Director Paul Feig didn’t have a hand in The Heat ‘s UK poster , which has attracted significant controversy for photoshopping actress Melissa McCarthy to make her appear inhuman thinner. He does think it’s pretty lame though.
The poster (see below) shows Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy looking tough, but the latter looks quite bizarre and not even remotely like herself due to a not-so-subtle Photoshop airbrushing job around her neck and face.
The “adjustment” appears to have altered McCarthy’s facial structure, giving her more pronounced cheekbones, bigger eyes, and a dramatically reduced chin.
The poster was only used in the UK to promote the film, but stirred up quite a bit of controversy among various media publications and other celebrities .
The film’s director, Paul Feig, is well-known and regarded for his 2011 comedy film Bridesmaids , and The Heat is another attempt at putting a female spin on a tested genre (the buddy cop film). With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine that he’d have had anything to do with the altered UK poster. In fact, he didn’t.
In an interview with The Huffington Post , Feig was asked what he thought of the poster when he saw it .
“That’s the problem: I have very little to do with that — especially in the foreign markets. It’s a bummer. I love Melissa exactly how she is.”
You can check out the altered UK poster below, and let us know what you think of the Melissa McCarthy Photoshop controversy in the comments: