Jennifer Lawrence

Outtakes: Julianne Moore on Doing ‘The Hunger Games’ — Thanks to her Kids

May 27, 2015 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore looking into the future: it isn’t pretty but they are.

De-cluttering the cutting-room floor — this time from my interview with Julianne Moore in the New York Observer that ended up concentrating on her race to the Best Actress Oscar.

Ms. Moore’s drive to be attached to quality material extends beyond the Oscar circuit. Regarding being cast in the box office hit The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Ms. Moore confessed: “which I did call about.” She credited her children for the discovery five years ago. “I’m like here, Caleb, here’s the third volume in the series you like (because you always want 12-year-old boys to read.) And then a few years later my daughter, who’s now 12, was reading The Hunger Games. We were on vacation and I had nothing to read. I picked it up. I was like ‘this is great.’ I downloaded the other two and I read them really fast. Then in the last book there’s this character Alma Coin and I’m, like, go for that part. She was the only character I could play. And that’s how that happened. I met the director, Francis Lawrence. That was one of those projects I pursued because it was interesting.”

In the case of Mockingjay, the material was more attractive than the actual part of the severe President of District 13, a powerful figure that does not carry the narrative thread like Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen. The book interested Ms. Moore because “it’s political allegory with adolescent overtones whereas a lot of things that you read in YA are simply adolescent. There’s nothing wrong with that… but what the author Suzanne Collins did is she really wrote about political systems and ideology and rebellion turning into revolution and civil disobedience and what class systems do to people and what totalitarianism does. I read it and I was like, Jesus! And the character of Alma Coin is thin in the book. She’s not fully fleshed out in the movies either because the movie’s not about Alma Coin but she’s an interesting character with an interesting evolution.”

What is Jennifer Lawrence’s Favorite David O. Russell Movie? Hint: It’s not ‘American Hustle.’

February 2, 2014 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Jennifer Lawrence hearts David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees,” a jovial Russell told the Santa Barbara International Film Festival audience at the Outstanding Director Tribute in his honor last Friday.

“That was Jennifer Lawrence’s favorite film,” said Russell. Almost a year ago to the day, Russell had accompanied his “American Hustle” star down those very same dark stairs in the Arlington Theatre for her Santa Barbara Tribute — and she was singing as they walked.

While the 2004 film has its enthusiasts, like Lawrence, the ensemble comedy with Jason Schwartzman and Lily Tomlin about existential detectives was a professional low-point for the director. “I was not happy with myself at the time,” Russell confessed, going on to explain that it coincided with his divorce to Janet Grillo, the placement of his young son in a special boarding school, and financial pressures.

[Related: 2013 Top Ten List]

“I call that my head-in-my-ass period,” Russell said. And yet the director could recognize a silver lining in hindsight. “If I didn’t go stumbling through that period I couldn’t have made ‘The Fighter.'”

The failure of “I Heart Huckabees,” compounded by Russell’s personal problems, and criticisms of egomania, became a wake-up call for the Director: “Ego is really fear,” he told the audience. “When someone is acting important, it’s really fear.”

And the worst was yet to come: a movie that never got made. “Nailed,” Russell’s unfinished collaboration with Al Gore’s daughter, Kristin, got shut down nine times, according to the Director. The uncompleted film starred Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal. Russell described “Nailed” as the ‘nadir,” the low-point, of his professional career.

Mark Wahlberg helped turn Russell’s career around when he brought him “The Fighter,” Like a one-two punch, along came “The Silver Linings Playbook,” Russell’s first collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence.

Of casting Lawrence, Russell said: “She skyped her audition from her parents’ home in Kentucky. She killed a spider in her father’s bathroom behind her. She’s a gift. She’s a great discovery.” And her career is on the rise in no small part thanks to Russell.

Bad Jobs of the Academy Rich & Famous: David O. Russell, Waiter to Martin Scorsese

February 2, 2014 By Thelma Leave a Comment

David O. Russell, Waiters Guild of America winner? Not something you’ll be hearing soon. But among the many jobs the Oscar-nominated writer-director had before he sold his first feature was working as a Manhattan waiter and bartender.

At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Outstanding Director Tribute last Friday, a gleeful Russell told a full house – including a screaming baby and a patron with a cough Russell compared to a cat with a fur ball – about his non-illustrious past.

Russell confessed that he waited on fellow nominee Martin Scorsese at the “Goodfellas” premier at the Museum of Modern Art. He told the established director “what I really want to do is what you are doing.” Scorsese responded: “I’ll have a vodka.”

When asked by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling about the rigors of the Awards Season – especially in light of riding last year’s contender “Silver Lining Playbook” as well as this year’s “American Hustle” – the former waiter with blue-collar New Jersey roots wasn’t prey to self-pity. “You should love it, or you shouldn’t be in the business,” Russell said.

Russell has yet to win an Oscar himself despite three nominations for Best Director, but he still has an impressive track record. His last three films have garnered twenty-five Oscar nominations. That has netted three wins: one each for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for “The Fighter,” and one last year for Jennifer Lawrence.

