PRETTY VS. FUNNY
Can’t actresses be both?
Last weekend, former Disney honcho Michael Eisner caused a bit of a stir when he suggested it was extremely rare to find extremely beautiful women who were also deeply funny.
“From my position, the hardest artist to find is a beautiful, funny woman,” he told the beautiful, funny Goldie Hawn during a session at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “By far. They usually — boy am I going to get in trouble, I know this goes online — but usually, unbelievably beautiful women, you being an exception, are not funny.”
He doubled down moments later, suggesting women who are truly gorgeous — choosing, for some reason, a generic Miss Arkansas as his example — are not required to develop a sense of humour since they are already objections of attraction.
It’s a rather blunt reading of human behaviour — one I don’t think is wrong, exactly. There’s a reason few standup comedians, male or female, could double as runway models or glamorous movie stars.
It’s as though comedians, in order to view the world slightly off- kilter, need that frisson created by feeling awkward or gawky in a world that demands conformity. Indeed, Hawn herself tried to save Eisner’s bacon by crediting her comedic skills to having felt like an “ugly duckling” growing up.
How widespread is this prejudice against the pretty? Do executives harbour a bias, perhaps unconscious, against attractive women trying out for comedy roles, wondering whether or not their looks are inducing laughs?
Most important: Does this finally explain why Rose Byrne is not yet the brightest comedic light in Hollywood?
Why isn’t Byrne headlining two or three comedy flicks a year? Her haughty Hungarian villain in Spy steals the show, providing a perfect foil for Melissa McCarthy’s newly minted CIA field agent.
Byrne was similarly riotous in last year’s Neighbors, playing a sassy straight woman to Seth Rogen’s dumpy hubby.
The post- Bridesmaids career paths of Byrne and McCarthy most clearly demonstrate what Hollywood thinks of attractive funny people as opposed to their Plain Jane kin.
Despite inspiring just as many laughs as McCarthy as one of the eponymous wedding party members — and, arguably, having to do it in a more difficult manner, one that didn’t rely on bodily humour to get the giggles rolling — Byrne has spent the past few years locked into supporting roles.
McCarthy, meanwhile, has ( deservedly, judging by box office receipts) blossomed into an indemand leading lady. Hollywood executives clearly view McCarthy’s vaguely masculine mannerisms and her unconventional- for-Hollywood body type as suitable material for big- budget comedies.
The stunningly attractive, equally funny Byrne has not been afforded the same opportunities — in part, I think it’s fair to say, because of her appearance.
It’s not surprising that executives feel more comfortable with a Belushi or a McCarthy than they are with a Byrne: That’s what’s worked for decades now. If there’s anything Hollywood execs know, it’s how to play it safe.
And that’s a shame. It’s time to put away our predisposition that people who conform to society’s standards of attractiveness can’t be funny. Pretty people can make us laugh too, you know.
Now is Rose Byrne’s time to shine!