The 76th Cannes Film Festival – Photocall for the documentary film “Bread and Roses” presented as part of Special Screenings – Cannes, France, May 21, 2023. Producer Jennifer Lawrence poses. Image: Reuters/Sarah Meyssonnier
LONDON — Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence credits her new R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings” for making her want to get back to work.
Lawrence, 32, who took a two-year break from acting between 2019 and 2021 and had a son in early 2022, found the script too good to pass up.
“I didn’t want to tackle any genre. I didn’t want to work when I got this script, and I read it and it was the funniest script I’d ever read in my life,” she said at the film’s premiere in London on Monday, June 12.
“So, I quickly changed my tune and we were on set four months later,” Lawrence, who also produced the movie, said.
In “No Hard Feelings” Lawrence plays Maddie, an Uber driver who finds herself car-less and at risk of losing her home. She sees an opportunity to turn her life around when she comes across a wealthy couple’s job listing seeking someone to date their introverted son, Percy, and bring him out of his shell before he heads to college.
The film was inspired by a real-life Craigslist ad from 2013, director and co-writer Gene Stupnitsky said, with the character of Maddie written with Lawrence in mind.
Lawrence’s young co-star, Andrew Feldman, 21, put his Harvard studies on hold to take on the role of Percy.
“Jen called me to tell me that I had gotten the job and said ‘I’m so sorry, Andrew. You’re not going be able to go back to Harvard this semester.’ This was the opportunity of a lifetime. I had to. And Harvard was also like ‘yeah, you have to go do it.’ It was a dream come true,” he said.
“No Hard Feelings” will be in cinemas globally from mid-June. AP/ra