Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder — but so, it appears, is ugliness. A Chinese television company seemed to be striking a blow for the unsightly when it announced it would screen its own version of Ugly Betty.
But now Ugly Wudi faces a backlash, with newspapers and Internet users complaining that the star of the show is too good-looking for the role.
The story of a smart, kind but defiantly unattractive girl struggling through an appearance-obsessed world has proven international appeal. The Colombian telenovela quickly spawned remakes in Russia, Germany, India and the US.
Hunan Television’s version goes on air next week. The Oriental Morning Post reported that one of the cast had said that Ugly Wudi was so “extremely ugly” he did not have the words to describe it.
But when the show’s star appeared for her first press conference on Wednesday, “many thought she was in fact a beauty” behind her braces and frumpy clothes.
The Information Times added indignantly: “Lin Wudi is much less ugly than Betty.”
The actor — who is not revealing her name — claimed the show would speak for every unattractive woman, adding: “It is telling us you don’t need to worry for [even] a girl that is ugly can do it.”
But she undermined her own argument somewhat when she assured reporters that she looked worse on screen.
“I worried that in the show I was too ugly for you to accept, so I made up a little,” she said.
Her agent said she prepared for the role by putting on 10kg and sunbathing to get a tan. Pale skin is highly prized in China and skin whitening products are a huge industry.
Her efforts did not impress potential viewers. By early afternoon almost 3,300 comments on the show had been posted on the popular Baidu Web site — many suggesting that the actress was too attractive and even arguing the program should be renamed “Pretty Wudi.”
“The actress should be fatter,” one disgruntled comment said.
Another argued: “Isn’t that hypocritical to use pretty women to play ugly girls?”
But a third comment said the choice merely reflected society, adding: “If they really use an ugly girl to play her, who will give her a chance?”
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