It seems like every time I think an actress is particularly gorgeous, someone in Hollywood decides to tell her she’s too fat.

A case in point: up-and-coming British actress Hayley Atwell, whose projects this year include the Woody Allen film Cassandra’s Dream (out in the U.K. on May 9), the Keira Knightley flick The Duchess (out in the U.K. on August 29, and the U.S. on September 12) and the big-screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited (out in the U.S. on July 25, and the U.K. on September 23). Now, I don’t know about you, but Atwell looks pretty perfect to me:

But apparently Miramax Films (the studio behind the new adaptation of Brideshead) didn’t think so. According to U.K. website The First Post, Atwell has reported that she was asked by the film company to lose weight for her role as Julia Flyte. It was only when co-star Emma Thompson (who will play Lady Marchmain) heard the news that things got resolved:

Says Atwell: "I went round to Emma's one night and she was getting very angry that I wasn't eating all the food she was giving me. I told her why and she hit the roof." The no-nonsense Thompson was so outraged that she called the producers the next day and threatened to resign from the film if they forced Atwell to lose weight. Faced with Thompson — a two-time Oscar winner — on the warpath, Miramax Films swiftly relented.’ … continue reading

I have very, very mixed feelings about the upcoming big-screen version of Brideshead Revisited. On the one hand, I want to hate it with every fiber of my being. It’s a remake of a television version from the '80s that seemed perfect to me the first time round. The screenwriter, Andrew Davies (he of Tipping the Velvet fame) has stated in interviews that his aim is to shift the focus of the story, from the memorably homerotic bond between university friends Charles and Sebastian, to the tragic affair between Charles and Sebastian’s sister Julia. Which is a great idea: because what the big screen has really lacked for a long time now is another love story about star-crossed heterosexuals.

On the other hand, the film stars Hayley Atwell.

Atwell probably isn’t known at all currently in the States. Twenty-five years old, she only recently got her start in the U.K., starring in the 2006 BBC drama The Line of Beauty as Catherine Fedden, a restless girl from a wealthy family who suffers from manic depression. Although the drama centered around another young British actor, Dan Stevens, who starred as Nick, it’s probably fair to say that it was Atwell who really caught the attention. … continue reading