Renée Zellweger stars in The Thing About Pam.
Video / NBC
Renee Zellweger looked every bit the slim Hollywood star when she took to the red carpet for her upcoming television miniseries, The Thing About Pam.
Donning a designer black pantsuit and black stiletto pumps the 52-year-old actress looked as far removed from the character she played as you could possibly get, which is the crux of the issue.
Donning a designer black pantsuit and black stilleto pumps the 52-year-old actress looked as far removed from the character she played as you could possibly get. Photo / Getty Images
Zellweger stars as real-life convicted murderer Pam Hupp in the mini series. The true story is based on the events surrounding the death of her friend, Missouri resident Betsy Faria, in 2011 and later a disabled man named Louis Gumpenberger, in 2016.
The Bridget Jones star is also executive producer on the production, but it is the physical transformation she underwent to play Pam that has caused widespread controversy.
As part of her makeover to become Pam, Zellweger was fitted with facial prosthetics, including a fake nose and wore a fat suit to appear closer to Hupp's body type.
When photos of Zellweger in full make-up while filming The Thing About Pam circulated late last year, it sparked many to question why the production could not have simply cast an actress who was naturally closer to Hupp's physicality.
Zellweger donned a fat suit and faciel proscethics to become Pam Hupp. She stars alongside Sean Bridgers as Mark Hupp, Pam's husband. Photo / Getty Images
Writer Sarah Alexander posted an op-ed in UK's Metro, calling out such suits as "a way of mocking fat people" and querying why the NBC chose to cast Zellweger as Hupp.
"There are plenty of incredibly talented plus-size actresses that could have been hired for the role," she wrote.
"For Zellweger to masquerade as a plus-size person is damaging, fatphobic and potentially triggering to other plus-size people. It seems like she has not considered the effects this will have on fat people, and is unaware and/or naive that she is adding to the stigma fat people already face on a daily basis."
In an equally scathing opinion piece on Indie Wire, Libby Hill asked the obvious, yet ignored question: "What if we let fat characters be portrayed by fat people, rather than believe that walking around in a fat suit is a traditionally sized actor's (temporary) cross to bear?"
The wider Twitter-verse was just as quick to call-out the missed "opportunity" to cast an actress with a less "Hollywood" physique in the role.
"It's 2022 and we're still putting people in fat suits instead of hiring fat actresses," commented one Twitter user.
"I like Renee Zellweger, but why didn't they hire an actual overweight person for her new role? That was a good opportunity to bring a new talent in," called out another.
Someone else then tweeted, "how r fat ppl supposed to be cast in anything when they won't even cast us as fat characters."
Zellwegger stars as real-life convicted murderer Pam Hupp in upcoming mini series, The Thing About Pam. Photo / Getty Images
Zellweger seemed oblivious to the criticism when, in a Vanity Fair spread about the soon to be released series, she said of her transformation: "It was pretty much head to toe. It was prosthetics, it was a [padded] suit, it was the choice of clothing, it was the briskness in her step-step-step, her gait," said Zellweger.
"All of those things were really important because all those bits and pieces are what construct the person that we project our own conclusions and presumptions onto."
The issue of fat suits was raised earlier last year when Sarah Paulson stepped into one in order to portray Linda Tripp in FX's Impeachment: American Crime Story. A decision that Paulson says she now regrets.
"It's very hard for me to talk about this without feeling like I'm making excuses," she told the Los Angeles Times.
"There's a lot of controversy around actors and fat suits, and I think that controversy is a legitimate one. I think fat phobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm. And it is a very important conversation to be had."
Overweight actors tend to be either overlooked or cast specifically as the "fat one", often for comedic effect. So, while there is no doubt that with her acting talent, Zellweger will be impressive as Pam, there is surely a plus-size actress out there who would have been just as convincing. The fact that she was never given the chance is both an insult and a missed opportunity.
