Jennifer Lawrence swore to never return to the world of one of her films that left her emotionally and mentally drained.
Jennifer Lawrence has had a prolific career over the years and has shown her versatility as an actress starting from her first few projects. She made her breakthrough role playing Ree in Winter’s Bone. Lawrence went on to star in various acclaimed projects including American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, The Hunger Games and the X-Men franchise, and Joy.
Jennifer Lawrence became the 2nd youngest Best Actress Oscar nominee for her role in Winter’s Bone
Her most divisive and controversial film was her 2017 film Mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film was inspired by the Bible and had the actors playing various characters and elements mentioned in it, and Lawrence was the one who had to do most of the heavy lifting. One scene proved to be too much for the actress, and she decided that she would never return to that character ever again.
Jennifer Lawrence Will Never Return To the World of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!
Mother! was an incredibly challenging film for Jennifer Lawrence
Darren Aronofsky is one bold filmmaker who is not afraid to take chances and explore the ugly and dark sides of human nature. Films like Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, etc. were films that explored the psychological turmoil faced by broken individuals. However, with 2017’s Mother!, his unusual fantastical take on the Bible and its elements received a lot of controversy.
The film chronicled the weird events that start to happen to a couple played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, when a mysterious man and woman enter their lives played by Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. The actors, especially Lawrence had to go to some emotionally draining places within themselves for some intense scenes, and one scene led to Lawrence requiring some medical help after shooting.
She talked about this in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where she recalled that Aronofsky wanted to reshoot the scene despite Lawrence’s miserable condition. The actress just wanted the scene to be over with and move on. Lawrence claimed that while she’s glad she did the film, she would never do a sequel to the film as she wouldn’t be able to go to that level of emotional vulnerability ever again. Lawrence said,
“I still feel like I can’t even say — even with the movie out! There’s one scene that nobody should ever feel. And that’s what I said to Darren when he wanted to do it again. I was in the medical unit with oxygen up my nose and he’s like, “It was out of focus, we gotta do it again.” I was like, you are making me go to a place that you have never been. I just wanted to get out and finish it.
No. I don’t regret it. I’m happy I did it. If I had to do it again? If there was a Mother! sequel? [Laughs] No. I wouldn’t be able to do it again. I did it once and I gave it my all.”
Lawrence goes through a myriad of emotions throughout the film as she experiences some wild and bizarre things happening around her. Her character (an allegory to Mother Earth) sees some destructive incidents that leave her emotionally scarred and it seems it also affected her personally.
Thus, it is understandable why Lawrence does not want to go through that all over again. Fans can watch/rent Mother! on Apple TV+.
Jennifer Lawrence Claims No Hard Feelings Had the Funniest Script She Has Ever Read
Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie Barker in No Hard Feelings
Jennifer Lawrence has mostly played intense and dark characters for most of her career. While audiences love her for choosing bold and challenging roles, they were also surprised by her impressive comic timing in 2023’s No Hard Feelings. In a chat with Cameron Diaz for Interview Magazine, Lawrence stated that the script for the film had the charm and wit that other comedies lacked.
Lawrence pointed out how she had been open to doing comedies before and that most comedies that were coming her way were not funny enough. When she read the script for No Hard Feelings, she was constantly laughing while also being moved at the same time. She said,
“I’d read these comedies and nothing made me laugh out loud or really moved me. Then I read this script, and I had never read anything so funny. I know Gene, so I know how funny he is.”
The raunchy comedy was enjoyed by audiences and was also successful at the box office (via Movieweb). She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her performance in the film.