Hollywood to Actors: Ditch the Plastic Surgery

Sept. 16, 2010— -- What has happened to the face of Hollywood? Botox-ed beauties have been Tinseltown staples in recent decades but the land of nip-tuck now seems to be going back to au naturel.

Casting agents are increasingly looking for actors who look like "normal people" rather than the many Hollywood starlets who have surgical enhancements to advance their looks.

Francene Selkirk, a 15-year casting director who has filled roles for TV shows and movies such as "Dodgeball," said many directors in the entertainment industry are turning away from silicone-filled, artificial bodies unless needed as a specific character trait.

"I would have to say that 99 percent of commercial directors don't want it," Selkirk said.

The "natural look" is back in, and looking "plastically perfect" in every way may not work to an actor's advantage anymore, she said. A casting notice for the upcoming fourth installment of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, for instance, specified that actresses "must have real breasts."

Selkirk's pet peeve when reviewing actors' head shots: "Face work," she said, especially lip injections.

She encourages young actresses not to think they have to go under the knife to get casted.

"I'm very anti-surgery," she added. "I think that the times have changed and I think the look is natural, people want natural. It really changes the shape of your lips and ... it means 'alien' to me, your face doesn't move correctly."

Big-screen casting director Danny Roth, who has several projects under his belt, said plastic surgery has invaded Hollywood to the point that it's becoming more difficult to find actors to play certain ages.

"There's kind of a blur between 40 and 60, like, where are those women?" he asked. "The women over 40 are trying really hard to stay down there until they are doing the grandmother roles."

Reality-TV star Heidi Montag became the poster child for mega-plastic surgery overhaul after it was revealed she had 10 procedures in a single day.

And she's not alone: Joan Rivers, Michael Jackson, Kathy Griffin, Playboy's Holly Madison, the list of celebrities with artificial enhancements seems endless.