Lena Headey - too thin for Terminator?
Lena Headey, the British actress who plays Sarah Connor in the new Terminator TV series, has been criticized for being too thin for this role.
While the show made an impressive debut, with more than 18million US viewers last week, Headey’s lean physique has quickly been put under the microscope, with some deeming her unsuitable for the part.
The role was first made famous by iron-pumping Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Hamilton turned the character into a “butt-kicking inspiration to millions of women,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
But now a critic writing for the paper says: “Some who worship at the altar of Sarah Connor detect heresy in the casting of Headey, who’s healthy-looking and attractive but not exactly Ms Olympia.”
Movie critics, Terminator fans and feminists claim Lena was an uninspired choice for this role, because Sarah Connor was supposed to look muscled and tough.
Boston Herald critic Mark Perigard wrote: “I’d like to give her time - and some pasta - to help her grow into her jeans. Headey looks remarkably like actress Lara Flynn Boyle. She’s a twig of an action heroine.”
The Sarah Connor Charm School, a Terminator fan group which focuses on “physical feminist empowerment”, is also unimpressed by the choice.
The group’s spokesperson Kym Lambert said: “We were very upset to find out that a very thin and non-athletic actress had been chosen out of, supposedly, hundreds to play a role that we as physical feminists found so inspiring.”
British feminist and novelist Bidisha echoed the group’s concerns.
She said: “I am shocked to find out that the producers are clearly sanctioning a new, weedy silhouette in such an iconic and genuinely groundbreaking role. There are two issues here: having a toothpick-thin, feeble-looking Sarah Connor is a crime against the iconography of the character; and presenting a clearly emaciated actress as a heroine is a crime against women.” [Source]
I understand the fact that Terminator fans want a more athletic Sarah Connor (maybe they should have picked Michelle Rodriguez if they wanted the tough type), but I personally don’t think Lena Headey is too thin. What’s your opinion?
One more picture of Lena Headey, and a picture of the original Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton)…
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