Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence recently sat down with Total Film for an exclusive chat about X-Men: First Class.

Lawrence plays mutant shapeshifter Mystique in Matthew Vaughn’s 60s-set superhero prequel.

“The Mystique we know from the original X-Men is a confident, strong, powerful woman”, she told us.

“But in this film she’s a kind of insecure girl, who’s discovering herself, her sexuality and her opinion of things.”

We’ll also see Mystique stray from Charles Xavier’s flock to join forces with Magneto: “It starts as a little crush [on Magneto] but then I start to like his view of the world.”

Lawrence has also been familiarising herself with Mystique by getting immersed in the character’s comic-book backstory (“I’m still reading it…”) and studying Rebecca Romijn’s performance in the previous X-movies to get the physicality down: “She has a very specific walk!”

Lawrence also trained for two hours a day for five months, before learning that her stunt double would be handling a lot of the rough stuff: “I was like, ‘Grrr!’ But I guess it meant less time wearing the make-up, so I wasn’t too disappointed.”



• [x013] 2011: X-Men: First Class – CAPTURES – HD Trailer Captures of X-Men: Firts Class

One of the year’s biggest breakout stars on enduring the cold and having Steven Spielberg see your movie.

As a way of celebrating this year’s nominees for the Spirit Awards in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, we reached out to as many as we could in an effort to better understand what went into their films, what they’ve gotten out of the experience, and where they’ve found their inspiration, both in regards to their work and other works of art that might’ve inspired them from the past year. Their answers will be published on a daily basis throughout February.

One of the recurring oddities of awards season is reconciling the actors and actresses who walk the red carpet with the roles they so thoroughly inhabited that got them honored in the first place. For Jennifer Lawrence, the difference has been particularly stark, radiating old school Hollywood glamour as she’s strolled through one ceremony after another in recent months for her performance in “Winter’s Bone” where as the steely Ree Dolly, she couldn’t be further away in the Ozarks. However, what makes it easier to reconcile the two is knowing the other things Lawrence radiates – an intelligence and inner strength – that makes Ree no victim and the actress no ordinary thespian.

Continue reading Q & A With “Winter’s Bone” Actress Jennifer Lawrence

Oliver Stone Has Met With Leonardo DiCaprio, Aaron Johnson, Tom Hardy, James Franco & Garrett Hedlund For Two Male Lead Roles; Benicio Del Toro Courted For Role Of Cartel Enforcer

There is nothing we like better than young actresses making smart, interesting choices and “Winter’s Bone” breakout star and Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence continues to diversify her resumé. She’s got a starring role in the upcoming “X-Men: First Class” (whose solid trailer just dropped) and now she’s made a nice little gear change into a project with great potential.

Deadline reports that Lawrence is in talks to star in “Savages,” a drug cartel thriller to be directed by Oliver Stone. First revealed the last summer, the project is based on Don Winslow‘s book about “two pals from Laguna Beach who share the same girlfriend and a thriving business growing and distributing the best-quality pot on the planet. When they resist being muscled by a Mexican drug cartel, the girl is kidnapped and the ransom is every cent they’ve made for the last five years. They agree to pay but hatch an alternate plan to get her back, get revenge, and then get lost.” Lawrence, will play the girl in the middle O, while the two pals—Ben and Chon—have seen some big names in the mix. Oliver Stone has apparently met with Leonardo DiCaprio, Aaron Johnson, Tom Hardy, James Franco and Garrett Hedlund about the roles and Benicio Del Toro is being sought to play an enforcer for the Mexican drug cartel.

This sounds like something much more lean and mean from Stone than we’re used to, and the source material is from a writer who has gained attention of prominent helmer’s in the past. Winslow wrote “The Winter of Frankie Machine,” a book that once had Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann interested in directing at various points. Definitely seems like some wickedly fun stuff and if Stone can attract some of those top tier names, we reckon it’s his most interesting project in years.