‘Catching Fire’ Q&A: Director Francis Lawrence Identifies With His Heroine Katniss

November 30, 2013 By Thelma Leave a Comment

Francis Lawrence with the cast of The Hunger Games It could have been challenging for director Francis Lawrence to be that other Lawrence, the dude, on the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” set. But J.Law made it easy for this music video director, who’s worked with everybody from J. Lo to Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake to Britney Spears, and also has “I Am Legend,” “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Constantine” under his belt. Question: Is there a character you identify with the most? Francis Lawrence: Katniss. I do. She’s the center of the story, and I just buy her, I just believe her. I understand what she wants, and I understand what she’s thinking, and I understand what she’s going through. I believe in her choices. Q: Can you be more specific? FL: Sure. Her father died in a mining accident, and she started to provide for her family. So her objective in life is to provide for her family, and I think, mostly, for her sister. And she took on that role. And then her sister was taking on a different role, who suddenly is gonna be chosen to go in these games. And I get the sacrificing yourself for her sister, for that innocence.

And I relate to all the other choices that she makes. It’s about survival. It’s very simple. I don’t think it would have worked if she was really dwelling on love. Because I don’t buy that people do that in those situations where it’s life and death at your doorstep every second of every day. It just happens right: you’re bonding with somebody, maybe, in a moment in a cave, right, or you’re injured. But it’s because you guys are going through stuff together. You’re not thinking about, ‘Is he gonna be my boyfriend?’

Q: In the book, Katniss and Peeta share a bed for comfort. FL: Because when they sleep, they have nightmares and night terrors. They both have gone through the same thing together and that bonds people, when you go through traumatic experiences. And so, to answer your question, I just believe Katniss as a human, I really do. It’s not that I disbelieve other people but, because this story is so centered on her, I believe Katniss.

Q: But in this installment, it definitely opens up. “The Hunger Games” was so in Katniss’ head and seen through her yes. FL: Well the story opens up a little bit. For the most part, we’re telling it through Katniss’ point of view. We break a little bit, a few times. But we made a rule that it really always had to be about Katniss in some way, or because of something that Katniss has done. And that’s the way we connected it. So we grew and blew it open just a little bit, in terms of the Plutarch and Snow scenes.

Q: Those are the scenes that weren’t in the novel between the new Head Game Maker, Plutarch Heavensbee, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland’s President Snow. FL: We had to backwards engineer those scenes. When Katniss gets back from The Districts, or from her victory tour, she’s back in The District, and she knows she’s failed. She sees Snow, and he shook his head at her at the party. She’s knows she’s endangered families. Gale is in danger. She’s going to come home. She’s going to want to run. And suddenly, these peacekeepers are showing up, right?

We know these things happened in the book. So we now have to figure out what was Snow thinking. What is the moment when he and Plutarch got together? What was the process when they decide to send peacekeepers to the District to crack down? And so we had [to] come up with just what their step-by-step plan is, to get rid of Katniss Everdeen.

Q: Looking ahead, you’re leaving for Berlin to scout locations for “Mockingjay.” FL: We already made a couple of trips out to Paris and Berlin to scout. This is the tech scout. We’re going with the crew, because it’s our last opportunity to go out all together to really do all the technical and logistical planning for what we’re gonna do in each of the locations, and walk the crew through, what we’re planning on doing everywhere. So we’re gonna go do that over the next week, in Paris and Berlin. And we end up going there later next year in the spring.

Q: What’s the roll out over the next two movies? FL: It’s basically this time next year, and this time the year after that.

Q: And you’ve signed on to direct both “Mockingjay” movies, right? FL: It was a decision that was made early on while we were prepping “Catching Fire.” I’d only signed on for “Catching Fire.” And I was approached to do “Mockingjay” as well. And that was really exciting because the people are great, and it was really creative and collaborative, and a nice group of people. The only thing I was really nervous about was this movie because, if this one for whatever reason didn’t turn out so well, and the actors didn’t like it, or if people didn’t show up, or it got horrible reviews or something, it would be really awkward going back to the shoot. We go back to shooting, in about two weeks.

Q: While the books were originally on the YA shelf, “The Hunger Games” series has a wider appeal. FL: The stories just keep getting more and more interesting. The stories keep growing up, as does the fan base.

Q: Who is the audience for “Catching Fire?” FL: I think the audience is everybody. I wouldn’t take small kids. It’s pretty intense. But I think that it’s really for everyone. The genius of the material is that Suzanne Collins wrote a series of books about the consequences of war for teenagers. But she didn’t treat teenagers like children, which is one of the reasons that teenagers really ate it up. Because of that approach, I think it’s crossed over into the adult world. There are big ideas, and I think that they’re smart, and I think that they’re very moving. And so, I don’t think that it’s just for teenagers.

Review: ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’

November 17, 2013 By Thelma 8 Comments

Girl and Boy on Fire – Again (Photo Credit Lionsgate)

“Catching Fire” picks up where “The Hunger Games” left off. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) have returned home to District 12, triumphant but troubled. The pair’s impromptu final act of defiance at the 74th Annual Hunger games – their decision to commit double suicide by poison berry (berry kari?) – has seeded rebellion against the Capitol across the districts.

Meanwhile, Katniss has boy probs: Peeta feels played because his true-love Katniss was apparently acting for the cameras to save their lives during the last games. And her jealous hometown soul-mate Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) isn’t so sure it was an act. [Read more…]