Actress Melanie Lynskey had the full support of her Yellowjackets co-stars after a production crew member insinuated the veteran actress needed to lose weight.
Lynskey talked about her decades-long career in a Rolling Stone exclusive interview, including her experiences with misogyny and body-shaming in Hollywood.
The 44-year-old New Zealander recalled how earlier in her career when she made her feature film debut along with Kate Winslet in 1994's Heavenly Creatures, she was sent home from the film's press tour because disgraced ex-producer Harvey Weinstein “made a call that nobody really wanted to hear from me.”
Due to Hollywood's limited representation standards at the time, Lynskey continued to struggle with landing major roles while Winslet's career skyrocketed.
"It was the mid-'90s and there was a look that was popular, and it wasn’t this chubby, dark-haired New Zealander," commented Lynskey on the industry perpetuating unrealistic and damaging ideologies concerning women's bodies.
Now that she stars in Yellowjackets, the all-female version of Lord of the Flies about a group of plane crash survivors, an interaction Lynskey had with a crew member who suggested she should lose weight demonstrated there needs to be more progress made in normalizing different body types in the industry.
"They were asking me, 'What do you plan to do? I’m sure the producers will get you a trainer. They’d love to help you with this,'" recalled the Don't Look Up actress.
In response to the narrow-minded input, her co-stars, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, and Christina Ricci–who with Lynskey play older versions of the younger featured cast in the show–banded together on her behalf and penned a letter to the show's producers.
Another drawback of Hollywood perpetuating outdated body standards for decades was when Lynskey learned how some Yellowjackets viewers unfavorably took to her character Shauna's relationship with the younger heartthrob, Adam, played by Peter Gadiot.
Some viewers doubted the legitimacy of their relationship because of her age and appearance.
“I’m just like, ‘Wow, really? That’s where people’s heads are at, that the most important thing is being thin or young?’” said Lynskey.
Despite the criticism, Lynskey remains determined to challenge outdated stereotypes and perceptions about the appearances of women in featured roles.
She explained:
“It was really important to me for [Shauna] to not ever comment on my body, to not have me putting a dress on and being like, ‘I wish I looked a bit better.'"
“I did find it important that this character is just comfortable and sexual and not thinking or talking about it, because I want women to be able to to watch it and be like, ‘Wow, she looks like me and nobody’s saying she’s the fat one.’"
"That representation is important.”
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