Melanie Lynskey is currently starring in both Yellowjackets on Showtime and has a supporting role as Leonardo DiCaprio’s wife in Don’t Look Up. Most people response when they see Melanie, no matter what they know her from is, “oh her, I love her!” She’s great in everything. Melanie frequently gets cast as the supportive character to the lead – the sensible best friend, the understanding wife, the sassy sister. I think that’s why I loved her as Rose in Two and A Half Men so much, because she got to play against type. Much of her casting has to do with her girl-next door appearance. In Yellowjackets, she is once again in the role of the supportive friend (only things went sideways, to say the least). One thing that was important to her in the role of Shauna was that she look like an approachable woman. Melanie, who’s admitted to disordered eating in her past, said she wanted to come into the role at her usual size and never have it discussed in any negative way. She also wanted the character to be shown sexual and desirable, like any normal woman would be. And Shauna was shown exactly like that. However, Melanie had a rocky start to filming. She recently told a story about being body shamed by a production member who asked her what she planned to do about her weight after she was cast. But Melanie didn’t have to take it alone, her cast-mates Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress and Christina Ricci came to her defense and Melanie was allowed to portray Shauna her own way.
Melanie Lynskey had her Yellowjackets costars on her side when she was allegedly body shamed on set, the actress said.
The 44-year-old Lynskey, who stars on the hit Showtime series, said in an interview with Rolling Stone that a member of the show’s production staff implied that she needed to lose weight.
“They were asking me, ‘What do you plan to do? I’m sure the producers will get you a trainer. They’d love to help you with this,’ ” she said.
After the incident, Lynskey’s costars, Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis, immediately came to her defense, she said, with Lewis writing a letter to the Yellowjackets producers.
Again, not surprising that person felt they had the right to say something. Production teams in Hollywood having been allowed to put people down based appearance for over a century. The one solace I get is that this SOB didn’t anticipate the Yellowjackets coming for them when they opened their stupid mouth. I’m sure Melanie used the experience in her performance, though. She had a lot of experiences to lend to Shauna’s story. In that same Rolling Stone interview she talked about her promo tour on her very first movie, Heavenly Creatures with Kate Winslet. Apparently, she was very much the Shauna to Kate’s Jackie, with Kate getting designer gowns and Melanie having to find dresses at local shops. Kate was sent a ton of scripts and passed the ones that bored her off to Melanie. And the worst was that halfway through the tour, the cretin Harvey Weinstein sent Melanie home. He’d made the call on his own that “nobody wanted to hear from (her).” No wonder Melanie is so bad@$$, she’s been fighting back against this bs from the start.
As you may know, but we often forget because they are so low key, Melanie is married to Jason Ritter. Her tweets on Yellowjackets in general have been really funny, but when she includes Jason in them, they’re even better. My favorite, however, was this one. I suppose this could be spoiler-y, if you don’t know anything at all about the show, so I guess spoiler?:
He has asked if we can expect a big Debris episode in Season Two
— Melanie Lynskey (@melanielynskey) January 7, 2022
I love her 🙂
Me too!
Can I just say she looks great- confident and happy in herself. And doesn’t seem to be ageing either.
Incidentally I never knew she was from New Zealand.
She is great. For some reason though, I always think she’s Megan Mullally at first! They could cast as sisters (and both are riotously funny!).
Okay, now I really want a comedy with ML and MM as sisters and JR and Nick Offerman as their SOs.
I adored her as Rose! It’s good to normalize normal .Yay for the costars too!
I love her as Rose too………….what she put Charlie Harper through was just so funny!
People commenting on other people’s bodies-just don’t!! She was so good in Ever After.
That’s it!! I knew I loved her but struggled to remember what all I’d seen her in. She STOLE Ever After! Now I want to go find Yellowjackets.
Thank you! I knew I recognized her from somewhere but I couldn’t place it. She was adorable in Ever After.
I’d forgotten about that! She was a standout in that role! She lights up the screen.
Such a talented actress. I had no idea she is married to Ritter. Yellowjackets is on my short list to watch and that’s because of her. I loved her as Rose. Juliette Lewis also sealed the deal for me. She, too, looks like a non-Hollywood type and makes it more relatable. Why can’t then producers understand that? Seeing all the plastic of the Kardashians is a turnoff to most people. We want to see more people that look like us.
Only on ep 2 of YJ but she nails it consistently and plays against type to great effect. Rly good show so far!
Shauna was the first role to be cast. Amazing that some producer/production person felt they were perfect entitled to police and shame and try to change the ML’s body. So gross.
And the HW reveal- no surprise there. A predator and serial sexual abuser treating an actress with disrespect and disregard, tossing her away like she’s worthless, doing things that impede her doing her job or being noticed for her work and making a point to let her know that she’s nothing (not just speaking for himself but presuming to speak for everyone on that press tour). And putting two female costars at odds, in opposition by choosing one to elevate one and exile the other (maybe to isolate KW and make her more beholden, vulnerable to him? Or maybe ML was clear early on she wasn’t going to play and he retaliated? Predators gotta predator)
How many dozens? Hundred? of actresses had him submarine their opportunities or banish them from events and projects? He’s a vile human being.
So happy for ML that she’s finding greater success and recognition these days. I love her and what she brings to projects, and she and Jason Ritter together are 🥰. I wasn’t aware of it but now it seems like they were meant to be, like they’ve always been.
