The 45-year-old actress made her debut as Kathleen on the HBO dystopian drama on Sunday.
Melanie Lynskey is taking charge, just like Kathleen, her character in The Last of Us. The 45-year-old actress made her debut on the HBO dystopian drama on Sunday as the leader of a Kansas City-based revolution, and many were surprised by her take on the new role.
On Wednesday, Lynskey took to Twitter to call out America's Next Top Model winner, Adrianne Curry, for critiquing her appearance on the show in a since-deleted tweet.
Lynskey posted a screenshot of Curry's comment, which features a photo of her in a brown dress and reads, "Her body says life of luxury... not post-apocalyptic warlord. Where is Linda Hamilton when you need her?"
Lynskey replied to the tweet, writing, "Firstly- this is a photo from my cover shoot for InStyle magazine, not a still from HBO’s The Last Of Us. And I’m playing a person who meticulously planned and executed an overthrow of FEDRA. I am supposed to be SMART, ma’am. I don’t need to be muscly. That’s what henchmen are for."
Curry spoke out about Lynskey's post, claiming the actress cut off the part of her tweet where she "complimented [Lynskey's] hourglass frame," and stood by her comments, saying she wasn't criticizing the Emmy-nominated actress' body, but rather noting that the casting for the role felt unrealistic.
"I won't apologize for not being sold on a character," Curry wrote.
She later sarcastically added, "Apparently, actors are REALLY the characters they portray now...and we are not permitted to think they are miscast. I hope Justin Bieber is casted as the next THOR. it will make sense."
Without directly replying to Curry, Lynskey opened up about her casting in a Twitter thread on Wednesday.
"Other than getting to work with creative geniuses who I respect and admire (Neil & Craig) the thing that excited me most about doing #TheLastOfUs is that my casting suggested the possibility of a future in which people start listening to the person with the best ideas not the coolest or the toughest person. The organizer," she wrote. "The person who knows where everything is. The person who is doing the planning. The person who can multitask. The one who’s decisive."
She added that women in leadership roles "are scrutinized incessantly," noting, "I was excited at the idea of playing a woman who had, in a desperate and tragic time, jumped into a role she had never planned on having and nobody else had planned on her having, and then she actually got s**t done. I wanted her to look like she should have a notepad on her at all times. I wanted her to be feminine, and soft-voiced, and all the things that we’ve been told are 'weak'. Because honestly, f**k that."
Of the online criticism, Lynskey said, "I understand that some people are mad that I’m not the typical casting for this role. That’s thrilling to me. Other than the moments after action is called, when you feel like you’re actually in someone else’s body, the most exciting part of my job is subverting expectations."
This isn't the first time Lynskey has spoken out in defense of one of her characters' appearances. Check out what she had to say about her Yellowjackets role below.
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