Will Poulter called out people praising his huge transformation for Marvel role
He said it was difficult not to take the praise as a backhanded compliment.
Will Poulter certainly left everyone shocked when images of him in his Guardians of the Galaxy role were first released.
It showed the British actor way more jacked than his previous projects like We're The Millers and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
The 30-year-old put in a hell of a lot of work to get his body in shape to play Adam Warlock but seemed to be overwhelmed with the amount of compliments he was getting.
Back in May this year, he told British GQ that while everyone seemed to be coming from a good place, it didn't really sit right with him.
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"It was weird when people started to debate my physical appearance online as to whether it was deemed attractive or unattractive," he told the outlet.
"I am very comfortable and secure in the knowledge that I'm not conventionally attractive as I've always had remarks about looking unusual – whether it's my eyebrows or whatever else, people have made a thing of that.
"I think it just speaks to a wider issue, of: why are we discussing or spending so much time discussing people's physical appearance? Especially in the case of women."
"But whether you're male or female, why is that the focus so much? Unfortunately, social media has created this problematic idea that everyone's opinion on everything matters equally."
He started to see loads of social media posts of him being compared to how he looked in 2013's We're the Millers.
But Poulter said a comparison like that is a bit stupid considering it was 10 years ago.
So much can happen to a person, positive and negative, in a decade that it's almost pointless to compare the two, especially considering he was only 20 years old back then.
"Someone in the pub two days ago said, ‘Oh, you've had a glow up. Congrats'," he told British GQ.
"It's a little bit hard to not accept that as, ‘You were ugly for the best part of your life, and now things are looking up a bit!’
"I don't know if that's just me being cynical, but it's hard to not take it as a backhanded compliment.
"People say it like it's positive, but it could also contribute to a complex."
So, just be careful the next time you want to celebrate someone for their achievements.
Praise can go a long way, but make sure it's worded right otherwise it can sort of backfire.
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Stewart Perrie