Jennifer Lawrence moves on to ‘Joy’ and working with Amy Schumer
JENNIFER Lawrence: “Amy and Kim are absolutely brilliant and hilarious. I laugh all day. It’s been one of the greatest times of my life writing this.”
(First of two parts)
LOS ANGELES—Jennifer Lawrence was tired and was groping for words when we talked to her in Berlin, but fatigue did not stop the actress from being her candid self. She revealed who she was wearing—dress by Proenza (Schouler). “The shoes are by Louis Vuitton, and I would like to request him to make his shoes more comfortable so that I can actually buy them.”
Jennifer has already charted her post-“The Hunger Games” career life. She will be seen next in “Joy,” which reunites her with Bradley Cooper and director David O. Russell. She’s filming Morten Tyldum’s “Passengers” with Chris Pratt and has lined up projects with topnotch directors, Steven Spielberg and Darren Aronofsky. And, of course, there’s her other franchise’s latest installment, “X-Men Apocalypse.”
But what got many excited was that she and Amy Schumer were writing a comedy in which they would star as sisters.
Jennifer revealed more details about the film. “The script with Amy is great,” Jennifer said. “We’re pretty much finished. I sent Amy a draft and she’s working on one that I’m going to get. Then, we’re going to give it to a producer who’s going to give us notes, then we’ll start. We could actually start pretty soon.
“Our process is Kim (Caramele), Amy’s sister, keeps us organized. Kim’s a great writer. They’re both incredibly fast, but Kim will write out assignments basically. We get homework—Kim will assign the scenes because it’s a lot easier to sit down and focus when you know what you have to write about.
“So that’s how Amy and I stay organized, then we send each other pages. Then, we take turns going through the draft and making changes. We made it through the whole process getting along perfectly, which is amazing. It’s been such an honor to work with both of them.
“Amy and Kim are absolutely brilliant and hilarious. I laugh all day! It’s been one of the greatest times of my life writing this. I’m actually sad that we’re done. I felt like I gave birth when I pushed in but then I got sad. I got postpartum (laughs).”
Jennifer gave details about her other much-anticipated film, “Joy,” which also stars Robert De Niro. In the movie that is described as a biographical comedy-drama, Jennifer plays Joy Mangano, an American inventor and entrepreneur who came up with such inventions as the Miracle Mop and Huggable Hangers. The movie chronicles Joy’s journey through four generations, from her younger years to becoming a business empire owner while being a single mother with three children.
“I was really inspired by Joy and thought she was interesting,” Jennifer said of the real-life Joy, who is 59 and still actively running her empire. “She’s so imaginative and powerful. But she put all of her dreams on hold and put everybody first!
“What I love about the movie and the way that David did it is that it shows there are many different things that go into making someone who Joy is. David finds this woman’s soul. The whole movie is about her soul and what went into making her the way that she is.
About family
“It’s also about her family who supports and loves her, but also hurts her at times, the different worlds that she creates for herself, the magical world in her room when she’s young and the dynamic with her sister.
“It starts with her sister Peggy (Elizabeth Rohm) being dazzled by this magic that Joy can always create, even just in her room to escape from the destruction that’s going on outside, with her parents (De Niro and Virginia Madsen) getting divorced. She has this magical world. Peggy is dazzled by it but is also jealous of it—and that starts their dynamic for the rest of their lives.”
Jennifer exulted about the challenge of portraying a character through different decades: “Playing a character through four generations was the most interesting thing I’ve done as an actor. It is a different energy for me. David pulled out a new side of me, which I loved. It was a quieter intensity. I also saw new sides of David. Aesthetically, I saw him do things that are different than anything I’ve ever seen him do.”
The actress was recently in the news for her essay, “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?” which appeared in the Lenny Letter, the feminist newsletter of Lena Dunham and her fellow “Girls” showrunner, Jenni Konner. In the headline-making piece, Jennifer blasted the gender pay gap in Hollywood.
Asked about a graphic portion in her essay, Jennifer smiled as she said, “The lucky people with d***s? Or the fortunate people with d***s. I was just writing. It just kind of—flew out.”
Here’s where the line appeared in Jennifer’s piece: “When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d***s, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need. (I told you it wasn’t relatable, don’t hate me).”
Jennifer explained how she came to write the piece, which caused quite a sensation in Hollywood and beyond: “Lena came to me. I didn’t know what the Lenny Letter was. I had never heard of it.
“I think she’s brilliant. I really love Lena, so when she asked me to be involved, I said, ‘Yes.’ Then, I said, ‘What are my options?’ She listed some options, and one of them was writing, so I just started pecking away. I didn’t know exactly what I was even going to say when I started writing. It just fell together.”
On the impact that her short essay made, Jennifer said, “I was shocked by the reaction and pleased. I just wrote it and pressed ‘Send.’ I didn’t have any expectations at all, so it was pretty easy to surpass my expectations (laughs). I hope that it was taken the right way. I hope that there was no misunderstanding about there being any foul play with Sony or with any of the actors.
“If I were to go back, I would do the movie for the same exact paycheck. It wasn’t about the money. It was about how my own mentality got in my way and why is that more than it was me complaining about money that is already too much.”
Told that even Sandra Bullock, in our interview, expressed her support for Jennifer and her views in the piece, Jennifer said, “Did she? Oh my gosh!” Other actresses, including Emma Watson and Jessica Chastain, also echoed their approval.
Asked on whether she is now more careful in signing her movie contracts (Bradley was quoted as saying that he would help actresses negotiate better contracts), Jennifer replied, “First of all, it’s amazing that Bradley did that. I hope other actors will follow suit. He’s a great guy and is very proactive, so I’m really grateful to him for that!
Not about money
“Have I changed anything? Not really, because it wasn’t really even about money. It was about me, my personality, my mentality. The growth that I’m talking about is personally, I don’t care if you like me. I deserve a certain amount of respect. I became less afraid of just saying what I meant. So I do that.
“I haven’t changed anything in my contracts or with money. I’ll still do a movie for barely any money if I want to do the movie. I’m OK with being paid less than a man if he’s doing more work. It was more about me trying to grow out of this silly idea that I had to be liked by everybody. I would hope that the person paying me doesn’t like me at the end of our phone call. I was hoping to inspire other women to say, ‘We’re not victims! Your vagina isn’t a get-out-of-jail free card. You can still speak up, be blunt and say what you mean.’”
Gender pay equality is “the ultimate goal,” said the actress. “Step 1 is speaking about the problem, recognizing a problem and speaking about it. I’m in a tricky spot because I make a lot of money. It’s a tricky thing to try to make me a [spokesperson] for women getting more money because I’ve put a target on my head when I say that. I want equal pay. Women are doing incredible things and hopefully, by us talking about it, it’ll spark change.” (Conclusion tomorrow)
E-mail [email protected]. Follow him at twitter.com/nepalesruben.
