As New York Fashion Week winds down, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announces that next year’s Met Gala—the annual fashion ball—will be co-chaired by Hollywood’s brightest starlet, Jennifer Lawrence. The Oscar winner will be joined in co-chair capacity by titans in adjacent fields: Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, plus Chinese actress Gong Li and Wendi Murdoch, businesswoman and former wife of Richard Murdoch.
The event will take place on May 4, 2015, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Anna Wintour Costume Center. The theme of both the event and the Met exhibit with which it aligns will be “Chinese Whispers: Tales of the East in Art, Film, and Fashion.”
What this entails, per Vogue.com:
“Chinese Whispers” will primarily examine how eastward-looking Westerners have understood, misunderstood, and appropriated Chinese culture in an exchange that Bolton likens to a complicated game of telephone (which the British call “Chinese whispers”). Drawing on more than a hundred couture and avant-garde samplings from designers as varied as Alexander McQueen and Laurence Xu, the cross-disciplinary exhibition will incorporate painting, decorative arts, and filmic representations of China, occupying both the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery of the Anna Wintour Costume Center and the Chinese galleries, located directly above.
Last year, the lavish red-carpet event was co-chaired by Sarah Jessica Parker and Lawrence’s co-star from Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, and up next, Serena— Bradley Cooper.
Tag: Articles
The past two years, Oscar season has played host to a Bradley Cooper-Jennifer Lawrence collaboration, but the two made another movie together, and it’s finally being shown. Serena, directed by Susanne Bier, is part of the lineup for the BFI London Film Festival, making what appears to be its world premiere, according to The Playlist. The film will make its festival stop before being released on Oct. 24 in the U.K. It still does not have a U.S. date.
Cooper and Lawrence filmed the movie, which takes place in Depression-era North Carolina, back in March 2012 after they completed Silver Linings Playbook but before they re-teamed with David O. Russell for American Hustle. According to a Hollywood Reporter story from last year, the movie was being shopped to buyers and “generating frenzied interest” from the likes of Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company because of (yet another) impressive performance from Lawrence. But there have also been lingering questions about the movie’s quality, considering how long it has taken to get out to the public. An insider told THR, however, that Oscar winner Bier is simply “a total perfectionist.”
In the film, based on a 2008 novel by Ron Rash, Cooper plays a timber mogul. Lawrence plays his wife, the title character, who the New Yorker described as a “Depression-era Lady Macbeth.” The London Film Festival’s summary says that “Lawrence in particular is a treat, playing Serena with an evil eye Bette Davis might have envied.”
It’s safe to say that as far as weeks go, this one has not been Jennifer Lawrence’s favorite. But today, one of our favorite stars is being celebrated for a rather kick-ass accomplishment: Lawrence has landed a spot in the 2015 edition of Guinness World Records.
The Oscar winner earned her place in the record book thanks to her success as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise. Combined, The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire have grossed more than $1.52 billion internationally, giving J.Law the title of highest-grossing action movie heroine ever.
Meanwhile, there are two (two!) more Hunger Games movies coming our way: Mockingjay: Part One will debut in November and part two will hit theaters next year. The follow-ups not only promise to help keep the actress in that top-earning spot, but will undoubtedly also make us love her even more. If that’s possible.
Serena gets a UK Release Date
Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper’s depression-era drama, Serena, has finally received a release date in the U.K.
The flick, which wrapped up production in 2012, will open in British cinemas on October 24.Serena, directed by Susanne Bier with a script from Christopher Kyle and Ron Rash, tells the story of newlyweds Serena and George Pemberton as they come to the realization that she cannot bear children. The plot thickens when Serena sets out to kill a woman who had a child with her husband.
Lawrence stars as the title character and Cooper will play her husband. Rhys Ifans, Sean Harris and Sam Reid co-star in the flick.
Stylist shared an unseen still image Wednesday featuring Lawrence riding a horse. While there’s still no word on when the movie will be released in the U.S., the film’s IMDb page says Serena will come out in 2014.
