Kate Beckinsale Had The Perfect Reaction To “Stuffing Her Bra” For Pearl Harbor

Kate Beckinsale is never one to mix her words, and she has been very honest about her time in Hollywood. Heck, even in Click,Beckinsale feared she’d be a “roaming pair of breasts” in the Adam Sandler film, but that wasn’t the case.

Speaking of breasts… that was a hot topic during Beckinsale’s time in Pearl Harbor. In the following, we’re going to take a look back at Beckinsale’s experience in the film, and the demands Michael Bay had for her role. It seems like the requests were truly bizarre, but credit to Beckinsale, who maintained a sense of humor about her experience years later.

We’ll reveal what she had to say and how the fans reacted to her comments. In addition, we’re going to reveal how Ben Affleck factored in and helped Beckinsale during her experience in the film.

Kate Beckinsale Laughed Off Michael Bay’s Tactic Of Stuffing Her Bra And Altering Her Look For Pearl Harbor

We turn back the calendar to 2001. The role was the biggest of Kate Beckinsale’s career, especially from a budget standpoint. The Michael Bay film had a budget of $140 million, while it brought in $449 million thanks to its plot and stacked cast.

For Beckinsale, it was the initial script that she fell in love with. However, Beckinsale admits she knew very little about Michael Bay at the time, while after she accepted the role, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the pages that followed. In addition, Beckinsale would soon learn that she wasn’t Bay’s “type.” This would lead to altering her appearance, and filling up her bra with “things.”

Sitting down for an interview with The Off Camera Show, Beckinsale managed to maintain a sense of humor about it all, despite the fact that Bay’s tactics were extremely harsh.

Beckinsale recalls, “I think I had short hair at the time and was really pale. That was a bit jarring. It was like, ‘Let’s put some hair on her, let’s put some things in her bra.’ There was a lot of that going on,” she says with a smile.

Despite the on-set struggles, Beckinsale was able to get some support from Ben Affleck behind the scenes, but we’ll have more on that further down. As for the fans, they gave Beckinsale massive support for her attitude.

Posted seven years ago, fans had lots of reaction to Kate Beckinsale’s story about her experience in Pearl Harbor alongside Michael Bay. Fans were impressed with how well-spoken the actress is, and how she kept a positive attitude despite the harsh treatment.

Over on YouTube, the most liked comments read, “Thank you Kate for being such an iconic figure as well as a wonderful artist in your own right. God bless you and I hope all your hopes, dreams and wishes come true.”

Another fan wrote, “Kate’s remarks about Michael Bay’s focus on how she should “look” for Pearl Harbor nearly echoes Vivien Leigh’s experience on the set of Gone With the Wind. Studio head, Louis B. Mayer, issued memo after memo mandating how her hair should be styled, her eyebrows, as well as detailed instructions to rectify her disappointing bustline “tape them up” with cotton wool.”

“Wardrobe had several iterations of Scarlet’s one remaining calico dress to show the phases of disintegration as she attended to wounded soldiers. Each one apparently accompanied by more memos instructing to how many buttons could be left undone.”

In addition to altering her appearance, Beckinsale was also told to go on a diet for the film.

Ben Affleck Reassured Kate Beckinsale During Their Time In Pearl Harbor

Kate Beckinsale has said other things about her time in the film. She said her casting didn’t make sense to Michael Bay given that her “boobs weren’t bigger than my head.” In addition, she was told to diet for the film, but Ben Affleck reassured her he was on the same diet.

“I’d never seen a movie on that scale before and I really wasn’t prepared for it,” she said. “There were four units going at once, there was diet plans and exercise regimens that [were] really punishing. [They] really baffled me because I couldn’t understand why a ’40s nurse needed to work out that much. It was just a whole different situation.”

She continues, “But I was so lucky because Ben had had a lot of experience in that department. He’d go, ‘Don’t worry, they’ve got me on the same diet.’”

At the very least, Affleck was able to help Beckinsale in what was a tough role behind the camera.