Of course, her statement flies in the (eerily smooth) face of support from Botox fans like Virginia Madsen (pictured) and Vanessa L. Williams, who have praised the drug for banishing wrinkles without surgery. Inducing facial paralysis might seem like an odd choice for actors who emote for a living, but Hollywood is an industry based on looks. If wrinkles cost you work, why not get rid of them? And we’re willing to bet that Weisz, a 38-year-old stunner (pictured), might change her tune to the “What people do with their faces is nobody else’s business” refrain some time after she struts past the four-oh mark.
As much as it would be fun to strip away people’s Oscars if they test positive for appearance-enhancing drugs, we’re not on Team Weisz this time. But what about you, PopWatchers? Should Hollywood ban Botox?
Comments (1-30) of 43 Add your comment
I don’t think it should be banned, but it is distracting. The way we lift our eyebrows conveys a lot of emotion, and when in the middle of a dramatic scene there is this shiny, placid forhead, it looks odd. For some reason, I notice it most on Kyra Sedgewick.
Sorry Adam, but I am totally on Team Weisz for this issue. Botox injections in actresses are totally distracting and totally obvious. I can’t take those actresses seriously anymore (especially Nicole Kidman and Marcia Cross) because they Look. So. FAKE. Acting is supposed to be about honestly and realistically portraying a character. Real women do not have unmoving alien faces. I rest my case.
If they ban Botox then Nicole Kidman’s mug will slowly slide off.
I think it depends on the actress. Vanessa Williams looks great to me, and Botox use also fits perfectly with her character on Ugly Betty. But when someone overdoes the Botox, a la Nicole Kidman, it’s impossible for me to take them seriously.
Personally, I find people who use Botox as looking plastic and insecure. Of course, I think the same about women who get breast implants. My preference is for women who look natural and I’m always a little sad when I see one of my favorite actress’s face turn to stone or her lips swell up like they’ve been attacked by a swarm of killer bees. There’s nothing attractive about fish lips. A few wrinkles don’t bother me because I think they add character.
I think it should be banned. Besides why would people want to insert botchilism (sp?)into their faces in the first place?! It just looks so fake, what happened to growing old gracefully like Jane Fonda or Diane Keaton have done?
Sorry Adam but Rachel’s comments are not under thought at all, she right. You can tell when someone gets Botox injections and its distracting. If its an actor, it does hurt their performance.
I think its funny that you think Rachel will change her tune when she turns forty, which tells me that you really did not think this article out at all and the horrible side effects Botox has. Maybe you’re just trying to make excuses for it.
I have to agree with Ames on this one. I don’t think you should actually ban it, but acting is about expressing emotion, etc and how can you do that if your face is frozen!?
I’d act surprised by her statement, but I can’t move my eyebrows.
Seriously, I don’t think Hollywood should ban Botox, but Nicole Kidman and her frozen features are a perfect example. Europeans have the right idea – aging is expected and tolerated, unlike La-La land.
I’d act surprised by her statement, but I can’t move my eyebrows.
Seriously, I don’t think Hollywood should ban Botox, but Nicole Kidman and her frozen features are a perfect example. Europeans have the right idea – aging is expected and tolerated, unlike La-La land.
Put me in Team Weisz, because what Rachel said about Botox makes a hell of a lot more sense than Adam’s sad take on it does. Botox hurts more than it helps and its a huge draw back for actresses in Hollywood. You can’t take Nicole Kidman seriously any more because of how plastic she looks. She can’t even move her face, so how can i take her acting seriously when she can’t expresses emotion?
Rachel is a 100% percent right.
Virginia Madsen looks like a plastic doll, so that’s not a good example at all. Rachel is in the right here Adam and i agree with her completely. Its a drug that is being abused and there should be some regulation on it for people to not harm themselves.
botox is not unnatural looking if it is properly injected — you are citing extreme examples- – you can’t tell for 80% of the women who do it.
I’m no fan of it, but I say don’t ban the procedure, just ban the use of the word Botox, and call it what it is: Botulism Toxin. Let’s see how popular it continues to be then.
If you ban it, then you should also ban Brazilian buttlifts, facelifts, breast implants, tummy tucks, liposuction, collagen injections, wigs, hair plugs, makeup, and dental work of any kind. After all, these people are supposed to look natural right? In fact, why do they wear stage makeup in front of the camera? We all want them to look as natural as possible. LOL
Pardon my sarcasm, but acting in a motion picture (and all that goes with it) is hardly “natural”. If a person has noticeable Botox injections, it detracts from their acting and they aren’t going to get an award anyways.
