Bryce Dallas Howard has an important message: She’s done talking about her figure.
The “Argylle” actor has previously been open about being told to lose weight for roles. Now, she says she's taking back her power by having direct conversations about what she's capable of doing as an actor.
“I’ve retired talking about my body,” Howard, 42, told People in an interview published on Feb. 2. “My focus is on what my body is doing, what my body is capable of.”
Howard explained that they can cast her the way she looks or move on to someone else that fits the character in mind.
“What I found was best is to just be in communication with folks early in the hiring process,” she said. “What I would say is that, ‘If you want to cast me, awesome. But if you think you want to cast me, but 20 pounds less me or 40 pounds less me, that’s actually another actor. That’s not me, and I’m not going to shame you in this moment about this. We need to have a real conversation here because if you’re hiring me, you’re hiring me.’”
The actor revealed that she actually had that very conversation with the director of her latest movie, “Argylle,” Matthew Vaughn. In the action comedy, Howard portrays an author whose espionage novels come to life and she becomes involved in the latest mission.
“And Matthew was like, ‘Yeah, I’m hiring you,’” she said. “I was even stronger because of it. I was able to do more because of it.”
Getting candid about her body and dieting, Howard said, “Who I am is someone who fluctuates.”
Adding, “I took some time and it took some work and it took some counsel to really realize that dieting is the enemy, for me at least.”
Aside from having upfront conversations with people who are hiring her, she’s also started focusing on strength, training her body to accomplish “whatever given circumstance” she needs to bring a movie to life.
Back in 2022, while discussing the third “Jurassic World” film, she told Metro that director Colin Trevorrow protected her after bosses brought the conversation back again, “We need to ask Bryce to lose weight.”
“He was like, ‘There are lots of different kinds of women on this planet and there are lots of different kinds of women in our film,’” she said, adding, “And I got to do so many stunts that wouldn’t have been possible if I had been dieting.”
Howard has had a body-positive stance throughout the years. During an interview with TODAY in 2018, she recalled early in her career not being able to fit into the clothes that were available to her.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh man, if I didn’t have like, these childbearing hips or whatever,’” she said. “And then when I actually had my children, I was very happy that I had childbearing hips because that went very well.”
Fashion changed, curvier silhouettes were more acceptable — “Thanks Kardashians,” she said — and more designs were made available. However, Howard continued with yet another prominent message.
“Something doesn’t fit you, then it’s the clothes problem. It’s not your problem,” she said, suggesting to get a different option or size. “You don’t change yourself for the clothes. For women struggling with body confidence, what I would say is, ‘What would you say to your best friend?’”
“Because what I think you would say, because if it’s your best friend and you really love your best friend, you would just be like, ‘That’s a lot of bulls---,” she said. “Move on and live your life and enjoy your body.”