Turkish officials have fired Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore from a promotional tourism film she recently filmed, complaining about her “poor acting” skills. The commercial featured Moore on an airplane, reminiscing about a childhood trip to Turkey.
Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry was apparently unimpressed by her performance and demanded a reshoot. Moore refused to shoot the film again, and as a result, the project has now collapsed.
From Newsweek:
According to Hürriyet (a Turkish newspaper), ministry officials have not released an official statement about the cancellation of the film, as the ministry does not comment on unfinished projects.
However, the project had already come under fire from a number of prominent figures in Turkey. During a parliament commission session at the end of January, Ruhsar Demirel of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) asked family and social affairs minister Ayşenur İslam. “How reasonable do you find promoting Turkey with the body of such names and women?”
Demirel reportedly continued: “How do you find, as a woman, giving plenty of money to a Hollywood star to promote Turkey, as if it were the 19th century?”
The advertising agency behind the project, Iconisus & I Mean It, is thought to have lost a $1.5m due to the cancellation of the $4m project.
Emre Yücel, a partner at the agency, said in an interview last year that Moore was perfect for the job as she would attract wealthy U.S. and British tourists to the country. “I can’t understand why she is not liked here,” Yücel told the media at the time.
Weird, indeed. EVERYBODY loves Julianne!