I’d have to join Ms. Weisz on this one. Well maybe the injections shouldn’t be banned, Hollywood should definitely take a closer look at how it affects performance. It’s really distracting at times when the face doesn’t move the way you expect it to – it’s almost like watching bad CG. I especially noticed it with Angels and Demons where Tom Hanks’s forehead never wrinkled even when his eyebrows were raised, while Ewan McGregor, who is some decades younger, had a much more expressive face (wrinkles and all).
I love that everyone is citing Nicole Kidman as the obvious Botox user. It was the first face that came to mind. I can’t even see a movie she’s in anymore cause I can’t stand to look at her face for that long!
When an actress uses botox there is a serious lack of emotion that they can convey. Mary on SYTYCD doesn’t really get her point across as well because of the frozen expression. Bree on Desperate Housewives. Jordan on Scrubs. I loved that character before all the work. Now she never looks nasty-mean, just surprised.
Well, testing for it seems silly, but I definitely don’t think people should use it…they start looking weird and then it’s all downhill from there.
Team Weisz. Looking ageless might ease egos, but when an actor overdoes it on Botox or plastic surgery, they lose some of the humanity that made them appealing in the first place. Nicole is an obvious example. Look at Cher. She’s had so much Botox and plastic surgery that she doesn’t look like a real person anymore. If you’ve seen Moonstruck or Mask you know we’ve lost an excellent actress. Vanessa Williams works it, but that’s the only character these kinds of actors can play: someone as frightened of aging as they are.
I remain thankful that actors like Meryl Streep, Sally Field, Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood have allowed themselves to age. Think of the art we’d miss out on if every actor sacrificed their integrity for one too many stops by the plastic surgeon/dermatologist.
Banned? I think she was using hyperbole to make a point, but we all seem to get it.
Botox is sad. Actresses are making themselves unemployable — it’s true Nicole Kidman is over already, and she used to be an elfin-faced redhead! And on a woman of 50 is can actually look grotesque.
Current score:
Team Weisz: 23. Team Adam Markovitz: 0.
I don’t think Botox is an insane issue, to an extent. I would put a limit on it though, cause I find that over-botoxed celebrities look more like scary-ass barbie dolls who slowly loose their ability to show emotion than “younger”.
Like anything else, vote with your wallet. You don’t like athletes on steroids, or actors on botox? Don’t support their events. Unfortunately, change usually comes only when it affects profit margins.
Jane Fonda has already had extensive plastic surgery.
“If wrinkles cost you work, why not get rid of them?” Spoken like a man.
The right thing would be for all actresses to refuse to try to live up to unrealistic standards. Male actors don’t have procedures/injections nearly as often as the women do, and we all accept signs of aging on them. Actresses need to demand the same acceptance instead of constantly knuckling under.
Also, Botox makes you look like a freak. Virginia Madsen looked much better without it.
I don’t think you should ban it, but I wish folks would realize they shouldn’t need it. Gads, some of the women in Hollywood right now are down right scary looking (Goldie Hawn comes to mind) due to all the procedures they’ve had done.
I think Hollywood needs a drug testing policy similar to professional sports.
Adam M.’s response is obviously sexist, but he’s right about one thing. Hollywood is, unfortunately, a place where women are pressured to get rid of their hard edges and wrinkles on their faces, or they might lose out on potential roles. I’m probably belaboring the obvious here, but Botox over usage isn’t the real culprit here. It is definitely a byproduct of the double standards women face, but it’s not the source. Hollywood can ban Botox, but that won’t prevent obsessive plastic surgery or bulimia/anorexia. Male actors, especially of the Seth Rogen variety, never has to worry about being himself without every inch of his body being scrutinized under a microscope. Equalize the gender playing field; otherwise, the issue won’t end with Botox, and we’ll be going through this same song and dance when the next ‘age shrinking’ product emerges years from now.
The thing is that using botox while acting is a big challenge because you are not able to express facial emotions. I think that the solution should be a new acting category at award ceremonies, for “best actor/actress under botox”
That way Nicole Kidman would have more nominations for her resume.
I think instead of banning Botox and some of these other procedures, you should instead force those 30, 40something women to sit through a slide show of 50/60 year old actresses: Cher or Helen Mirren? Loretta Swit or Meryl Streep? Loni Anderson or Susan Sarandon? Or heck, even Nicole Kidman or Sandra Bullock?
It may seem like short-term relief, but it’ll become a habit, and then you will have ruined your longterm acting opportunities.