Jennifer Lawrence. PHOTO BY RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—“I don’t want to change but people need to stop being such a–holes,” Jennifer Lawrence declared in a recent interview when asked if she remains genuine and unaffected amid all that she has experienced (including the nude photo-hacking scandal).
JENNIFER Lawrence on recent challenges: “The tough part that comes with this job is losing a lot of privacy.” RUBEN V. NEPALES
“I hope so,” Jennifer stressed about staying engagingly candid, sincere and down-to-earth—qualities for which she is admired in Hollywood, both by media and her fans. Wearing a long-sleeved printed dress, Jennifer cupped a mug of hot tea in this interview at the Corinthia Hotel in London. “Drink tea, stop talking,” she jokingly reminded herself occasionally.
“Sometimes it’s frustrating; there can be so much backlash for just saying something silly,” added Jennifer, one of Hollywood’s highest-earning actresses (second only to Sandra Bullock). “It’s confusing because everybody’s like, ‘Don’t change!’ But then you yourself are saying, ‘Don’t say that!’ I understand why it is difficult not to change—the entire world around you changes.”
Dog day
The 24-year-old Kentucky native related a recent incident: “It was my friend’s birthday. I took her out to buy a French bulldog because she had always wanted a French bulldog. I was talking to the guy who owned the dog. We were in his yard. We had friends in common. It was a really great day and I didn’t realize he was taking pictures of me with his phone. He sold the pictures online.”
She lamented, “I just wanted to take my friend out and buy a dog. I don’t want to have to question every person who comes into my life. But then I have reason to.”
Human decency
The Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning actress added, “In my personal life, the hard part that comes with this job is losing a lot of privacy and control over things that, just out of human decency, you should have.”
While acknowledging that she has “a very blessed life” and that she loves being an actress, Jennifer stressed, “Technology and the media have changed a lot but the laws haven’t. So it has become really difficult. A lot of celebrities are chased every day. It does take a toll on you. It’s a feeling of being invaded.”
She admitted, “It’s kind of alienating when the rest of the world treats you or looks at you in a certain way. It makes you feel alienated because I still feel the same. I don’t feel any different.”
She cited an example: “When elevator doors open and everybody gasps [upon seeing you], it’s kind of an alienating feeling.” Breaking into a chuckle, Jennifer said again, “But it’s a very blessed life.”
SHE ADMITS that she didn’t grow up watching movies. RUBEN V. NEPALES
She explained that it’s alienating especially because she came from a normal background. “I didn’t grow up in this business [or] in LA. I grew up in Kentucky; I didn’t really become successful until a few years ago. I’m very aware of what the real world is…how much s–t costs.”
She said, smiling, “It’s hard because…like the other night I was driving and I saw The Container Store. I was like, I need Tupperware (laughs). So I pulled in to buy myself Tupperware and it was really nice. There were a couple of stares. Some people were pointing and somebody ran at me (sic) at one point.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the anxiety comes from something as simple as me going to the grocery store. I don’t know what could happen. I have nightmares all the time that I’m just walking on the street or through a shopping mall and people start surrounding me. And there’s nowhere I can go.
“So sometimes it’s easier to call one of my friends and say, ‘Could you pick up some bananas because I don’t want to go to the grocery store and have an ‘event?’ But it is important to stay grounded. I’m trying to.”
Despite being a top-earning actress, Jennifer admitted, again with a chuckle, that overpricing of items riles her. “I get this from my parents,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how much money I make. Unfairness in prices really fires me up. Like shopping in LA—$150 for a T-shirt.”
In her typical refreshing candor, Jennifer revealed, “I just bought a house so I am furniture-shopping. I cannot believe how much a couch costs so I bought an Ikea couch. I know it’s not going to last but it was from a temper tantrum—I was just looking at prices and I was like, no, I am going to Ikea. And the [Ikea] couch actually looks great.”
In director Francis Lawrence’s “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1,” Jennifer is once more engaging as Katniss Everdeen as she fights to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and a nation inspired by her bravery. She leads an all-out revolution against the all-powerful Capitol.
As to how playing a young woman who emerges as a leader fighting an autocratic regime resonates with her, Jennifer replied, “There is so much unfairness and imbalance in the world that it’s hard not to feel that—being aware of what’s going on in our own countries but also what’s going on around the world.