I remember her from Heavenly Creatures, in which she was great.
Heavenly Creatures is one of my favorite films. She was so good in it but obviously didn’t have the same career as Kate Winslet. She is extremely talented and I’m glad people are starting to notice.
Can’t wait to watch Yellow Jackets and happy for all the *older* actresses involved that it’s a hit. Good on Juliet Lewis!
I love that film, too! And, honestly, I always thought she was more the standout than Kate was (I mean Kate was/is fabulous, but Melanie’s performance just stood out more imo). If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend Away We Go. Her part is small but so incredibly heartbreaking that it sticks with you. She’s so talented and seems like such a sweet, down-to-earth person.
Loved Away We Go, unexpected and lovely film.
I loved her in Sweet Home Alabama. It wasn’t a big part but she aced it.
“You have a baby! In a bar!” 😂
I recall seeing Heavenly Creatures when it came out- and loving it. I still recommend it to people. One of my friends had not heard of her, or Heavenly Creatures, and i didn’t know where else to send them to learn. I mean, i loved Two and a Half Men- it was funnier than it had any right to be, partially because of Rose. She makes everything she is in better.
Yellowjackets is so good! And she and teen Shauna are so great in it.
I would recommend it to anyone who can take the gore. (though i could go forever without seeing the mangled leg or Van’s stitches again).
What’s the point of casting someone and then tell them to change their appereance? Hire someone else. Good for the ladies that stood up for her, this shouldn’t happen!
She is amazing in everything. When I saw her in the reunion dress, I made a mental note to look for that shape when I dress shop. We have similar bodies and it was so flattering!!
I’ve loved her since Ever After with Drew Barrymore, she played the step-sister and was hilarious.
Just watched the first episode of Yellowjackets last night and I can’t wait to see where it goes. She is fantastic in everything I have seen her in and I’m really happy her co-stars defended her here.
It has been such a great pleasure to see her and Juliette Lewis. I am a big Lewis fan. I have a wide array of preferences for body types and Melanie’s is one. It is very womanly to me. It also does me a world of good to see her portrayed as an object of desire and strength. YAY to middle aged women with relatable bodies!
That’s refreshing to see that her costars had her back, although I imagine it was easier to get that production person to back off from big stars like Lewis and Ricci. I just hope more actresses, whether big stars or just starting, do the same and have their costars backs.
Also, I lol’d at Ritter’s Debris joke.
I love her and was so happy to see her in Yellowjackets. I remember really liking her in the HBO series Togetherness. So good and was bummed when it got canceled.
Togetherness was so good!!
This just shows how out of touch and dumb Hollywood producers are. They don’t know what viewers want.
I, as a viewer, loved to see a character on TV who is not skinny but whose size is not a plot point.
Like she’s just this average size woman living her life and being a sexual being and doing everything a skinny character would do.
I mean, the only appropriate answer to “what are you going to do about your weight now that you’re cast?” is “Well I guess I could gain a few pounds if you want.”
I had no idea she was married to Jason Ritter. They both seem lovely. She looks fabulous. She’s a great actress, and that’s what they hired her for.
I wonder if it was someone in the wardrobe department, I’ve read stories of many actresses, some quite thin, who have been insulted like that when doing fittings and such.
I didn’t love “Don’t Look Up” but she shined as LD’s wife. That scene in the hotel room was my favourite and she was PERFECT!
Aaah! I recently discovered Lady of the Manor on Prime and she’s the lead role with Judy Greer. It’s delightful and funny and refreshing to see her be a mess of a person and have a normal body. Guess what Hollywood producers? Most of the world has a “normal” body and we find ourselves attractive and get it on just fine. Justin Long is in it too and produced it so I highly recommend if you want a simple feel good comedy movie.
Melanie Lynskey is my favorite on Yellowjackets — and so is Lewis, and so is Ricci, and so is Cypress. And so are their younger counterparts. Omg, what a cast, what a show!!!!!!!! So, so enraging that while Lynskey was out there giving the performance of the century, someone chose to body shame her. YUCK. I hate fatphobia, it’s not only unethical, it’s also based on untrue assumptions like larger people are not attractive or appealing. Lynskey is extremely attractive and appealing to viewers!!!!! She looks GREAT on camera (and I’m sure irl). Audiences LIKE watching beautiful talented performers like Lynskey and Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson and Danielle Brooks and Lizzo and Megan Thee Stallion. I would love to be well past the era when only thin people were considered talented and hot.
She’s fantastic in Heavenly Creatures… and Sweet Home Alabama… and Ever After… and she’s the whole reason I started Yellowjackets. It’s a great show and Melanie IS perfectly cast as Shauna. And yeah, she’s got some sexy scenes and she smolders in them.
To me, she is forever Beth in Detroit Rock City!
A member of the “production staff” isn’t necessarily a producer. It could very well have been someone in wardrobe, etc.
Oh, I lover her, TOO! And, if you’re a Melanie Lynskey fan, and you haven’t seen it yet – do check out the movie, ‘I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore’ (2017). It is so good, (and CRAZY), and she is the STAR!
Whatch her on I don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore in Netflix. First time I watched her in anything. I’ve seen that movie a few times and I almost never watch a movie twice.