Sydney Sweeney Fires Back at Producer Who Claims She’s ‘Not Pretty’ and ‘Can’t Act’

Sydney Sweeney is firing back at producer Carol Baum, who took aim at the Immaculate and Euphoria star earlier this week, saying that she’s “not pretty” and “can’t act.”

Baum, the producer of Dead Ringers (1988) and the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, also said she found Sweeney’s recent rom-com with Glen Powell Anyone But You “unwatchable.”

Sydney Sweeney Claps Back at Carol Baum: ‘Shameful’

“How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman,” a representative for Sweeney told MovieMaker. “If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms. Baum’s character.”

Reps for Baum did not immediately respond to MovieMaker‘s request for a response Thursday.

Baum made the comments about the 26-year-old actress earlier this week during an event at the Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville, New York that included a conversation with New York Times film critic Janet Maslin, according to the Daily Mail, which first reported her comments.

“There’s an actress who everybody loves now: Sydney Sweeney. I don’t get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney’s movie because I wanted to watch it,” Baum said, speaking about Anyone But You.

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“I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her,” Baum added. “I watched this unwatchable movie — sorry to people who love this … romantic comedy where they hate each other.”

Baum, who teaches a class at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, added, “I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’ Nobody had an answer. But then the question was asked, ‘Well, if you could get your movie made because she was in it, would you do it?’ … That’s a very hard question to answer because we all want to get the movie made and who walks away from a green light? Nobody I know. Your job is to get the movie made.”

Baum began executive producing in the mid-1980s. Her first producing credit was on Reckless, the 1984 romantic drama starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah. She followed it with the 1988 David Cronenberg psychological thriller Dead Ringers starring Jeremy Irons as identical twin gynecologists. Her other films include 1991’s Father of the Bride starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, 1995’s Father of the Bride II, and in that same year, Kicking & Screaming starring Noah Baumbach, Parker Posey, Eric Stoltz, and Josh Hamilton.

In 1992 she executive produced the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, and her other films include Fly Away Home (1996) starring Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels, Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) starring Ethan Hawke and Youki Kudoh, 2002’s The Good Girl starring Jennifer Aniston, and 2007’s You Kill Me starring Ben Kingsley and Téa Leoni. She’s also produced a number of TV movies including the 2014 Disney Channel movie Zapped starring Sweeney’s Euphoria co-star Zendaya.

Sweeney is known for her breakout role in the beloved HBO series. She played Cassie Howard, a popular girl who struggles socially in high school after rumors about her romantic history start going around.

Sweeney’s other prominent roles include other HBO shows like Sharp Objects, White Lotus, Netflix’s Everything Sucks and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Her movies include 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 2021’s The Voyeurs, 2024’s Madame Web alongside Dakota Johnson, and most recently, a horror movie she produced and starred in called Immaculate. It follows a young nun who soon realizes that the convent she’s joined is hiding dark and sinister secrets.

Main Image: Sydney Sweeney in Euphoria, HBO