The actress’s team called out producer Carol Baum after she told an audience Sweeney is “not pretty” and “can’t act.”
What is it about Sydney Sweeney that makes people absolutely lose their minds? The latest completely unnecessary take on the actress comes from movie producer Carol Baum, who saw a recent Q&A session in upstate New York as an opportunity to share some seemingly unsolicited thoughts.
According to the Daily Mail, Baum sat down with New York Times film critic Janet Maslin ahead of a public screening of Dead Ringers, which Baum executive-produced in 1988. “There’s an actress who everybody loves now: Sydney Sweeney,” Baum reportedly said during the chat last week. She called one of Sweeney’s recent releases, Anyone But You, an “unwatchable movie,” adding that she recently asked the class she teaches at USC to “explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?” She apparently added that “nobody had an answer.”
On Tuesday, shortly after the Daily Mail’s piece went up, Maslin took to Twitter to attempt to add some context to Baum’s comments, arguing that Anyone But You “IS unwatchable” and that the movie came up in their Q&A “because it’s been the rare smash hit rom-com at a time when they aren’t working. Not because we wanted to take cheap shots at anyone.” She did, however, note that she agreed with one commenter who said Sweeney was “fantastic” in The White Lotus.
It IS unwatchable. Carol Baum said this after we screened “Dead Ringers” at the Jacob Burns Film Center and she mentioned having seen “Anyone But You” on a plane. But “Dead Ringers,”
— Janet Maslin (@JanetMaslin) April 17, 2024
b/o a book Baum optioned 10 years before David Cronenberg adapted it, gets better and better. https://t.co/KCyFBfTfhq
Agree on The White Lotus. I haven’t seen Euphoria yet.
— Janet Maslin (@JanetMaslin) April 17, 2024
We brought up Anyone But You because it’s been the rare smash hit rom-com at a time when they aren’t working. Not because we wanted to take cheap shots at anyone.
Meanwhile, fans and a few collaborators rushed to Sweeney’s defense. Teddy Schwarzman, who produced her latest movie, Immaculate, tweeted that the actress is “not only one of the most talented actresses I’ve worked with, but also incredibly smart, kind and humble.” He added that, unlike Baum’s “terribly ugly comments,” Sweeney is “at least beautiful on the inside.”
As a producer of #Immaculate, I’ll enlighten Ms. Baum that two-time Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney is not only one of the most talented actresses I’ve worked with, but also incredibly smart, kind and humble. I’m not sure why someone who claims to still be a producer would make such…
— Teddy Schwarzman (@tschwarzman) April 17, 2024
On Wednesday, Sweeney’s representation released a statement responding to Baum’s comments. “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman,” the spokesperson said. “If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms. Baum’s character.”
As for Baum, TMZ claims she regrets what she said, but she hasn’t publicly apologized. At least she didn’t comment on Sweeney’s boobs.
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