Jennifer Lawrence joined Viola Davis for Variety “Actors on Actors” and revealed the one concern everyone had when announcing their casting for “The Hunger Games”: “How much weight are you going to lose?” Despite an Oscar nomination for “Winter’s Bone,” Lawrence was still relatively new when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen. “The Hunger Games” would make Lawrence a global superstar.
“In ‘Hunger Games,’ it was a huge responsibility,” Lawrence said of the role. “These books were huge and I knew the audience was made up of children. I remember the biggest conversation was ‘How much weight are you going to lose?’ Besides being young and growing up and not being able to diet, I don’t know if I want all the girls who are going to dress as Katniss to feel like they can’t because they are not certain lester. And I can’t let it seep in my neither does the brain.
For Lawrence, “The Hunger Games” marked the rare opportunity to make an action movie led by an action heroine. So many years later, Viola Davis had a similar opportunity with “The Woman King.”
“I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games’, nobody ever put a woman in charge of an action movie because it wouldn’t work – because we were told that girls and boys could identify with a male lead, but boys don’t identify with a female lead,” Lawrence said. “And that makes me so happy every time I see a movie come out that crosses each of those beliefs. and proves it’s just a lie to keep certain people out of movies. To keep some people in the same positions they’ve always had.
Watch Lawrence and Davis’ entire “Actors on Actors” conversation in the video below.