I’m a big fan of Jason Reitman’s films, but I don’t understand this at all:
But her looks were still an issue.
In a discussion about the differences between working in independent and big-studio films, she said she’s often made more aware of her physical appearance when working for the studios. This became especially true during a key scene in “Up in the Air” that involves Clooney, Farmiga and very little clothing.
“I’ve done nudity quite a bit,” Farmiga said, but “Jason (was) prudish about me being pregnant. (But) I felt great in my own skin.”
Nonetheless, Reitman hired a body double, though he let Farmiga have a say in whom he hired. Once the scene was filmed with the body double, Farmiga asked if she could film the scene.
At first, Reitman was reluctant. But he let Farmiga film the nude scene.
In the final cut of the film, though, it’s the double’s — not Farmiga’s — body up on the screen.
“I don’t know why they didn’t include it,” she said. “I know I looked good.”
My understanding is that normally body doubles are involved because the actress does not want to do the nudity involved. There are other times that I could see “fake” nudity being involved based on the context (obviously Rosemary DeWitt’s flash in the TV show United States of Tara is not her breasts, because the plot is about a botched boob job). Both of these seem reasonable enough.
If it isn’t bad enough that parts in the US are constantly prettied up (compared to British equivalents for example), apparently sometimes being pretty enough for clothed roles is not quite pretty enough for the nude parts?
In this particular case, I suppose it could just be an interpretation of how much her pregnancy was showing and whether she could be passed off as not-pregnant (which presumably is easier clothed than unclothed). But it seems like Reitman may have just been succumbing to the taboo against sexualizing (as is involved in the role) a pregnant woman, which is again a problem beyond him. But assuming she wasn’t showing enough to be seen as pregnant (it probably wouldn’t be beyond her character to have a little paunch), what excuse can there possibly be for being so intent on a body double? Or more to the point, how can they possibly argue that this difference would be meaningful to the success of the film (artistically or economically)?
There may be some natural and intractable biases in what is considered beautiful, but I don’t understand how these actions that require conscious decisions to enforce a rigid and impractical body standard (because in what world is Vera Farmiga not good enough) are made. That is the least we should expect of humanity.
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