/combined), which introduces us to Amy Foster, a girl considered so homely and awkward-looking that when the Russian castaway falls in love with her, everyone in town thinks that’s a wonderfully merry joke. Amy is played by [Rachel Weisz](http://neuromancerwp.free.fr/original/neuromancerwp_rachel_weisz_06.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/12 "2004-02-10T20:33:54Z")
First of all, _great_ call by **Loopydude** - I couldn’t agree more! The movie just didn’t work for me on any level because I too find Garafalo w-a-ay more attractive than Thurman. Back to the OP, I offer another example: the 1999 version of **Onegin** starring Ralph Fiennes. It’s a great movie in every way, except that the plot hinges on Tatyana being irresistably hot, so much so that Evgeny Onegin will countenance breaking all the prevailing social, cultural and moral codes of his time to be with her. And who do they cast? _Liv Tyler_. I mean, suspension of disbelief is one thing but… discounting the evidence of my own eyes… ? Liv is also supposed to be an walking talking 10/10 ravishing beauty by the casting people who worked on the LOTR. Well, I’ve spent a while in Los Angeles and I’ll bet anyone any amount of folding stuff that given one hour in LA I can find three actresses who could handle either the Onegin or the LOTR role at least as well as dear Liv and who also look stunning. ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/13 "2004-02-10T21:02:30Z")
Ooh good one. I knew there was a great example on the tip of my tongue, and that was it. I didn’t even think elves could have black hair. Galadriel, supposedly the stunningest women who ever stunned, didn’t really do much for me, despite the fact that she was well played. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/14 "2004-02-10T22:43:39Z")
As with _Truth About Cats And Dogs_, you can cover both points with another film as well. Let’s take a little glimpse into what I call “How That Pitch Meeting Should Have Gone”: **Moronic Producer** : “Allright C.J., I’ve got a **great** project lined up for ya! It’s called _Beautiful_, ya see. It’s a sweet story about this woman, ya see, who’s been obsessed with being a beauty queen ever since she was a little girl, ya see. She’s been working her way up the pageant circuit, and is about to hit the big time, when it comes out that her best friend’s kid is actually her own, ya see, and beauty queens can’t have kids, ya see, so, ya see, she has to choose between being a beauty queen and being a mother! It’s got everything, ya see! We’ve lined up Hallie Kate Eisenberg as the kid! Nobody in the world wants to take a nine-iron to her head for all those fricking Pepsi commercials! We got it all here, ya see! The gorgeous lead, an incredibly cute kid, the frumpy friend, lotsa romance and sex appeal, and get this! We’ve got **Minnie Driver** committed for the lead! Guaranteed boffo box office!” **Destination Films Exec** : “Uhhhh huh. Got someone lined up for the frumpy friend?” **MP** : “Yeah, that Joey Lauren Adams chick from _Chasing Amy_.” **DFE** : “So…the movie is called _Beautiful_?” **MP** : “You got it!” **DFE** : “And it stars Minnie Driver?” **MP** : “You bet!” **DFE** : “As a…beauty queen? Who wins pageants?” **MP** : “Yes sir!” **DFE** : “And Joey Lauren Adams, as her frumpy friend?” **MP** : “Youuuu betcha!” **DFE** : “Get out of my office. Smithers, release the hounds.” ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/15 "2004-02-10T22:44:16Z")
I don’t think Julia Roberts is a very Pretty Woman. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/16 "2004-02-10T23:00:59Z")
When I read the OP, what immediately came to my mind was Robin Wright(now Mrs. Sean Penn) in _The Princess Bride_. I mean , the ENTIRE PLOT hinges around her being the most beautiful girl ever, and I’m sorry, she just doesn’t look THAT beautiful (Admittedly, she looks like she’s been crying her eyes out throughout the film). She’s not ugly, but as has been stated, she’s just so PLAIN. Chris W ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/17 "2004-02-11T01:28:02Z")
The girl from Say Anything, and the Princess from Spaceballs. ---
**Author:** ![cmonidareya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cmonidareya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmonidareya)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/18 "2004-02-11T01:54:12Z")
How about Rosie O’Donnell as Betty Rubble in “The Flintstones?” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/19 "2004-02-11T02:17:50Z")
I see plenty examples of this if we talk about male actors rather than female actors. **When Harry Met Sally**. Please tell me how every woman in Harry’s life from that movie was ten million times better looking than Billy Crystal. **Back to School**. In what Universe does Jadzia Dax fall for that creepy dude from **Christine**? **In The Line of Fire**. Rene Russo suddenly gets the hots for then-63-year-old Clint Eastwood. Say what? **As Good As It Gets**. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Etcetera. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440/20 "2004-02-11T02:25:46Z")
> [@riserius1](#): > > When I read the OP, what immediately came to my mind was Robin Wright(now Mrs. Sean Penn) in _The Princess Bride_. > I mean , the ENTIRE PLOT hinges around her being the most beautiful girl ever, What? Are you sure you’re not thinking of some other film? Her beauty is entirely inconsequential to the plot. Humperdink says the people of Florin are “taken” with her, but that’s not really the same thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugly-people-in-beautifl-roles/228440.md?page=2)