After gaining attention thanks to breakout, Emmy Award-nominated performances in TV shows Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sydney Sweeney has become one of the most highly sought-after young actors in Hollywood.
The 26-year-old Madame Web star has three hit movies (well, two) currently either in theaters or on streaming, as well as several major projects in the pipeline, including a remake of cult sci-fi comedy Barbarella.
It seems not everyone has been won over by Sweeney's charm and talent, however.
Hollywood producer Carol Baum, who has worked on numerous films over the years including The Shining, Dead Ringers, Shining Through and The Good Girl, took a shot at Sweeney during a recent post-screening discussion (via Page Six).
“I don’t get Sydney Sweeney,” Baum reportedly said at the Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville, NY, after seeing the "unwatchable" Anyone But You on a plane. “I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her."
Baum went on to reveal that she asked her students at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts if they could explain Sweeney's popularity.
“I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?' Nobody had an answer.”
Admittedly, Anyone But You is probably not the best showcase for Sweeney's acting chops, but Baum probably should have checked out some of her other performances before drawing these conclusions. While she's obviously entitled to her opinion, we can't see a producer saying these type of things about one of tinsel town's most in-demand actors going particularly well for her career!
What do you make of Baum's assessment of Sweeney? Drop us a comment down below.
"Meanwhile, in another universe...' reads the official synopsis, "In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines." "The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures...if they can all survive a deadly present."
Dakota Johnson stars as the clairvoyant Cassandra Webb, who uses her abilities to save a group of young woman, played by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor, from a villainous Spider-Man lookalike known as Ezekiel Simms.
The girls Webb is doing her best to keep safe, Julia Carpenter, Mattie Franklin and Anya Corazón, are all destined to become heroes with Spider-like powers of their own, and Simms is targetting them because of what they do to him in the future.
S.J. Clarkson, who also helmed Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders, directs from a script by Matt Sazama, Kerem Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Adam Merims executive produced.