If you have Botox or filler, I don't wanna see you in a period piece
Summary
A straphanger has strong opinions about cosmetic procedures in historical dramas. If you've got Botox or filler, stay out of period pieces. The argument? Actors need to match "base reality" to let viewers suspend disbelief. She calls out the Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot for featuring an assassin hiding in the woods with Instagram face, which immediately breaks immersion. Kareem pushes back with counterexamples, suggesting maybe everyone in Shakespeare should just be ugly. Not quite, she clarifies. Everyone's beautiful in their own way, but actors serve the story, not their vanity. There's wiggle room for camp though. Bridgerton gets a pass since it already has modern music and fantasy elements baked in. The conversation veers into breast implants (she's come around on them as an adult) and body modifications in general. Pro-tail, apparently.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? If you have Botox or filler, I don't want to see you in a period piece. 100% agree. Like they shouldn't be in movies about—I just think it in general, you need to fit the base reality of the story. Your job as an actor is to match base reality. I want to suspend my disbelief. And so you can't see like a—like a sexy—like I like a sexy man. Wait, what? What, what are you talking about?
Have plastic surgery. If your character has plastic surgery you can have plastic surgery as an actor. But like I don't want to see veneers if your character wouldn't have veneers, you know? Like Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Amazon, the cold open is that they're following an assassin that's hiding in the woods and it—she has Instagram face.
Well, maybe it's—she's like disguised as an influencer. But the point is that it takes me out of the moment and I'm already kind of—
No, I get, I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. Kind of like I guess this isn't a serious show. You don't care about the storytelling.
Yes. So like in Shakespeare—yes, everyone should be ugly. I think everyone's beautiful in their own way. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. So in like a Shakespeare period piece, Romeo and Juliet, we don't need—you as an actor, your job is to serve the story, not to be vain.
Like in Wuthering Heights, the new Wuthering Heights movie. If it's like a campy modern interpretation, then yes. Like I feel like my counter argument here is Bridgerton, but the base reality is already camp, okay? So they have modern music, they have fantasy, so yes, you can have like Instagram face, you can be ossified.
Breast implants. Yes. Those are awesome. Do you like breast implants? I've started to like them as an adult. Okay.
Like at age like 38. Right. I'm just pro like whatever you want to do. Modifications. Pro body modifications. Yes.
Get a tail soon.