‘It was my blunder and it came out wrong’
Jennifer Lawrence has responded to the backlash after she appeared to imply in an interview that she was the first woman to lead in an action film.
The actress was speaking to Viola Davis in an ‘Actors on Actors’ interview for Variety, when the pair began discussing Lawrence’s role as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games films.
During the chat, Lawrence proclaimed: “Nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie.”
“We were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead,” the 32-year-old continued. “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.”
"We were told girls and boys could both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead," Jennifer Lawrence says of taking on the role of Katniss in #TheHungerGames. https://t.co/TqYPwDLCC4 pic.twitter.com/1qyqqkh8aX
— Variety (@Variety) December 7, 2022
While Lawrence was seemingly trying to make the point that roles for women and men in Hollywood typically differ unfairly, the comments quickly went viral on social media.
People were quick to point out that a “ton of other women were cast as female leads in action films”, such as Linda Hamilton, Sigourney Weaver, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and Uma Thurman.
Lawrence is apparently so self-obsessed that she forgets a ton. of other women were cast as female leads in action films: Linda Hamilton, HELLO. Sigourney Weaver? Angelina Jolie? Halle Berry? Uma Thurman and the ladies of Kill Bill? "DEATH PROOF" CAST? Lawrence is annoying. https://t.co/KSOmx9MAVG
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 7, 2022
Lawrence clearly wasn’t unaware of the fury at her comments, and has since released a statement.
She told the Hollywood Reporter: “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.
“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 the chatter that you would hear around that kind of thing.
“But it was my blunder and it came out wrong. I had nerves talking to a living legend.”
In the same interview with Davis, Lawrence also spoke about how she was pressured to lose weight for her role as Katniss Everdeen.
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