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A A few years ago, New York ophthalmologist Dr David A Colbert received an unexpected phone call from a Hollywood director. The director was filming a movie featuring a famous actor who had his face filled with fillers so much that it could not move.
The director accused Colbert, whose act has supported famous faces such as Sienna Miller, Naomi Watts and Robin Wright, for stifling his star’s talent. “He was rude,” Colbert said. “He was like, ‘Hey, can you stop what you’re doing (in front of him)?'”
The director was wrong: Colbert had never administered dermal filler, or Botox, to an actor. “But I listened to him, because he wanted the actors to be human,” said Colbert, who declined to comment on either.
That leader was fighting a losing battle. These days, the new “it” among celebrities isn’t $280 La Prairie concealer or $1000 Decorté moisturizer. It’s a new face, with plump lips, plump skin and a forehead. For the rest of us, this means looking at faces on movie screens and screens that look embellished – and therefore banned – with expensive make-up techniques.
When the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey dropped, the critics sat down hold on that Anne Hathaway, who has denied cosmetic surgery rumors, could not move her forehead enough. They couldn’t believe that Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, could find a good dermatologist in ancient Greece.
In the Wicked Franchise, Ariana Grande plays Glinda the Good Witch in the Land of Oz, where her beauty is as strong as the real world: Grande’s silence made one Dazed writer say. ask: “Is Botox ruining cinema?” Ditto for Margot Robbie as Cathy from Wuthering Heights, who Barbie-smooth has a positive attitude towards cosmetic surgery, which can prevent the facial irritation that a person can make during a tear.
Most of this fantasy is soulless. It evokes misogyny, condemns women for the irrational beauty that has become so prevalent in filmmaking and undermines important discussions about aging in the industry. Millie Bobby Brown, just 22 years old, said that the audience’s response to her unconventional style during the Electric State press tour left her speechless. to block and “depression for three, four days”. Forks have returned to men. Barry Keoghan he said online abuse about how she looks (fans say comparison it’s made him “shy” in acting and public life, and Ryan Gosling’s never-ending appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s latest episode had an uncanny valley vibe, or so some fans tweeted.
But it’s also true that some of the best actors come from complete abandonment and the desire to be ugly – whether it’s Lucille Ball skipping chocolate in her gut in I Love Lucy, or Charlize Theron’s irrepressible portrayal of the murderous murderer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. The appearance of dermal fillers, Botox, lip augmentation and jaw contouring doesn’t exactly allow for a more expressive, life-enhancing look. “It’s almost as if the face doesn’t move like it used to,” Colbert said.
That immobility gives an inherent vulnerability to the art of drama. Beauty has always been important in the career to become a star, but so is the art of the face. Will all those fillers make it look worse?
Actors have painted their faces for as long as the film industry has existed – and audiences have always had their say on the subject.
Marsha Gordon, a historian and professor of film studies at North Carolina State University, has cited a 1929 issue in Motion Picture magazine called The Flesh and Blood Racket. The piece was called with shame especially men who went under the knife, like the boxer Jack Dempsey, who repaired his broken nose in preparation for the show. The bullish actor Louis Wolheim, known for playing gangsters, wanted rhinoplasty to help change in leading roles; studio management at United Artists succeeded in preventing him from changing.
“The close-up was very important in filmmaking. I can only imagine Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo or Clara Bow’s face filling the screen,” said Gordon. “It wasn’t just an expression of his feelings, but it was an opportunity for the audience to sit in the theater and see a beautiful face.”
These women were rumored to be fake faces in their day. Legend has it that Dietrich had her molars removed to achieve her famous cheekbones, and MGM says it did. sent privately Garbo to see a surgeon. Neither player is remembered for putting it on the screen – they all showed a bit of a coolness – but they were celebrated for their signature. Dietrich’s thin pencils, for example, or Garbo’s sunken, leathery eyelids.
“Films are not very consistent in creating an actor’s face,” Gordon continued. “When we leave the culture of movie theaters, going from big screens to small screens, I wonder if this has to do with this tolerance (of filler).”
Dr. Anthony Brissett, a cosmetic surgeon in Houston and the president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, is not talking about the size but the advanced modern cameras, which show more than the eyes. “There are things that actors and actresses share with me that worry them” about their performances, he said. “It’s hard for me to see it. Then I watch them on television and, of course, it’s like that. They scrutinize them a lot and feel the desire to look the same all the time.”
