New at Reason

A.S. Hamrah finds that inside every fat suit is a movie star saying "Love Me!"

Comments

Adam | March 3, 2006, 8:18pm | #

link's busted

Tim Cavanaugh | March 3, 2006, 8:19pm | #

Fixed.

Adam | March 3, 2006, 8:21pm | #

much better.

Doctor Duck | March 3, 2006, 10:16pm | #

One fat-suiter not mentioned is the best episode of 'Monk' ever. 'Dale the Whale' starred Adam Arkin as an obscenely obese, immobile and irascible villain named Dale Beiderbecke.

If you've never seen 'Monk', try to make that the first one you watch. Just what the Doctor ordered.

The Real Bill | March 3, 2006, 10:25pm | #

DD,

That was a very funny episode. Best fat suit ever!

Wild Pegasus | March 4, 2006, 12:32am | #

This article made me crave Ben 'n' Jerry's and a 2-liter of Coke.

- Josh, training to be fat

mediageek | March 4, 2006, 1:06am | #

No mention of Thinner either. You want to talk about weight loss angst? That movie had it in spades.

me | March 4, 2006, 1:21am | #

The fat suit was born as a sign of the redundancy of post-scarcity excess; just the addition of a wafer-thin mint illustrated�in the most disgusting and graphic way�the exact point where super-tanker gluttons became fabulous foodies, their rib cages exposed like shipwrecks.

Honestly? This essay could stand to lose a few pounds.

Akira MacKenzie | March 4, 2006, 1:40am | #

Grrrrrrr... Come on people! Make up your gorram minds! Either were supposed to heap laud and support for the morbidly obese (i.e. fat acceptance), or were supposed to shame them into exercise and diet lest they burden the health care systems of world.

Which is it?

mediageek | March 4, 2006, 2:29am | #

Whatever makes 'em happy.

Ever see the "Two Fat Ladies" cooking show? Utter gustatory brilliance.

Tim Cavanaugh | March 4, 2006, 4:29pm | #

The Adam Arkin episode of Monk is great not only because Adam Arkin is great (I say anything the Arkin family is involved in is A-OK!), but because it's that rare fat-suit role where the actor doesn't insist that you love him for his inner goodness. Arkin wants you to hate him and his hundreds of pounds of silicone. It stands out because we're in the era of makeup-as-performance—something an older generation of actors would have frowned on. Goddamnit, when James Gregory played General Ursus, he did that role without makeup, just through sheer force of an actor's will!

Paul | March 4, 2006, 4:44pm | #

Once upon a time actors made news by endangering their health to gain weight for roles, like Robert De Niro did for Raging Bull. Their willingness to fatten up showed how different they were, how committed, in a world where everybody else wanted to slim down. Today we read instead about the weight actors lose.

This is a bit of a sweeping generalization. What about George Clooney in Syriana or Benicio Del Toro in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

what Paul said | March 4, 2006, 6:12pm | #

...Charlize Theron in Monster...

biologist | March 4, 2006, 6:18pm | #

watch the machinist to see Christian Bale look like he's straight from Auschwitz

then watch American Psycho to see what he had to lose to prepare for the Machinist

then watch Batman Begins, where he put the muscle back on

American Psycho is an excellent movie

the others are pretty good too

Douglas Fletcher | March 4, 2006, 10:49pm | #

What about George Clooney in...anything at all?

I think I'll pass.

J. Goard | March 5, 2006, 4:01am | #

Douglas: ditto. Clooney is a Golden Age leading man, in that he doesn't act.

The article title is awesome, BTW.

Rich Ard | March 5, 2006, 4:27am | #

"Douglas: ditto. Clooney is a Golden Age leading man, in that he doesn't act.

For reference see "Ocean's Eleven, or: How I dug up the Rat Pack's corpses and had sex with them".

Phil | March 5, 2006, 7:57am | #

The flipside of this is when people like Tyra Banks put on fat suits, then go out and do hidden camera stuff wherein they experience how fat people are really treated in the world, then promptly head back to the studio and shed the suit. They then show the footage to the audience, ostensibly in solidarity with fat people, but all the while projecting an aura of, "Glad I'm not really them!"

Eric the .5b | March 5, 2006, 9:06am | #

I dunno, I don't see anything wrong with, "This is awful how fat people are treated - I'm glad I don't get treated like that."

Timothy | March 5, 2006, 11:02am | #

Is it just me or does Renée Zellweger actually look better with the Bridget Jones pounds?