Dangerous comparison
But she was quick to clarify: “It’s dangerous to compare myself with somebody who is leading a rebellion and changing the world but it did resonate with me when I was reading the first books—being put in these clothes, being told what to say and then you start to find your own voice. But it’s hard being young and having everybody in the world listen to what you’re saying and watch everything you are doing because you are still growing up.”
Asked what she learned from playing Katniss as a rebel, Jennifer answered, “How powerful one voice can be, how important it is to have a voice and stand up for what’s upright, even when it’s difficult and scary, and not take the easy way out.”
On “Mockingjay” being that rare Hollywood movie about female power, Jennifer credited Suzanne Collins upon whose novel the film was based: “I do think that what Suzanne Collins has done that’s incredibly important is, this is kind of the first time—which is strange in this day and age—where there’s a story that all these characters, Cressida (played by Natalie Dormer), President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Katniss could so easily be played by men. And that’s something that Natalie Dormer pointed out.
LIAM Hemsworth and Lawrence in the hit franchise’s latest installment. IMDB.COM
“I think that’s a wonderful step toward showing equality.” Then the frank, humorous Jennifer surfaced with this rejoinder: “But coming from an emotionally unstable woman once a month, I’m not sure I’d be able to run the country. One week I would be like, ‘Mother’s Day should be every day!’ (laughs). They are so underappreciated.”
English men
Since the interview was in London, Jennifer was playfully asked what she likes and doesn’t like about English men. “I do seem to like English men, don’t I?” replied Jennifer with the most disarming smile. Her recent ex-boyfriends are Brits Nicholas Hoult and Chris Martin. “Oh God, I don’t know.”
She continued, still grinning, “What I don’t like? There really is nothing. I can’t say. Oh God. Now I’m blushing, scratching, itching and sweating.” She playfully scratched her arm. “I love all men equally!”
Complimented about her moving scenes where she cries, Jennifer quipped with a guffaw, “I am an ugly crier.”
Saying that she “fake-cried as a kid,” the fine actress explained, “I don’t really cry very much in real life. I find it difficult—there are times when I wish I could cry. Having empathy for somebody else is always easier than having sympathy for yourself. That’s all the acting is—understanding somebody’s situation, taking it and having sympathy for that.
“But it’s actually easier for me to cry than to connect with my own feelings. So it’s actually easier for me to cry on camera than in real life.”
On how she releases her pent-up emotions, Jennifer chuckled as she said, “You’ll have to ask my therapist. I don’t know—in different ways. Don’t get me wrong—if something is really sad, I will cry.”
The actress, noted for her falls and endearing clumsiness, said that this time she had no awkward missteps on the set. “I got kicked in the face by somebody but I didn’t kick anyone in the face this time. It’s hard to point it out because I am that clumsy.
LAWRENCE returns as rebel teen Katniss Everdeen in “Mockingjay-Part 1.” IMDB.
Clumsier actors
“But there was somebody on the set this time—Sam Claflin—who is actually clumsier than I am, which is strange because he’s a professional athlete. Wes Chatham is also clumsier than I am. He broke our sets all the time because he could never tell what was real (laughs).”
Since Jennifer travels a lot—she claimed that she did not know she was going to London “three days ago,” she was asked what her must-bring items are. “I always forget a phone charger,” she answered. “I forgot a passport once so definitely passport, phone charger and my mouth guard. Pajamas? I don’t really have a staple thing to bring for comfort, other than my mouth guard.”
A question on whether television interests her revealed one of Jennifer’s career goals: “One day, I hope to direct TV because it was such a huge part of my life. It’s really how I got into films. I didn’t really grow up watching movies. The only movies we had at home were ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Uncle Buck’ which were fantastic movies. I really started discovering acting from watching all of that stuff through television.
“I was on a sitcom when I was 16, so I would like to move back into television but on the other side of the camera.”
So maybe we’ll see Jennifer someday as a sitcom director?
“Yeah, I would love that. But it could be anything. I’m going to be a new director so I’ll take whatever they throw at me (laughs), whatever somebody is willing to give me.”
(E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.)