Sydney Sweeney’s team hits back at claims she ‘can’t act’ from Hollywood producer

Producer Carol Baum reportedly critiqued Euphoria star Sweeney while speaking with a New York Times film critic before a screening of Dead Ringers
Ellie Iorizzo18 April 2024
The Weekender

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Actress Sydney Sweeney has hit back at a female Hollywood producer who claimed she “isn’t pretty” and “can’t act”.

Carol Baum critiqued The White Lotus and Euphoria star while speaking with a New York Times film critic before a screening of Baum’s 1988 film Dead Ringers.

She described Sweeney as “an actress who everybody loves now” but added that “I don’t get [her]” after seeing Sweeney’s rom-com film Anyone But You, which she branded “unwatchable”.

The producer, whose films include Father Of The Bride and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, also claimed she asked a class she teaches at film school: “Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?”

Sweeney responded, via a representative, calling Baum’s words “shameful”.

The statement read: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.

Sweeney pictured with her Anyone But You co-star Glen Powell
Getty Images

“If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful.

“To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms Baum’s character.”

Sweeney, 26, produces her own films and is tipped to star in Marvel blockbuster Spider-Woman and remake Jane Fonda’s 1968 sci-fi action movie Barbarella.

She also starred in the music video for The Rolling Stones single Angry released last year, travelling in a red convertible as it drove along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

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