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The producer isn’t impressed.
Hollywood producer Carol Baum made scathing remarks about Emmy-nominated “Euphoria” actress Sydney Sweeney, 26, during a discussion at a screening of Baum’s 1988 film “Dead Ringers,” according to the Daily Mail.
“She’s not pretty, she can’t act,” Baum reportedly said.
“I don’t get Sydney Sweeney.”
The film producer referred to Sweeney’s recent rom-com “Anyone But You,” in which she stars opposite Glen Powell.
“I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her,” Baum reportedly told the audience, calling the film “unwatchable.”
Who is Baum to make these comments? Here’s everything to know.
Her upbringing
Carol Baum, 81, nee Carol Friedland, grew up in New Jersey. She began her career in the world of book publishing, where she helped turn Stephen King’s “The Shining” into a film.
“I had a job in the film business early on, a tiny company called the Producer’s Circle. But, my job in New York was to find manuscripts before they were published and decide whether they were going to be movies. That was my job,” she said during an April 2 interview on the podcast “Industry Standard With Barry Katz.”
She’s married to novelist and screenwriter Tom Baum (“Journey to the Center of the Earth”).
During that same podcast, she said, “I married my high school sweetheart,” and they’ve been married for 60 years.
She described her upbringing in South Orange, New Jersey, in the 1950s. “You were geared to marry…not to be a producer, not to be a businesswoman. Not to do any work at all. The women in that town did not work,” Baum said. She said she got her love of movies from her grandmother, and described her upbringing as being very “American Graffiti.”
The couple have two adult sons, Will and Henry Baum, as well as three grandchildren.
Her career and notable work
Baum has produced 34 movies to date, and she’s a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She’s a former vice president at 20th Century Fox and co-president of Sandollar Productions, a company founded by Dolly Parton.
Previously, she’s worked with Parton, Barbra Streisand, “The White Lotus” creator Mike White, David Cronenberg and “Barbie” co-writer Noah Baumbach.
Currently, she teaches producing at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
Her most notable work includes producing 1988’s “Dead Ringers,” 1991’s “Father of the Bride” starring Steve Martin, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (the 1992 movie starring Kristy Swanson, not the TV show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar) and 1996’s “Fly Away Home” starring Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin.
In more recent years, Baum has produced made-for-TV Hallmark Christmas movies such as “Just in Time for Christmas” and “Jolly Good Christmas.”
Her Sydney Sweeney controversy
Baum made scathing remarks about Sweeney during a film screening, telling the audience that she couldn’t come up with a reason for why the actress’ career had taken off.
“I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’ ” Baum said, recalling a conversation she had with her students at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. “Nobody had an answer.”
Still, Baum admitted that she would take on a project if Sweeney starred in it.
“We all want to get the movie made, and who walks away from a green light? Nobody I know,” she said. “Your job is to get the movie made.”
Baum faced backlash on social media from her comments.
“Carol, you are 70. Make bitchy (and wrong) comments with friends in private,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Some lady said Sydney Sweeney ‘wasn’t pretty’ and if she wants to fight me I’ll meet her anywhere she wants,” another Sweeney fan wrote on X, before another added, “Just accept Sydney is all that. And you are bitter [and] probably irrelevant.”
“Carol Baum is ‘over’. She is just a bitter old women [sic],” another wrote. “And I can’t say Sydney Sweeney is like an amazing actress(she is fine) there is no denying that she is very very pretty.”
Several others agreed. “In a world filled with supremely dumb takes: ‘Sydney Sweeney ‘isn’t pretty’ is… boy… wow!” one person tweeted, as another shared a meme that simply wrote “disagree.”
Other celeb controversies
Baum has not had any other notable celeb controversies to date.