Vulture marked the 20th anniversary of “Austin Powers in Goldmember” with an oral history devoted to Beyoncé’s role in the blockbuster comedy as Foxxy Cleopatra. One of the biggest revelations comes courtesy of the film’s makeup artist Kate Biscoe, who revealed that Beyoncé called out the marketing team for changing her appearance on one of the movie’s posters. Beyoncé felt the poster made her too skinny, so the marketing team re-did the one-sheet.
“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.’”
More from Variety
Briscoe added, “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.’”
“Goldmember” producer John Lyons said Beyoncé had a “really tough physical regimen and diet” to get in shape for the movie. The singer took on a 1,200-calorie-per-day diet to play Foxxy.
“[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 added.
On the first day Beyoncé showed up to film, hair department head Candy Walken said the crew was stunned. “We all just stood there and our mouths dropped open,” she added. “She became this incredible light. She was 19 years old and had such command of that stage when she stepped onto it. None of us really knew why they’d chosen her for this character, and then we understood.”
Head over to Vulture’s website to read the oral history in its entirety.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
