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Actress Kate Beckinsale has been part of some of the finest Hollywood projects, but Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor (2001) is not one of them. The movie was scrutinized upon its release for its historical inaccuracies. It featured a heavily fictionalized narrative based on actual harrowing events, while focusing more on spectacle. That’s not the only time it has been a point of contention.
Kate Beckinsale had once opened up about the sexist audition process she had to go through to land the role. By then, she had been a part of a few standout projects like Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and The Last Days of Disco (1998). So, a project from the director of Bad Boys (1995) and Armageddon (1998) may have seemed like an interesting addition to her filmography.
Unfortunately, she had to go through a horrible experience to star in Pearl Harbor, alongside Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. In 2016, she spoke about the hurtful comments Bay made about her appearance during her appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
“I don’t think I fit the type of actress Michael Bay had met before. I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blonde,” she said.
Beckinsale further spoke about the time of the audition, shortly after she had a baby:
“I’d just had my daughter and had lost weight, but was told that if I got the part, I’d have to work out. And I just didn’t understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.”
It’s baffling to hear that Bay and the casting department expected her to lose weight for a role that didn’t even require it. She was auditioning for the role of a female nurse in the 1940s. That doesn’t need her to “work out” the way it might for the role of an athlete or one where physicality plays a part in characterization to make it seem believable. So, Bay’s reported insensitive comments are far from warranted.
Kate Beckinsale also spoke about Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett's casting in the movie
During the same interview, Kate Beckinsale spoke about the reasons her co-stars were cast alongside her.
“When we were promoting the film, Michael was asked why he had chosen Ben [Affleck] and Josh [Hartnett], and he said, ‘I have worked with Ben before and I love him, and Josh is so manly and a wonderful actor."
However, when it came to Beckinsale, Bay made some mean comments:
"Then when he was asked about me, he’d say, ‘Kate wasn’t so attractive that she would alienate the female audience.’”
She further added,
“He kept saying it everywhere we went, and we went to a lot of places.”
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Based on her comments, the filmmaker was hoping for her to fit into a particular image he had of her character — not rooted in naturalism or kindness, but in a sexist perspective of women. His disparaging comments reflect the ugly side of casting decisions.
However, Kate Beckinsale has since been a part of many popular projects like the Underworld franchise, Van Helsing (2004), Serendipity (2001), and more.
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