Imagine yourself at work. You’re sitting (or standing) there, doing your best on the task at hand. Suddenly, your boss comes over and screams, “How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here? Her nose is ruining my workplace.”
As Elle reports, that’s what happened to Debra Messing while shooting her first film, “A Walk in the Clouds.” Director Alfonso Arau yelled “cut” during Messing and Keanu Reeves’ love scene and just had to express his personal opinions about her appearance. Oh, and he also claimed that Messing’s nose was destroying the entire movie.
Messing discussed this humiliating experience for the first time at the recent MAKERS conference. “It was a shock,” the actress said. “I was so confident coming out of graduate school with my Masters in acting. I’d studied in London and I was so well equipped with skill sets, and then to walk on set and have that happen — I was reduced to an un-Hollywood nose.”
And for anyone thinking that Arau’s outburst was just a one-off, stress-induced incident, the story gets worse. He also pressured Messing into an unplanned nude scene, which didn’t even make the film’s final cut. After coercing Messing into going naked, he made a creepy “power play,” lifting the sheet and taking a long look at her body. “[Arau] dropped the sheet on top of me like a used Kleenex, then walked away without a word,” Messing recalled. He did so only to “demean me, strip me of my pride, my power.”
It took a long time for Messing to rebuild her self-esteem after that bullshit, and understandably so. “It’s taken me years and years and years to finally own my differences and to love what’s different about me, and to come face to face with a truth within my industry, within our culture,” she said. “I have a strong nose, I have small breasts,” Messing concluded. “I’m a fucking original. My nose and I have come this far, and like Barbra Streisand, I’m defiantly keeping it.”
Messing’s experience is infuriating for her, for other actresses, and for women everywhere. Arau basically accused Messing of sabotaging the movie with her looks, something a person only has so much control over. The craziest part is that Messing is one of the lucky ones. She was able to make a name for herself, completely move past “A Walk in the Woods,” and forge a great career. She, as Elle phrases it, “had the last laugh.” But who knows how many other women out there — actresses and otherwise — have been professionally or personally sidelined because their appearance didn’t happen to please someone in power?
While it’s likely painful for Messing to revisit the formative experience, we appreciate the fact that she spoke publicly about it. A key way we can fight the insane hoops women have to jump through is to talk about them openly.
Messing portrayed Grace Adler on NBC’s “Will & Grace” for eight seasons and will soon return for more. A recently-announced revival of the beloved series is expected in time for the 2017–2018 TV season. The actress is also set to appear as Marjorie Houseman, Baby’s mother, in the upcoming “Dirty Dancing” live musical special. Messing’s previous credits include “The Mysteries of Laura,” and “Smash.”