Years ago it was the enemy of the theater. In the days of Hollywood stars, when the studios controlled every aspect of the actors’ lives, a woman of forty can disappear quietly, as Dietrich did, or accept many roles, which were often disrespectful (Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? comes to mind). Now, female actors are no longer expected to stop appearing after the age of 30. A woman in her 40s can carry a film. – but it helps her to look like she hasn’t aged. (It will also help his work if not yet 60 years old either.)
“I just hope that female actors between 30 and 60 are probably acting, and they don’t move their foreheads,” Colbert said. Male players do it too, but “it’s very competitive, especially for women.”
Hollywood’s filler-mania reflects national interest: an about 1.6 million Americans received eye procedures last year, neurotoxins and fillers were the most common. Then there is the sudden rise of GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, which have completely reduced the popular bodies and faces that need to be corrected to solve the problem.
At the same time, abandoning such experiences of the doctor has become an expression of dedication to one’s art. – an indication that the new aesthetic of the company does not match the work, or represent the way the people shown in the films look. Kate Hudson said that stop Botox filming his Oscar-nominated role in Song Sung Blue, as the film was set in the 1980s, before the franchise was commercialized. Jennifer Lawrence told the New Yorker that she gets Botox but draws a line forehead filler, which shows more on the camera.
In terms of production, there are two types: paid stars and anonymous actors. Stars don’t try for parts, actors do, and shows abound for actors vying to join the makeup industry.
“Plastic surgery is a quick kill in almost every job I’ve ever done,” said Marie, a Los Angeles-based director who has worked on TV shows and major motion picture productions. (Marie is a pseudonym.) “The networks hate plastic surgery unless it’s done on someone who’s already famous, so they magically don’t notice it. The more famous you are, the more you can fight back before your face starts to stop you from getting a movie.”
Marie said that some young, up-and-coming actresses have fillers, which look good in a selfie but prevent them from acting. “It’s really sad, a lot of young actors feel the need to be beautiful on Instagram, but then it makes them invisible and accessible,” she said. “Being a model and an actress are two different things. I wouldn’t send someone (to a director) with obvious plastic surgery, because they would look at us like we’re crazy and ugly.”
However, Marie said that cosmetic surgery or fat fillers are not directly addressed in the cosmetic procedures she has been working with. He said: “It is not being said.”
Zak Barnett, 50, is an acting coach in Hollywood. She doesn’t have discussions about makeup when training gymnasts, but she said her students talk to their assistants about it, and discuss whether it might help them get a job.
Barnett believes the recent infusion of AI into Hollywood could help change that. “The desire to be perfect will be taken over by AI services and AI practitioners,” he said. “I think what audiences are going to want to see more and more is the truth, which is imperfect. When we go back to the narrative of human emotions, then we don’t want anything to get in the way of that authenticity.”
It’s a good idea. But Jessica M Goldstein, a journalist who has written about Hollywood beauty and culture, is not optimistic. “The standards of beauty under capitalism require that there is always something new to buy,” he said. “There may be a gradual shift — man-made products become a symbol of prestige or class, as companies say about something that’s made in America.” But this does not mean that people will stop paying to work.
Goldstein predicts a change in the visual spectrum. Fifteen or 20 years ago, actors began to find a lot of exercise. All familiar smiles look the same. Today, veneers are not permanent – although they are still very attractive, and very expensive.
On the other hand, this change is already happening with the face. Brissett, a cosmetic surgeon, says patients are showing “fat fatigue”, either choosing to dissolve fillers or not renew them after they’re done (most fillers last up to a year). He said: “That is nonsense.
More and more people are turning to facelifts, Brissett said, which is the second most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in the US. A “face lift” can cost as much as $40,000 in major cities like New York or Los Angeles. It’s a fresh, natural look designed to make someone look fresher but not too different. Most importantly, it allows for facial movement. “Celebrities, celebrities, and celebrities are quietly doing this,” one surgeon said. he said New York magazine last year.
Jennifer Lawrence may avoid filling out, fearing how it will affect her performance. But when asked if he had a deep plane, he curiously he answered: “Trust me, I’ll go!”
