To wonder how casting for 'ugly' people works

[iwantasandwich]

I've been watching desperate housewives for the first time and the two girls who were cast to play Gabbies children were done intentionally to be the opposite of her, 'ugly' and plump for the contrast and the story line initially too.

I then started wondering how does this work when casting, what parent or agent sees a casting call for 'ugly fat children wanted' and thinks 'ooo I've got one of those'

The same applies for adult roles but I find it especially hard to understand for children.

Some characters are designed to look a certain way, but when that way is ugly or spotty or very large how does that work for peoples self esteem.

AIBU to think it's a weird balance for parents to find with helping their child who wants to act but also accept the fact sometimes they'll be cast for a less than ideal aspect of their appearance?

They're very rarely actually ugly, usually attractive actresses given glasses, bad teeth and a harsh hairstyle

Are you a member of the 'all children are cute' club

As I know some of you exist, I had a proper potato baby and one friend refused to accept it, as apparently all babies and children are gorgeous - nah I have eyes

If the main casting decision was looking like her dad they did a good job!

For adults they’ll likely cast by dress size for women and measurements for men. For kids they’ll say a kid around x years and x kg.

casting agencies especially extras agencies have all sorts of people. Ages, builds, normal looking, etc. when you register with a casting agency you send photos in so the agency know what you look like.

@NightmareSlashDelightful

6 year olds can be ugly, odd for you to think they can't

These children were cast due to contrasting in appearance to their glamour puss mother.

And if PP is correct about the youngest also being cast to look like a man then yes they hit the brief I suppose

I am an extra, signed up with one of the major agencies. There are all sorts of people signed up with the agency. When they are casting for extras in a show the casting director will tell the agency they are looking for women, aged 35-50, no taller than X, blue eyes or whatever. The agency then sends over photos of everyone who fits the bill and who is available, and the casting director chooses.

I would imagine it's the same with larger roles - agents are asked to send over pictures of children fitting age, ethnicity etc and then they choose.

I’ve had modelling work before when they said “looking for a woman approx 45yo, dress size large”. I wasn’t offended.

Do people not put 2 and 2 together though if they're specifically chosen for a role where an aspect of their appearance is a plot point

As Pp said, the kid who was forced to eat cake in Matilda, him being fat was his storyline, so he and his parents must have known that's why his head shot was selected out of those sent over right

In Radio 4's The Reunion a few weeks ago they brought together some of the actors and producers from the early years of Grange Hill, including the guy who played Roland, and he said that basically when his teachers suggested he audition and he was shown the description of the role it pretty much just said 'a fat boy'. Luckily he just found it funny.

I can only assume the pros outweigh (no pun intended) the cons.

I don’t know exactly how they phrase what they’re looking for but the girl at the Friends wedding almost certainly got paid more than the other kids by virtue of having more lines etc so that’s some consolation!

This thread is making me cry with laughter!

I think at least now things are getting better for casting 'ordinary looking' people and different body types without that being the 'point' of the character.

Still, I remember over 35 years ago, late 80s, an American cousin visiting us and being amazed at the number of British adverts (even then) featuring ordinary looking people - he told us that everyone in US ads always looked like models or film stars, so apparently the UK was ahead of the curve on that.

Meh. My youngest strongly resembles the kid Ricky gervais calls a ‘c*’ in afterlife . He’s an absolute unit aswell. He wears it well in my opinion. DD has always been strikingly beautiful and dainty in a classic way. In real life it’ll make very little difference to their happiness and success but if they were into acting I suspect DS would get more work playing obnoxious bullies or middle Earth creatures or something. They must be swamped with ‘pretty little things’ .

This is a good point, there is a lot more diversity in casting for newer films and programs without that being central to their character or the plot itself

Maybe it's something that will weed it's own way out eventually!

Nah I don't even like children.

But I am a subscriber to the idea that you don't really often get ugly people, just some people take a bit more time to get used to looking at them. Neither of the portrait/casting type pics I looked at of either of these kids fit that category though

The younger one is played by Daniella Baltodano. She's not ugly and I think bullying a child is disgusting and says far more about the person saying those things than the child. She doesn't fit the TV image of a cute child no, but actually most average children don't. A lot of children go through an 'awkward stage' and end up growing into their looks. She looked like a normal child, if a little on the heavy side but again, so are a lot of children.

Same for soap operas @Echobelly - think back to Dallas and Dynasty days. American soaps were glamorous, Britain had Eastenders and Coronation Street. There’s a lot more diverse programming now but probably a noticeable divide, still

No, you've misunderstood (or misrepresented) what I'm saying. I'm saying you are being a bit cruel when you say a specific six-year-old looks like a man.

Anyway, to answer your core question — I used to work in TV and associated creative industries — there are euphemistic terms that are often used in casting calls, for adults anyway. So they'll talk about 'characterful' or 'alternative' appearance, for example. Or 'not stereotypically/conventionally attractive'.

These terms are generally not used with kids though. Not in the UK, anyway. Casting child actors/models is its own weird world.

You can do a lot with make-up, lighting, hair, costume padding. America Ferrara is a good example of this (in Ugly Betty). I've seen Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley be made to look quote-unquote 'ugly' for a specific role.

There is litrally an agency for this called ugly, I wish I could get on their books (Ive applied before but im just too dull, run of the mill and average rather than castibly 'ugly') because their models/actors make a fortune and travel the world like supermodels.

@OneTC

Are you looking at the 'right' versions of those children?

As in desperate housewives the kids were recast as they grew up

The original 2 actresses for those roles were definitely intentionally large and not the prettiest children

Charlize in 'Monster' was highly praised for 'uglying' up to play Aileen.

Yeah I'm wondering if they're looking at the second versions of the kids

@NightmareSlashDelightful

Interesting so they kind of code the traits they're looking for and then those doing the casting will accept a higher rate of application due to being a bit woolly with the casting requirements?

Do the actors/models really not get it though when they're cast, as surely it avoids a lot of unnecessary applications by just saying we need an obese ginger man who looks like shit for this part. As if they put 'a large set red head who has character' they'd get more applicants I'd assume than by being prescriptive

desperatehousewives.fandom.com/wiki/Celia_Solis

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