Beyonce Told The Marketing Team They Made Her Look "Too Skinny" In The Posters For 'Austin Powers'
One of the first breakout roles that Beyonce had in film was the role of Foxxy Cleopatra in "Austin Powers in Goldmember," and even though she was only 19 years old, she took a stand quickly when she saw something that didn't sit right with her.
It's been 20 years since Austin Powers in Goldmember came out and Kate Biscoe, the film's makeup artist, has some memories of being on set that she shared with Vulture. Beyonce wasn't happy with the way they made her look in the posters for the movie, and she was vocal about it.
Beyonce Told the Marketing Team They Made Her Look "Too Skinny" in the Posters for 'Austin Powers'
Beyoncé worked hard to maintain a certain physique for the Austin Powers movie; in fact, she was only eating 1,200 calories a day and sticking to a "really tough physical regimen and diet," according to the producer John Lyons.
“[Beyoncé’s team was] keenly aware of the expectations that both the music business and Hollywood frequently have for how young, beautiful women should look and were smart about making those ideas work to their ends,” Lyons said.
Biscoe reminisced about the first day Beyoncé saw the promotional posters for the movie. She felt like she looked too thin and requested that they change her shape.
“When we were shooting, someone brought her a poster that would be promoting the movie,” Biscoe said. “He showed it to her, like, ‘Do you like it?’ And she was kind of like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘What’s the matter?’ And she says, ‘You made me too skinny. It’s not me.’ Then she did this hourglass shape. And he said, ‘Okay, we’ll fix that.’”
“She walked away to go do the scene, and I looked at him and smiled, like, ‘Is that the first time that you’ve ever had an actress ask to make her body bigger?’ He was like, ‘Yes. It’s going to cost me thousands of dollars, but I am going to do it.’”
This was the time when Beyoncé was eager to prove she was a good actress. She even auditioned twice for the movie. The second time she “went back in wearing a Pam Grier–like catsuit, an Afro wig, and had memorized every blaxploitation film ever made," Beyoncé told Newsweek previously.