Possible new project for Jen. Via screencrush.com
In what is probably the best news since you woke up this morning and realized you were still alive, Quentin Tarantino has his eyes on Jennifer Lawrence to join ‘The Hateful Eight‘ — his previously aborted but once again in the works new Western, which recently debuted its first teaser trailer in front of ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.’
The folks over at Collider have reported that Tarantino really wants Jennifer Lawrence to star in ‘The Hateful Eight’ because who doesn’t want Jennifer Lawrence in their movie right now? Lawrence is a smart actress who chooses smart roles, and this could be the smartest move of all if she takes it.
The role Lawrence is being sought for is presumably that of Daisy Domergue, aka “The Prisoner” introduced in the teaser, though we know that the live read version of the script had two female roles: Daisy and Six Horse Judy, who — as Collider notes — were played in that reading by ‘Django Unchained’ stars Amber Tamblyn and Zoe Bell, respectively. But as Tarantino has since done further work on the script, it’s possible that Six Horse Judy has since hit the trail.
So far, the rumored cast for the film has included the likes of Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Michael Madsen, and Samuel L. Jackson — but given that Tarantino has scrapped the project and started over, some of those names may have changed.
As for Lawrence, she still may have some additional shooting to do on the second part of ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay’ next year, and she’s attached to David O. Russell’s ‘Joy,’ the story of the woman who invented the Miracle Mop — that film is set to be released in December 2015. If she joins up with ‘The Hateful Eight,’ that’s going to give her a rather hectic shooting schedule, but we believe if anyone can pull it off, it’s J Law.
Over the course of two Hunger Games films, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has been unflinchingly confident. But in Mockingjay – Part 1, the teen heroine suffers a bout of age-appropriate angst as she reluctantly becomes a rebel leader.
“It’s a very confusing, conflicted, complicated time for Katniss,” says director Francis Lawrence, who also directed 2013’s Catching Fire. “Having gone through the games one more time and having lost Peeta and having been run through the wringer, she’s even more damaged. So you find her in a more agitated place. She’s distraught, confused, angry.”
Collins’ final book presents a gritty narrative about Katniss’ role in the rebellion to overthrow the Capitol, with grim scenes of wartime brutality as the teen heroine struggles with the psychological consequences wrought by violence. But, says Lawrence, the upcoming installment won’t be entirely somber.
“There’s definitely some battles. There’s some of the first glimpses of real war in this movie. And the scale gets quite big,” he reveals. “There’s an atonal shift from some of the last movies, but they’re still very emotional, very sweeping, [on a] grand scale with some levity and humor.”
And there won’t be any major changes from the novel—although Lawrence worked closely with screenwriter Peter Craig, producer Nina Jacobson, and Collins to create new elements that will “surprise even fans of the book.”
“Instead of changing the plot and changing characters what we did was have the opportunity to show scenes that could have been happening at different times in the book,” Lawrence says. “For us it’s world expansion instead of changing things. I think it’s exciting for the fan to see certain things. So we’ve been able to open the world up in this and see some new places. We get to see some new districts this time and the scope gets quite large.”
There’s also the addition of cast member Julianne Moore as rebel President Alma Coin, a character whose role has been expanded for the upcoming films.
“What’s interesting is although she’s a huge character in Mockingjay the book, there’s actually very little of her in it,” notes Lawrence. “There’s more of her in this than in the book and because of that, there’s some development.”
But one thing thing that won’t change? That’d be the love triangle between Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Gale (Liam Hemsworth), and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).
“With Mockingjay – Part I it’s tricky because Peeta is out of reach for her,” notes the director. “Obviously he becomes an objective for her, but Gale is right there, so that’s always a tricky situation.”
While Lawrence won’t reveal how he divided the final book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy (“That’s going to be one of the really good surprises,” he says), he shares that the films will have “two different, very distinct stories.”
“Those objectives became the motives for us,” Lawrence explains. “This is where the meaning of the entire series comes into play. The answer to why these books exist exists in Mockingjay, and that’s really been exciting to me. That’s been kind of what I’ve hung on to through these stories.”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 is slated for release on Nov. 21, 2014.
