While Jack Black has plenty of great movies on his CV, there’s one he’d rather forget
Jack Black has carved out a niche for himself in the world of family-friendly films, lending his voice to Bowser in the Super Mario Bros Movie and playing a music-obsessed substitute teacher in School of Rock. His career is one that many actors would envy.
However, there’s a 2001 film that Jack isn’t particularly proud of. He confessed that starring in this movie made him feel like a ‘sell-out’, despite it garnering some positive reviews upon its release and being a commercial success.
In Shallow Hal, Jack starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, portraying Hal, a man who, despite not having an ideal physique himself, was obsessed with physical appearance when it came to dating. Hal then meets a hypnotist who puts him into a trance, so he starts to only see inner beauty.
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Upon meeting Rose, played by Gwyneth Paltrow who wore a fat suit for the role, he perceives her as a slim, traditionally attractive woman, which reflects her kind-hearted nature. However, to the rest of the world, she’s viewed as a plus-sized woman and treated poorly due to her size.
While the film does convey a positive message about appreciating people’s inner beauty, it has been criticised for being fatphobic, relying on humour that comes from Gwyneth’s character’s size. The character of Rose breaks chairs, causes a tidal wave when she dives in a pool, and is seen eating huge amounts of food.
In a candid 2006 interview, Jack spoke about the reasons for taking the movie role. The film was directed by the Farrelly brothers, the comedic duo behind hits like Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary. “I had an opportunity to work with some dudes I thought were really funny, but it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped”, Jack said.
He went on to confess: “I wasn’t proud of it, and I got paid a lot of money, so, in retrospect, it feels like a sell-out”. And Jack isn’t alone in his regret over the film.
Gwyneth slammed the movie as a “disaster”, and during an interview with the Guardian, she spoke about the experience of wearing a fat suit for the role.
“The first day I tried the fat suit on, I was in the Tribeca Grand, and I walked through the lobby. It was so sad. It was so disturbing. No one would make eye contact with me because I was obese. I felt humiliated. For some reason, the clothes they make for women that are overweight are horrible. I felt humiliated because people were really dismissive.”, she revealed.
In 2020, in a Netflix promo vid called The BFF Test, Gwyneth asked her friend “what’s my least favourite performance?” Her immediately guessed Shallow Hal, prompting Gwyneth to laugh and comment: “That was before your time! See what happened? Disaster.” before quickly hopping to the question.
Shallow Hal is currently available for streaming on Disney+.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
