Stars in 'fat suits' anger overweight people

LOS ANGELES -- Playing the heavy in Hollywood has gotten a whole new meaning.

Instead of villainous roles, it now also applies to thin people putting on so-called fat suits -- mainly for laughs.

But some people aren't laughing.

"Whenever thin actors portray fat people it's always a stereotype," said Carol Johnson, the "plus-sized" author of "Self-Esteem Comes in All Sizes." "They look kind of blobby and slobby, and do awkward, pathetic and embarrassing things."

Gwyneth Paltrow is the latest slim star to bulk up with head-to-toe prosthetics, starring in the new Farrelly brothers movie, "Shallow Hal." She follows Julia Roberts as the dowdy celebrity assistant in "America's Sweethearts," Martin Lawrence in "Big Momma's House," Mike Myers in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," and Eddie Murphy as the corpulent Sherman Klump in "The Nutty Professor" movies, among others.

In a weight-obsessed culture, where heavy people feel constant pressure to lose weight to improve their health and appearance, the proliferation of fat jokes has an especially cruel bite, Johnson said.

Chubby comedians have always made fun of their own weight, from Drew Carey to John Candy, Chris Farley and John Belushi. But they also suffered serious health problems that later detracted from the humor.

The fact that they were overweight themselves mitigated the jokes, Johnson said.

"I've made jokes myself," she added. "When I get on a plane sometimes I say, 'That armrest is going to have to up because I've got both hips with me today.'"

She likened thin stars wearing fat suits to performing in blackface, now considered offensive and demeaning to blacks.

"If we wanted white actors to play black people, would we paint their faces black? No way," Johnson said.

Theme overshadowed

Although "Shallow Hal" offers the age-old message that people shouldn't be judged on appearance, activists for the overweight say that theme is overshadowed by jokes about the Paltrow character's chair-smashing girth.

The creators of "Shallow Hal" see their movie as an attempt to deflate stereotypes by poking fun at them.

"This movie makes jokes at everybody's expense, but she comes away always very strong and likable," said Tony Gardner, the makeup artist who designed Paltrow's costume. "We're mainly making fun of people's hang-ups."

Paltrow's character weighs 300 pounds, but she still wears sexy clothes, has an active lifestyle and doesn't apologize for her shape or eating habits.

The central joke of the film is that Hal (played by Jack Black) is a looks-obsessed bachelor who becomes hypnotized to only see people's inner beauty.

When he meets Paltrow's character, Rosemary, she appears as the real-life, slim and trim actress. The other characters see Paltrow in the elaborate latex makeup and body suit that added nearly 200 pounds to her frame.

Gardner said writer-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly instructed him to make Paltrow look like a beautiful overweight person -- not grotesque.

Didn't want a caricature

"They told me that if she didn't look like a real person, one you could care about and sympathize with, the movie wouldn't work," he said. "They didn't want a caricature."

Darlene Cates, a 600-pound actress who co-starred in the 1993 drama "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," said filmmakers seeking that kind of realism should simply hire a "large actress."

In "Shallow Hal," Gardner said, it was important to have the same actress play both the thin and overweight appearances of the character.

"We wanted to show it was still the same person inside," he said. The actress had to be thin, he added, "because I can only add things to someone's appearance. I can't take out their teeth or hollow out their cheekbones or remove parts."