Think Lindsay Lohan is a terrible choice to play screen icon Elizabeth Taylor? You're not alone -- Rosie O'Donnell is right there with you.
O'Donnell -- whose talk show on OWN was recently axed -- did a guest stint on NBC's "Today" Tuesday, as a guest panelist on the show's "Today's Professionals" segment. One of the hot topics up for discussion? Lohan's upcoming portrayal of Taylor in the Lifetime biopic "Liz & Dick."
O'Donnell made it unmistakably clear that Lohan -- who has recently been trying to keep herself on the straight and narrow, after a prolonged period of personal trouble -- doesn't belong anywhere near the role.
"[S]he's had a lot of trouble doing every single movie, including 'SNL,'" O'Donnell said, referring to Lohan's guest-hosting stint last month on "Saturday Night Live." "She was out and not at rehearsal. I think she's not in a place to work."
O'Donnell added, " I don't think she's right for the role and I don't think she's capable at this point of doing what's needed to portray that character."
Lohan's spokesman blasted O'Donnell's comments in a statement provided to TheWrap, saying, "I think Rosie should be focused on her own career right now and not everyone else's. It's a shame she has to be so cruel towards another person in order to keep herself in the news."
When regular "Today's Professionals" panelist Donny Deutsch suggested that Lohan might be the Elizabeth Taylor of the current generation, O'Donnell shot back, "You're out of your mind."
Fellow "Today's Professionals" regular Star Jones suggested that "Liz & Dick" would attract viewers due to Lohan's "train wreck" factor, O'Donnell suggested otherwise, saying, "the interest level in her has waned ... On 'SNL' it wasn't as though she delivered. People watched expecting, hoping, wishing, but she needs a lot of help."
