By Heather Matarazzo
When I was 19 or so, I was standing in a Starbucks in West Hollywood with a director, talking about the upcoming film we were about to shoot. It had been a long road, but we had finally made it. Waiting for our coffee, I could see that he seemed a bit uneasy. I asked him if everything was OK. He said yes. I didn’t believe him, so I asked him again. He looked at me and said, “Heather, I”m sorry, we have to give your role to another actor. The producers don’t want you.”
I didn’t understand. I had been attached to this project for two years, and now two weeks before filming, I’m being let go. I asked him why. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, “They say you’re not fuckable.”
“Dawn Of The Planets Of The Apes” New York Premiere
Heather Matarazzo is an out actress who has starred in several films including “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” “The Princess Diaries,” “The L Word,” and “Exes and Ohs.” She will next appear in Paula Pell’s film, “Sisters” with Tina Fey and Amy Poheler.
Seriously? What the fuck is fuckable? I don’t know if I can answer that question for you, but I can share my own experience.
When I was 19 or so, I was standing in a Starbucks in West Hollywood with a director, talking about the upcoming film we were about to shoot. It had been a long road, but we had finally made it.
Waiting for our coffee, I could see that he seemed a bit uneasy. I asked him if everything was OK. He said yes. I didn’t believe him, so I asked him again. He looked at me and said, “Heather, I”m sorry, we have to give your role to another actor. The producers don’t want you.”
I didn’t understand. I had been attached to this project for two years, and now two weeks before filming, I’m being let go. I asked him why. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, “They say you’re not fuckable.”
Well, fuck me. Even as I write this, I can still feel the pain, shame, and humiliation that came over me in that moment. This is a part that I had been so excited to play. She was bold, witty, sarcastic, sexy, but more importantly, she had a deeper vulnerability underneath. She had layers. She was complex.
I don’t really remember what happened moments later, except for a few words from the director like “sorry,” “investors,” “love you.” Later that day, he said, ” I still want you to do this movie. We have another part for you, that we think you’d be great for. Right now its small, but I’ll make it bigger so it’s worth your while.”
What does a girl do? Do you say “Yes, OK, because the script is amazing, and great people are attached,” or do you say, “Go fuck yourself. Fuck no! Because I have my pride, and thanks for wasting the last two years of my life”?
I said yes. I said yes. It was hard. It was difficult, but I did it because I loved the script, and the people who were on the project. What I didn’t love was the politics, and what would be my first real taste of what gross fucks financiers can be. And no, they are not real producers. Scott Rudin, Christine Vachon, Jane Rosenthal—those are producers. There is a difference.
You don’t really know what moments are going to help shape who you are going to become. I didn’t know then just how damaging those words would be. Three words: “You’re not fuckable.”
Other words I attached to “You’re not fuckable” were ugly, disgusting, loser, failure, DISGUSTING. That was the biggest word. It made me feel as though people wondered why I should even be taking up space. “Who the fuck are you to be taking up space on this planet you unfuckable fucking fuck?”
I carried this with me into my late 2os. Along with that, I had continual conformation that I was indeed no fuckable based on the fact that the phone wasn’t ringing very often, and my agents at the time were only sending me roles for “plain janes” or “very large women.” And as I write this, I have the thought, I want to eat some pizza.
Oprah talks about how all we want is to be seen. Well, I didn’t think my agents were seeing me, I didn’t think casting directors were seeing me, and I began to truly wonder, am I NOT seeing me? Am I ugly? Am I this unfuckable, gross, disgusting creature who should only be cast as the fat girl, or the freak? But then I realized something: Of course they were seeing me, because that’s how I saw myself. That’s how I saw myself from the time I was 11, around the time I did Dollhouse. Until then, the definitions of beauty hadn’t registered in my brain. I just knew it when I saw it, usually when I had a crush. After Dollhouse came out, I read the reviews. I was asked a lot of questions by reporters, such as, “How does it feel to play the ugly duckling?” “How does it feel to play someone so unattractive?” and in my little 13-year-old head, all I heard was, “How does it feel to be ugly?” So it was that much more devastating when it was confirmed yet again, by someone whom I respected, who I thought saw me, saw my beauty, saw my sexiness, saw my power, saw my capability.
dollhouse
Truthfully, I feel that all women go through this, especially actors. Will we be seen?
For me, I had to stop sitting shiva, remove the blanket from my mirror and look. I had to look at my gorgeous face, with my piercing blue eyes, my pouty lips, small chin, slightly crooked nose, full teeth and smile. I had to really look at myself and see my beauty, and once I could accept the harsh reality that I was indeed, not only fuckable, but fucking beautiful, everything started to change. The roles I started to get called in for were women who were ” beautiful, confident, secure,” they were complex, they had bite, they had depth.
So I am grateful that I got to have that experience. I’m grateful to all of the people, whether they are producers, casting directors, agents, investors who said, “Nope, she’s not fuckable. She’s talented, we love her, but she’s not fuckable,” Because, I am. I am fuckable.
And no, you can’t fuck me. I’m taken.
Heather Matarazzo & Monika Malakova (2007) Hostel 2
Heather Matarazzo
Biography
Date of Birth 10 November 1982, Long Island, New York, USA
Birth Name Heather Cristina Matarazzo
Height 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
Heather Matarazzo was born November 10, 1982, in Oyster Bay, New York. She was adopted by Camille and Ray Matarazzo, an Italian-American couple (she is of Irish descent birth). Heather attended Oyster Bay High School, as well as the Long Island High School for the Arts. In 1997, she made her film debut in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), she played the lead role of Dawn Wiener a shy, unattractive, unpopular 7th grader who falls for a charismatic and handsome aspiring rock musician, and decides to pursue him romantically. Her performance in the film won an Independent Spirit Award.
Trivia
Her homemaker mom, Camille, and dad Ray – a data processor – live on Long Island.
Heather flunked the written part of her driving test, missing 11 of 20 questions. [September 1999]
Won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance for her starring role in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995).
Attended BOCES Cultural Arts Center for musical theatre.
She Became great friends with Anne Hathaway during the shooting of The Princess Diaries (2001). They still call each other frequently and hope to be friends for the rest of their lives.
In April 2005, she was the keynote speaker at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of Boston’s 15th annual conference, at Brookline High School, where she described her struggle to gain acceptance of her sexuality. “It was such a burden, because I had to pretend to be this person that I wasn’t.”
Turned down reprising the role of Dawn Wiener in Palindromes (2004).
She is of completely Irish descent and was adopted by an Italian-American family, hence her surname.
Attended a GLSEN conference as the keynote speaker in Brookline, Massachusetts. [April 2005]
Starring with Thaao Penghlis in the world premiere of “Class”, by Charles Evered, at Cape May Stage in Cape May, NJ. [May 2010]
Moving to Los Angeles [April 2002]
Personal Quotes
On living in Los Angeles: “I can’t ever see myself living there – I’m a true New Yorker.”
“We were sitting in my pink room with pink carpeting. It was summer and we were sitting Indian-style across from each other and I was so incredibly nervous. And I thought, `Yeah, I am definitely gay.'” – On her first kiss with a girl.