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Intro
Together, Jessica Biel’s two most recent movies represent a contrast in both image and perception. As the gun-toting freedom fighter in director Len Wiseman’s bland flop Total Recall, the big-screen fantasy woman owned her rugged sexuality, batting her lashes at star Colin Farrell in one scene and trading blows with fellow hottie Kate Beckinsalein another.
In Biel’s other new release, the quasi-horror flick The Tall Man (available on-demand now, and in limited theaters this Friday), she takes the opposite approach: frumpy, simple, and mostly covered in dirt. She plays a single mother living in a community where kids disappear and the locals blame the eponymous boogeyman, and there’s not a sexually charged note in her performance. It’s not exactly Charlize Theron in Monster, but Biel’s work in The Tall Man is clearly rooted in the desire to tone down her beauty and emphasize her acting.
Again, she’s no Theron in Monster—in more ways than one. The quality of their performances aside, a key difference between the two roles is that, in Monster, the usually stunning Theron isn’t very attractive, whereas in The Tall Man, Biel can still, as they say, catch it. Which makes her worthy of placement within our following gallery of 25 Hot Actresses Trying To Look Ugly In Movies (And Failing). Sometimes, sexiness just can’t be contained.
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Compiled by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
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