Gwyneth Paltrow is best known for her role in Iron Man and has starred in multiple movies and roles. Despite the critical acclaim and positive reviews each of her roles has brought her, there have been certain roles that she did not like at all and found hard to portray.
Paltrow essayed the role of an overweight woman in the movie Shallow Hal, which wasn’t easy for her. While she calls the role her biggest regret, a very similar role played by the actor Brendan Fraser in the movie The Whale, bagged him an Oscar.
Gwyneth Paltrow Called Her Overweight Role Her Biggest Regret
Gwyneth Paltrow starred in the romantic comedy Shallow Hal and plays a very overweight role of a woman who has a kind and beautiful personality. While the movie dealt with themes of inner beauty, and self-reflection, and was very well received, Paltrow had a very hard time on the set.
Not only did she have to wear a very heavy fat suit as well as heavy makeup that took 2 hours, but she found the whole experience incredibly isolating. In an interview with the LA Times, the actress referred to the little experiment the crew carried out when they sent her to a restaurant along with a very attractive assistant,
“No one would even look at me. If I was walking by a table, you know how naturally you just glance up. But people would see that I was heavy in their peripheral vision and not look, because I think they assume that’s the polite thing to do. It was incredibly isolating and really lonely and sad.”
Although the role won her generally positive reviews and widespread praise, she later, in an interview with Netflix, referred to it as her biggest regret and an overall disaster performance.
Meanwhile Brendan Fraser Won An Oscar For A Similar Role
Brendan Fraser‘s The Whale is based on a stage play of the same name which features Fraser as an extremely obese English professor. The star wore a 300-pound fat suit to play his award-winning role of Charlie. Not only did he win widespread acclaim for his critical role but the actor also won his first-ever Oscar award.
A role similar to Gwyneth Paltrow’s role in Shallow Hal in terms of looks, Fraser was more than grateful and happy to have been offered such a crucial role as he exclaimed during his teary-eyed Oscar’s acceptance speech (via Variety). Not only did he win multiple other accolades including Best Actor at Critics Choice Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, but also got a 14-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, during the movie’s world premiere
Shallow Hal can be streamed on Hulu, while The Whale can be streamed on Netflix.
Source: LA Times, Netflix, and Variety
