Jennifer Lawrence clarified comments she made claiming she was the first female lead to be cast in an action film, saying she intended to highlight a sexist way of thinking that was still prevalent when she started her acting career.
Lawrence faced backlash this week when she said "nobody" had put a woman in a leading role in an action movie until she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in the "Hunger Games."
"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 Viola Davis for Variety’s Actors on Actors series.
"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."
Fans were quick to point out that there had been a number of great action heroines like Sigourney Weaver in "Alien," Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill," and Michelle Yeoh in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Addressing the criticism, Lawrence admitted her mistake to The Hollywood Reporter.
"That’s certainly not what I meant to say at all," Lawrence said. "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 … 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."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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