‘Succession’ star Sarah Snook was called a “nobody” and told to lose weight by casting director
One of the stars of Succession, Sarah Snook, has revealed that casting directors once called her a “nobody” and even told her to “lose weight”.
Snook became famous for her role as Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy in Jesse Armstrong’s hit comedy-drama Succession. The character is the youngest child and only daughter of Brian Cox’s media giant, Logan, and is a left-leaning political fixer whose views clash with those of her father’s company, Waystar. The show ran for four seasons from 2018 to 2023 on HBO.
Sarah Snook has won two Golden Globes for her performances in Succession, taking home ‘Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film’ in 2022 and ‘Best Actress – Television Series Drama’ at this year’s recent edition.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times and fresh from her latest Golden Globes win, Snook reflected on her career and the obstacles she had to face to succeed, including mistreatment from unnamed casting directors and producers.
She described one terrible incident on the set of a movie. The actor claims that the project’s casting directors told her they didn’t want her in it as she was “a nobody”, but they were overruled as the director and writer thought “, You’re good for the role”.
According to Snook, landing that role meant that she was ordered to overhaul her life to become “marketable”. She recalled the casting director saying: “So what we’ll do is change all of you so that you’re marketable: We’ll whiten your teeth, darken your hair, we’ll give you a personal trainer so you can lose weight and look the part.”
Although these instructions dispirited her, Snook said she accepted them, as at the time, she believed that in order to be successful, she would have to be everything she wasn’t.
Elsewhere in the interview, Snook also recalled being scolded in front of the cast and crew of a production for eating “the tiniest bit of chocolate cake”. However, this time, a costume designer intervened. She rhetorically asked the publication: “The infantilising of women, to not be able to make their own decisions, why would we do that to women?”
Watch the trailer for the final season of Succession below.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.