Veteran producer Carol Baum (left) has slammed actress Sydney Sweeney (right). Photos / Getty Images / AP
Veteran producer Carol Baum (left) has slammed actress Sydney Sweeney (right). Photos / Getty Images / AP
Sydney Sweeney, who shot to fame after playing hysterical schoolgirl Cassie Howard in HBO’s shock Euphoria teen drama, was this week blasted by veteran producer Carol Baum, 81, for her “unwatchable” 2023 comedy Anyone But You.
Sweeney’s representative has now told the New York Post: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.
“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.”
Glen Powell, left, and Sydney Sweeney attend the premiere of Anyone But You. Photo / AP
Baum – now an acting teacher and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose producing credits include Father of the Bride – hit out at Sweeney on Tuesday following a screening of her 1998 horror-drama film Dead Ringers.
She said: “There’s an actress who everybody loves now – Sydney Sweeney.
“I don’t get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney’s movie (Anyone But You) because I wanted to watch it. I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her.”
Baum, who teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, went on to brand the comedy “unwatchable” and said she asked her students to explain to her why Sweeney was considered “so hot”.
She added: “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 but then the question was asked, ‘Well, if you could get your movie made because she was in it, would you do it?’
”I said, ‘Well that’s a really good question… that’s a very hard question to answer because we all want to get the movie made and who walks away from a green light? Nobody I know .Your job is to get the movie made.’”
Producers Judy Cairo (left), Carol Baum (centre) and Jane Goldenring (right) attend the Boychoir premiere. Photo / Getty Images
Fans shot to Sweeney’s defence after Baum’s comments were reported by the Daily Mail, defending her as beautiful and a highly-skilled and ambitious actress with a long future ahead of her in movies.
Sweeney gained an Emmy award nod for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in Euphoria, which also starred Dune actress Zendaya.
Sweeney’s latest film is superhero caper Madame Web. She also received an Emmy nomination for her role in popular TV show The White Lotus.
In Anyone But You, in which she starred alongside Top Gun: Maverick actor Glen Powell, was met with mixed reviews, but raked in more than UD$200 million at the global box office – making it the highest-earning R-rated romantic comedy since 2016′s Bridget Jones’s Baby.
