There is a grittiness that seems to be missing in today’s movies. A big reason is that actors look too perfect. Before the turn of the millennium, the screen was filled with actors whose faces had character: Walter Matthau’s nose, Jack Nicholson’s wild hairline, and Sylvester Stallone’s droopy eyes and bottom lip that pulled to the side. They looked like real people, and that made them much more relatable than today’s A-listers, such as Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, and Michael B. Jordan.
When it comes to female actors, the difference is less noticeable because women have always been held to more stringent beauty standards. But in the late ’80s, some of the biggest stars, including Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, and Geena Davis, were all pretty, but their faces had character. Compare that to today’s actresses, such as Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, and Zendaya.
Archer Green, a popular YouTuber who digs deep into why movies work, took a shot at explaining why actors look so different today in a video titled “Why Aren’t Actors Ugly Anymore?” In the video, he cites three major reasons why actors today lack the relatable physical characteristics that made pre-millennium screen legends so memorable.
1. Cosmetic surgery
“In an article from 2021, Raquel S. Benedict likens our body to an investment in which we have to maximize our value through looking good,” Green said. “We’re reduced to a collection of features like perfect skin or a strong jawline. The body is no longer the vehicle through which we experience joy and pleasure, but a status symbol that needs to be constantly presentable to the world.”
“For actors, this is taken to the extreme, especially for women. They can never age or show any imperfection. They need to be a bankable star, and a big part of this is looking good on camera. Pretty girls should always smile,” Green added.
He adds that actors these days all have perfectly straight, pearl-white teeth. He notes that earlier in his career, Tom Cruise had crooked front teeth, which made him look like a real person. Many actors today also have perfect hairlines, whereas actors such as Nicholson, Bill Murray, and Burt Reynolds had age-appropriate receding hairlines that made them look authentic.
2. Digital cinematography
“iPhone face. It’s hard to define, but I think it’s basically this kind of pristine look that most actors seem to have,” Green said. “It’s why some people look out of place in period pieces because they’ve got a modern haircut or their teeth are too wide. They’re striving for a kind of look that didn’t really exist before the 21st century.”
“And this speaks to a kind of aesthetic that many modern movies have,” Green said. “They’re perfectly lit, the set perfectly designed, the actors in perfectly clean clothes, but this kind of perfection just makes it all look boring.”
3. The industry is afraid to take risks
“If you look for it, you can find interesting-looking people in modern movies,” Green said. “But this whole change in how actors and, by extension, movies in general look is a natural result of an industry that’s afraid to take risks. Movies need to make money, so they minimize anything that could theoretically make the film less successful, but in the process, remove what makes it special.”
Ultimately, Hollywood is in the storytelling business, and one of the keys to making a story work is creating characters who are relatable and have, well, character. The movie business is in the depths of a six-year slump, and the cure for getting folks back into theaters may not be fear-based perfection, but putting people on screen who resemble the folks in the seats.