Interesting article from cinemablend.com. So much information just for a trailer release though. :O
Summit/Lionsgate is taking a rather nontraditional approach to unveiling the highly anticipated first trailer of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Instead of debuting the footage to a packed Hall H of cheering Katniss fans at Comic-Con, the studio will be debuting the trailer in the “Capitol Gallery” at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, near the convention center. Nationwide, the trailer will later be made available at Best Buy throughout the weekend, and then by Google Play through certain Galaxy devices.
It all starts in San Diego on Friday, July 25 when cast members of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 will introduce the trailer on a Galaxy Tab S, at the Samsung Galaxy Experience at the Hard Rock. The next day, it becomes available at Best Buy stores around the country, and then on Monday, it’ll be available as part of the Hunger Games Movie Pack App, which owners of select Samsung devices will be able to download.
Here’s the exact plan of action…
During San Diego Comic-Con:
On Friday, July 25 at 12:00pm PT, cast members from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 will introduce the trailer on the Galaxy Tab S in the Capitol Gallery located in the Samsung Galaxy Experience in San Diego (in the Hard Rock Hotel, corner of 5th and L Streets).Nationwide at Best Buy:
Fans outside the San Diego area can also get an exclusive preview of the first official The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 trailer beginning on Saturday, July 26 and extending through Sunday, July 27 by visiting Samsung Experience Shops inside select Best Buy locations. While supplies last, visitors will receive one complimentary pass to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 when it opens in theaters November 21.The Hunger Games Movie Pack App:
As part of the collaboration, The Hunger Games Movie Pack App will be available to download for free on select Samsung devices* beginning July 28, via Google Play. The app will give Galaxy owners access to exclusive Hunger Games content, including scripts, book excerpts, video clips and more.Galaxy Tab S owners will have the opportunity to download the first two Hunger Games films for free, in addition to receiving all the exclusive content through the app. Samsung will continue to deliver exclusive Hunger Games content to Galaxy owners through the app leading up to the film’s premiere on November 21. *
All of this is in advance of the trailer’s online release.
It’s certainly a different approach to take for such a big trailer. On one hand, if Samsung’s looking to partner with a hugely anticipated movie to promote their Galaxy, The Hunger Games is a great option, as people really are excited for their first good look at the first part of the two-part adaptation of Mockingjay. Those eager enough to see the trailer will surely get themselves to a Best Buy — or to someone with access to a Galaxy device — to see the trailer, and in the process, they’ll be previewing the Galaxy Tab S. So the upside for Samsung is obvious. The downside is for those out of range of Comic-Con, Best Buy or a Galaxy tablet will have to wait until it makes its way online to see the trailer. Whenever that happens.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 arrives in theaters November 21. While we wait for the trailer, catch the unsettling posters and teasers for the film here.
Jennifer Lawrence And Gary Ross’ East Of Eden Remake Doesn’t Look Far For Its Screenwriter
Much like the opinions embedded in the fandom of entertainment, the industry itself is an exercise in contradiction – often enjoyably so. For instance, it was just earlier today when there was talk of Jennifer Lawrence possibly taking a brief hiatus from acting, and it only took a couple of hours for news to break that another one of her future projects is moving forward. She’s set to star in an updated remake of John Steinbeck’s classic East of Eden, reteaming her with Hunger Games director Gary Ross, who has officially also taken on scriptwriting duties for the film. Or films.
THR doesn’t make it clear whether or not Ross is still planning his adaptation as two full features, as was originally reported. but this is one of the only instances where splitting a single novel into two films is entirely sensible. Ross first came on board in September when Universal and Imagine got the rights from the Steinbeck estate, and it’s no surprise that he eventually chose to write it, given he’d done the same for all three of his previous directorial efforts. It’s still a daunting task, whichever way he goes about it.
