Jennifer Lawrence was the world’s highest-paid American actress in 2015 and 2016, with movies that grossed over six billion dollars at the box office.
Lawrence also made it to the list of 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and the Forbes Celebrity 100 list from 2013 to 2016.
Her notable projects include The Hunger Games, Red Sparrow, Silver Linings Playbook, Serena, and the X-Men series.
Recently the 32-year-old sat down in an interview with Viola Davis for Variety’s Actors on Actors series and discussed motherhood, female action heroes, and how press tours are ruining acting.
During the conversation, Lawrence said she was the first female lead actress to be featured in an action movie.
“I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work — because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead,” she told Davis.
“And it just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every one of those beliefs and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies, to keep certain people in the same positions that they’ve always been in,” she added while comparing her movie with Viola’s recent movie, The Woman King.
Lawrence played the role of Katniss Everdeen in the film trilogy and received several accolades for her outstanding performance in the sci-fi action film series, which also made her the highest-grossing action heroine of all time.
Lawrence’s comment received backlash on social media, and many fans pointed out that she was not the first lead actress to be cast in an action movie. Actresses like Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman, and Michelle Yeoh worked in action films even before her.
“Hey Jennifer Lawrence, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to thank the many boys/men who were allowed to completely identify with a strong female character long before you were even born. There are a couple of us… @StarTrek,” senior American actress Denise Crosby wrote on Twitter.
“Jennifer Lawrence proclaiming she was the first woman to ever be the lead in an action movie… Clearly, she never saw Sigourney Weaver’s Alien franchise,” journalist David Leavitt commented under Variety’s Tweet, which has now been deleted.
“So Jennifer Lawrence is erasing women’s accomplishments so she can take credit for them?” asked YouTuber Brandon Morse.
“By the way, I find it incredibly hilarious that what Lawrence did was effectively sit across from Viola Davis and tell her that she paved the way for her,” he added.
Meanwhile, several fans posted photos of other iconic actresses from the film industry and pointed out that they appeared in action movies long before even Lawrence was born.
After receiving massive criticism, Jennifer is now clarifying her statement and saying that it ‘came out wrong.’
“That’s certainly not what I meant to say at all. I know that I am not the only woman who has ever led an action film,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“What I meant to emphasize was how good it feels. And I meant that with Viola — to blow past these old myths that you hear about … about the chatter that you would hear around that kind of thing.”
The Oscar-winning star concluded her statement by adding, “But it was my blunder and it came out wrong. I had nerves talking to a living legend.”
What are your thoughts on Jennifer Lawrence’s recent statement? Let us know in comments.
Sources: Variety – Twitter – The Hollywood Reporter
Wow, I’m a big fan of the Hunger Games actually, so seeing the actor Katniss’s role flunk so hard is just… Damn.
I just find it so overwhelming to see how easily a crowd could turn on someone famous because they weren’t so mindful of their words.