British actress Kate Beckinsale, often called one of the most beautiful women in the world, has accused director Michael Bay of body-shaming her on the set of 2001’s Pearl Harbor.
Apparently, Beckinsale, now 42, was told that she needed to get in shape to play her role — a nurse — even though her body size didn’t impact her character at all.
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“I don’t think I fitted the type of actress Michael Bay the director had met before,” said Beckinsale on Friday’s The Graham Norton Show. “I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head, and I wasn’t blonde.”
“I’d just had my daughter and had lost weight, but was told that if I got the part, I’d have to work out,” she continued. “And I just didn’t understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.”
The actress, who was a youthful 27 at the time, claims that Bay kept on making remarks as shooting went on, even when the cast and crew were doing press.
“He kept saying it everywhere we went,” she continued, “and we went to a lot of places.”
To back up Beckinsale’s claims, here’s a snippet of a 2001 Movieline interview with Bay about Pearl Harbor and casting her in the role.
Q: What made you choose Kate Beckinsale?
A: I didn’t want someone who was too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone’s too pretty. I’m not saying Kate’s not pretty. When you look at Titanic, Kate Winslet is pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful. That makes it work better for women. Our Kate is very funny, could hang with the guys. She’s not so neurotic about everything, like some actresses. She was solid, and I think the three of them had some really nice chemistry.
Bay is currently shooting Transformers: The Last Knight.