Pop Culture Curmudgeon

Women Have to Lose Weight, Men Have to Gain It

Taylor Lautner is bulking up in hopes of keeping his job as Jacob for New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. According to People, he has gained 19 pounds so far, and is looking to put on another 10.

It’s always so funny to me when I read about male stars having to gain weight for their roles. Typically, we hear that women must lose weight to even be considered for roles, let alone get a specific one. I used to watch the show “Unscripted” on HBO, and the women on that show had to take ridiculous levels of criticism of their appearances that the men didn’t get. Jennifer Hall went on a crash diet just so her agent would send her on auditions.

If you don’t remember “Unscripted,” don’t worry. It didn’t bring the number of viewers HBO wanted so it was not picked up for a second season. It was a fictionalized reality show about struggling actors. It was produced by George Clooney, Matt Adler, Grant Heslov, Steven Soderbergh, and others. It starred Bryan Greenberg of One Tree Hill fame and Krista Allen. I know Krista Allen from Smallville and What About Brian, but apparently she was in some Emmanuelle movies and was trying to move beyond that image. I really enjoyed how they worked the actors’ real roles into the program.