I like Brie Larson for the same reason I like an actress like Amy Ryan – Brie’s very talented and yet there’s something unknown about her, difficult to pin down. Rather than coming across as mysterious, Brie comes across as forgettable (same as Amy Ryan), which is perfect if she wants you to be absorbed in her performance rather than focused on her “celebrity.” Brie has managed to quietly rule this year’s awards season with such a light touch – no one has anything bad to say about her, she’s never in-your-face, she’s never too much. She’s gracious and kind and… yes, forgettable (as a celebrity/personality). I was reminded of all of that as I read People Mag’s exclusive with Brie ahead of the Oscars. Brie talks about how difficult it was for her to spend years of her life getting endless criticism from casting directors and producers.
For Brie Larson, adolescence was an especially confusing time. Long before she was cast in her Oscar-nominated role in Room, Larson spent two decades going from audition to audition, only receive confusing and sometimes harsh feedback.
“You get notes about being too nice or being too dark,” the Best Actress nominee tells PEOPLE for its Oscar portfolio and video series. “Being too tall, too brown-eyed. Being too girl next door, or being too eccentric. You have to take a lot of time to pull those things apart and figure out, ‘What is helping me? What is something I can take and say, I can trust that. What is something that is not useful advice and I’m going to let go?’ ”
Larson says subjecting herself to casting directors, particularly during her teens, was trying.
“That was 20 years of trial and error, and trying to grow up and go through puberty as well was really a complicated and awkward situation. You have a bunch of people every day telling you what you are and what you’re not. And a lot of times it doesn’t match with how you see yourself at all.”
In the end, says the actress, 26, “Now I look back on it fondly because it made me every single time solidify who I was. And every time I solidified who I was, it made me more comfortable becoming other characters.”
I get that she’s telling this story as an inspirational tale of overcoming the hardships of being constantly criticized and nitpicked by casting directors for decades. But my point is… the nitpicking was misplaced because she’s always been more of a character actress, capable of slipping in and out of roles and NOT being known as a celebrity. Casting directors were probably looking for the next Angelina Jolie/Jennifer Lawrence/Reese Witherspoon and Brie is more of Amy Ryan/Kelly MacDonald type.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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