Widely considered Steinbeck’s greatest achievement, East of Eden is as much about pre-WWI Salinas Valley in California as it is about the families living therein. A loose retelling of Cain and Abel’s biblical story, it begins with the bullied and troubled life of Adam Trask, who later unwittingly married and had children with a ruthless whore named Cathy, who soon leaves them all behind. Those twins, Caleb and Aron, grow up oblivious of their mother’s identity, until it one day becomes a major part of their lives.
The previous adaptation was the 1955 version from Elia Kazan, starring James Dean in his first major role, but that film only took on the second portion of the book involving Caleb and Aron. Can Ross, whose previous films also include Seabiscuit and Pleasantville, do something that even the great Elia Kazan couldn’t do? Not that I’m sensationalizing it or anything.
It’s a heavy narrative, full of rich themes and characters, and it’ll probably take Ross a while to perfect his approach. Even then we’re not sure if Lawrence will be involved with the next X-Men film, or her eighth film with David O. Russell or something – and that’s assuming she even sticks with this and doesn’t opt out at some point. Either way, this is more interesting than the usual adaptation or remake, so let’s hope Ross knows the perfect way to bring it to the screen.
Jennifer Lawrence of ‘American Hustle’ Adds Evidence of Star Quality: Being Human Seems Enough
It was at the 2008 Venice Film Festival that Jennifer Lawrence — future Oscar winner, squirrel skinner, American warrior — signaled that she was no ordinary starlet. She wasn’t yet famous then, just a paparazzi afterthought to Charlize Theron, her co-star in “The Burning Plain,” one of those agonizingly dopey movies that play at major festivals because of their red-carpet power. During a pseudo-event for the movie, Ms. Theron spoke about the limited number of older actresses working in the industry and showered praise on another co-star, Kim Basinger, who wasn’t there. Ms. Lawrence apparently silenced the room by joking that Ms. Basinger had died. The girl can’t help it!
What Ms. Lawrence then said was funnier and so blunt that only a journalist for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph appears to have repeated it. “Working with Kim was one of the most amazing moments of my life,” Ms. Lawrence said. “She’s so focused and smart and nice — everything you don’t expect when you hear you’re going to be working with Kim Basinger.” Was that a ditzy gaffe or a sly, funny dig of the kind that once might have come out of Judy Holliday? Or was Jennifer Lawrence just being Jennifer Lawrence, the best actress winner who tripped on her way to grab her Oscar for David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” and then — in what was the perfect capper to the inanity of the awards season — flipped the bird at someone in the press room?
Continue reading Jennifer Lawrence of ‘American Hustle’ Adds Evidence of Star Quality: Being Human Seems Enough
Jennifer has been chosen by AP as the Entertainer of the Year.
(Video has been moved after the cut cause it autoplays)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The battle for AP Entertainer of the Year came down to the Girl on Fire and the Queen of Twerk.
Jennifer Lawrence edged out Miley Cyrus by one vote in The Associated Press’ annual survey of its newspaper and broadcast members and subscribers for Entertainer of the Year.
There were 70 ballots submitted by U.S. editors and news directors. Voters were asked to consider who had the most influence on entertainment and culture in 2013.
Lawrence won 15 votes. Cyrus had 14. Netflix was a close third, earning 13 votes for altering the TV landscape with its on-demand format and hit original series.
But Lawrence — who started the year with an Academy Award for best actress, fueled a box-office franchise as The Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen, and wrapped 2013 with a critically acclaimed performance in American Hustle that just earned Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations — charmed fans everywhere with her candid sincerity.
She was also a fashion darling — a muse for Dior — who made headlines with her pixie haircut. (“That was the weirdest thing that ever happened to me,” she recently told Jon Stewart.)
Lawrence declined comment for this story.
The 23-year-old actress “is not only talented and beautiful, but comes off as incredibly intelligent, genuine, funny and well-spoken in her public appearances and interviews,” writes Kristi Runyan of The Derrick and The News-Herald Newspapers in Oil City, Pa. “It’s refreshing to see a young woman not squandering her talent and success by succumbing to the temptations many do in Hollywood and who actively speaks about the ridiculous behavior of some of her peers.”
