The Weight

I was listening to Terry Gross on "Fresh Air" the other day interviewing Ben Stiller about his TV miniseries, "Escape at Dannemora."  Terry asked Ben about Patricia Arquette gaining a lot of weight for her part in the series.  Forty pounds, to be exact!  Stiller didn't want Arquette's "classic movie star looks" to get in the way of playing the part of the prison employee who aided the convicts in their escape.  Who was herself a plus-size.

This set me to thinking about another, recent actor weight gain, that of Christian Bale to play the part of Dick Cheney in the movie "Vice."  He, too, gained forty pounds, with perhaps a few extra lbs. in the bargain.  When Terry interviewed the director of "Vice," she brought up Bale's weight gain.

The most celebrated weight gain in filmdom is Robert De Niro's 60-pound increase in the 1980 movie, "Raging Bull."  Sixty pounds!  Now, that's artistic dedication.  Terry has never interviewed De Niro, but if she did, I bet she'd ask him about gaining all that weight.

This set me to thinking why no one applauds me for my own weight gain.

In the last four months alone, I've gained fifteen pounds--to play the role of me.

Do you know how hard that's been?  You have to focus, you have to be unrelenting, you have to want to do it. This incredible act of sacrifice on my part has been overlooked by the media, especially by Terry Gross.  Does she care that I've had to go to the mall at least twice to buy new clothes to accommodate my increased waist size?  I don't think so.  Does she care that I'm having difficulty tying my shoes?  No!

What about compensation?  I'm sure those actors received considerable chunks of change to put on their pounds.  How much did I receive for my arduous weight gain?  How much do you think?  $0.  Plus, I'm sure they were reimbursed for all the food they ate.  Nobody's reimbursing me for that coconut cream pie I ate at one sitting, I can tell you.

All of this is in the service of playing me. A very difficult, trying role, I assure you.

Sure, I may not be a household name.  But I am in my household.

Every day, I'm striving to make playing me memorable and believable.  By gaining pounds.  And more pounds.  I work just as hard at it as Patricia, Christian and Robert did.  Maybe harder.

Terry, I'm available for "Fresh Air."  I think my story is one worth telling.

Let's give credit where credit is due.