In a new interview, the "Yellowjackets" star opened up about her decadeslong career in Hollywood.
Although Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci are sharing the screen in Showtime's critically acclaimed psychological drama "Yellowjackets," there was a time early in their careers where they were competing for similar roles in Hollywood.
During a new interview with Rolling Stone this week, Linsky reflects on her career following her breakout role at age 16 in the 1994 film "Heavenly Creatures." After the premiere, Winslet's fame skyrocketed with the release of "Titanic" three years later, while Lynskey effectively returned to normal.
Of Winslet, Linsky said, "I was the person who just sat there while everyone else was excited about something." "She was very confident, she found interviewing very easy. And it was hard for me. I was very shy."
"It felt like (Kate) was someone who knew how the world worked, and knew how to be a beautiful woman," she said. "And I felt like, 'I'm never going to be like this.' It just made me feel magical."
The actor graduated from high school and went to college for a year, studying film and television, but he remembers that time in his life was tough.
"It's hard to make a dream come true and do something that feels so special and wonderful and then just go back to your beautiful little town," she said. "I felt like a cheater."
Once Linsky found an agent, they convinced him to send some tapes to casting directors in Hollywood. One of the first roles she auditioned for was the 1996 cult classic "The Craft". This was the time when she started auditioning for equal parts of Ricky. Now, she may laugh, but her competition for roles usually ends with the same result, with Lynskey commenting, "though she usually gets them."
In the same interview, the 44-year-old actor recalled the enduring criticism he faced as a woman in Hollywood about her body and sex appeal. She recalled the difficult audition process for "Ever After", explaining, "It was the mid-90s and there was a look that was popular and it wasn't this chubby, dark-haired New Zealander."
Linsky struggled for years with the pressure to meet Hollywood standards. In a 2016 interview with People, the actor opened up about his body image issues, saying, "I was losing my mind in line with something that was not physically possible for me."
The "Don't Look Up" star said, "I was very unwell for a long time." "I had eating issues and at a certain point I was like, 'I'm not going to survive' - it wasn't like I was at death's door or anything, but I was so sad and my hair was falling out. "
The actor was able to reach a point of acceptance by saying, "I was like, 'I just need to look the way I want' and believe that people want to put someone in a movie or on a show. Which looks like this. I really had to be comfortable with myself, because you can't fake it."
Still, it was an uphill battle for her to reach that point as she continued to receive a barrage of commentary in the media.
In 2012, he played the lead role in the film "Hello I Must Be Going", in which he portrayed a divorced man in his 30s who had a fling with a teenager, played by actor Christopher Abbott. After its release, criticism surfaced about her relationship to the character, with some stating that she did not have enough "sexual gravity to age" to attract the character of Abbott.
Since that decade, celebrities including Reese Witherspoon and Benny Feldstein have spoken out against body-shaming, misogyny, and sexism in Hollywood, but these issues still exist today. There has also been criticism online about the plausibility of her relationship with her character, Shauna, in "Yellowjackets," a relationship with a young, charming artist named Adam, portrayed by Peter Gadiot.
"I'm just like, 'Wow, really? That's where people's heads are, most importantly thin or young?'" she said.
In addition to online commentary, he faced body-shaming comments made during the filming of "Yellowjacket" by a member of the show's production team. She recalled their comments saying, "They were asking me, 'What are you planning to do? I'm sure the makers will give you a trainer. They would love to help you with this.'"
Despite an untold competition decades ago, Ricci had her back with co-stars Tanny Cypress and Juliette Lewis. With all three actors mobilizing their support for Lynskey, Lewis even wrote a letter to producers on behalf of his co-stars.
However, such comments lead him to shift this harmful notion in the industry.
"It was really important for me (Shauna) to never comment on my body, for me not to wear a dress and to be like, 'I wish I looked a little better,'" she said. "I get it it's important that this character is just comfortable and sexual and not thinking or talking about it, because I want women to see it and be like, 'Wow, she looks like me and No one is saying she is fat.' That representation is important."