Rosie Perez Felt Disgusting After Ridley Scott Forced Her to Remove Her Make-up in ‘The Counselor’

Actor Rosie Perez once teamed up with Alien filmmaker Ridley Scott in the 2013 ensemble piece The Counselor. Perez played a roughed up prisoner in the feature, which meant she had to begrudgingly downplay her good looks to fit the role.

Ridley Scott made Rosie Perez take off her make-up for ‘The Counselor’

The Counselor was a 2013 Scott picture starring Michael Fassbender as a successful lawyer who ends up involved in the world of underground crime. Perez played one of the many shady characters that Fassbender had to deal with. In an interview with HuffPost, Perez revealed that she pursued the role with urgency after getting a hold of the film’s script.

“My management office called me and said, ‘There’s a script and everyone is saying that you’re not right for it, but I think you’re going to like it.’ So, I read the script and I loved it. He said, ‘Rosie, do you want to fight for it?’ And I said, ‘100 percent,’” she remembered. “And I had to do it quickly, too, because they were about to hire somebody … and I already had it in my mind that she’s a badass and she’s a boss. They just said, ‘She’s in charge.’ And I said, ‘Got it.’”

But after Perez arrived on set, she discovered there were certain compromises she had to make for the good of the movie.

“I look busted and disgusted,” she once said according to Contact Music. “When I went on the set… I’m Puerto Rican so my hair’s important and so… I did my hair all nice and everything. [Scott] goes, ‘No, you’re in prison’ and I go, ‘What?’ and he goes, ‘And you gotta take off the make-up.’”

The Flight Attendant actor tried to argue the point, but Scott wouldn’t budge.

“[He told the movie’s make-up artists], ‘Put some dark circles under her eyes and make her look ugly.’ I go, ‘Why? There’s women who do their hair in prison!’ [But] it was great for the character.”

Rosie Perez fired a rep who suggested she should get plastic surgery for a better career

Earlier in her career, Perez recalled a time when someone on her team tried to convince the actor to change her looks permanently. The agent told Perez that going under the knife would’ve made it easier for her to get more roles.

“I don’t want her to be canceled, but she told me that if I dyed my hair blond and got a nose job, ‘I can get you more jobs. Because you’re not Black.’ I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. Like, thank you, fired,’” Perez recalled in an interview with Variety.

Although Perez didn’t rule out plastic surgery entirely in her older years. The Do the Right Thing star joked that she wouldn’t mind slight cosmetic procedures to turn back time a little. She brought up the topic in a resurfaced interview with The Guardian. During the conversation, she reflected on how a director approached her about playing her younger and older self in a movie role. Perez, however, quipped to the director that might not have been possible given her age.

“I said, ‘Darling, do you see these jowls around my face?’ I have no fillers going on,” she remembered telling the director. “Maybe a little Botox. I know, actresses don’t want to admit it but they all do it, you know?”

Rosie Perez revealed Johnny Depp gave her the motivation to fire her agent

Firing her agent for her plastic surgery comments wasn’t easy for Perez back then. The actor was still on the rise, and remembered having little to no money. She briefly worked alongside Johnny Depp in his television series 21 Jump Street, and she immediately bonded with the actor.

“My first scene, Johnny Depp whispered in my ear, ‘Oh, darling, you’re too good for this s***,’” she said. “Then he invited me to his trailer, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my God, Johnny Depp’s invited me to his trailer.’ He’s on the phone, and he goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, she’s amazing. Her name is Rosie Perez. Hang on. Hey, Rosie — over here. Say hello to my girlfriend, Winona Ryder.’ And I fell over laughing. After, we talked seriously, and he said, ‘I’m gonna tell people about you. You know, you’re right for the good stuff.’”

This encounter was what gave Perez the motivation to get rid of her agent.