The likely explanation is that the publication intentionally misrepresented what the casting director said. They were probably talking about how what they DID with her in the first season challenged beauty standards. They intentionally made her "ugly" for the story. The casting director might not have meant they hired her because she wasn't conventionally attractive, but the publication knew they could get more clicks by quoting her out of context.

Also, this thread has been kind of toxic about beauty stuff which makes me sad :(

[–] pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I don’t understand how making her ugly, having every character call her ugly, and then making her hot and having every character recognize she’s hot challenges beauty standards.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

In the books there is very little mention of her being a hunchback. They didn't need to spend so much time it

The witcher approached, watchful and silent. He saw her left shoulder, slightly higher than her right.

He continued watching. She had the figure of a twenty-year-old although he preferred not to guess her real age. She moved with a natural, unaffected grace. No, there was no way of guessing what she'd been like before, what had been improved. He stopped thinking about it; there wasn't any sense.

But he suddenly knew the truth. He knew it. He knew what she used to be.

[–] pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That’s interesting and all, but I don’t see how that helps their case that this challenged beauty standards. If anything, it reinforces beauty standards because she hated being ugly and was very happy to be made beautiful, and just about every person around her reinforced that.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Casting a beautiful actress and making her ugly never challenges beauty standards. The claim is bullshit.

However, focusing on her ugly beginning provides more weight to why she paid the price of sterility for beauty, and why she's so desperate to adopt ciri.