Speaking of ridiculous behavior, Cyrus raised eyebrows throughout 2013 with her embrace of twerking, nudity and public pot smoking. The 21-year-old Wrecking Ball singer also made news with her pixie chop, but her breakup with fiancé Liam Hemsworth and highly sexualized (and scrutinized) performances made her water-cooler chatter all year.
“She made the biggest splash, without comment on whether I thought it was a good thing,” said Jim Turpin of KMPH-TV in Fresno, Calif.
Women have dominated the Entertainer of the Year contest. Past titleholders include Adele, Lady Gaga, Tina Fey, Betty White and Taylor Swift. Stephen Colbert is the lone male winner in seven years of voting.
Netflix commanded votes for changing viewing habits (binge-watch Breaking Bad, anyone?) and challenging the traditional TV-release concept with its original series. The outlet eschewed typical TV pilots and released a season’s worth of episodes at once of its acclaimed series House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black.
“In a divided entertainment landscape that includes the fans of pop princesses like Miley as well as high-minded devotees of cutting-edge filmmaking, Netflix is the one common denominator,” said Sean Stangland of Paddock Publications in suburban Chicago.
The beloved, Emmy-winning series Breaking Bad was in fourth place with 10 votes. Justin Timberlake, whose year included a pair of albums and top-selling tours, seven Grammy nominations and two film roles, claimed fifth place.
Continue reading Jennifer Lawrence is the AP Entertainer of the Year
Jennifer Lawrence and Jack Nicholson’s Flirty Back-and-Forth Didn’t End with Their Amazing Oscars Run-In
This past February, Jack Nicholson and Jennifer Lawrence made viral video magic when the two met-cute/creepy backstage at the Oscars. While best-actress winner Lawrence taped an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Nicholson lurked in the background, on deck to congratulate Hollywood’s newly-minted Academy Award owner. After patiently waiting, and wiping sweat from his forehead, Nicholson finally bum-rushed the segment mid-interview to tell Lawrence that she “did such a beautiful job” and he “loved” her in Silver Linings Playbook. Lawrence, as charming as ever, whet Nicholson’s appetite by firing back that the 76-year-old legend was “being really rude” by interrupting her segment. Nicholson—clearly smitten, as we all are, by J. Law—left her side, and then snuck back up once more to creepily tell her, “I’ll be waiting.”
And waiting he apparently was. Lawrence, who was just named “Entertainer of the Year” by the Associated Press, tells ABC that after meeting Nicholson, she received a care package from the elder Oscar winner containing the bubbly and a flirty note that sounds typical of the storied ladies’ man. “He sent me flowers and a bottle of Cristal and a note that said, ‘Missing you already,” Lawrence told ABC News’ Bianna Golodryga, before adding. “Not to brag. I should have probably kept that a secret so it could just be between me and Jack.”
Last month, Lawrence played a little bit more coy when asked if she had kept in touch with Nicholson. “Oh. . . are we dating?,” she asked Extra TV. “Are we an item? “I’’m not going to say what he did or didn’t do. He could have or could not have sent me flowers and a bottle of Cristal.”
Lawrence revealed that she did not dare drink the sacred gift from Nicholson—perhaps for fear that it was laced with a love serum that would make her fall for the actor five decades her senior. “I’ve never tasted Cristal in my whole life,” she said, adding that she sent the gift to her parents. “[M]y mom has my Oscar and my Jack Nicholson champagne.” Rationalizing her kindness to her mother, she said, “She like pulled me out of her body. It’s the least I can do.”
The old-fashioned champagne and flowers courtship strategy may have backfired for Nicholson, but if we know Jack, the actor has not given up and is busy hand-painting Lawrence a bull figurine as we blog.
Tip of the hat to our very own Richard Lawson, who predicted that Nicholson and Lawrence would cross paths again—however not in a fizzled-out flirtation that makes for great talk show fodder. He suggested that the pair team up for a James L. Brooks comedy in which he actor accepts the more age-appropriate role of “father” to Lawrence’s character, a computer genius.
See the video from the Oscars:
Oscar Wrap: Inside ‘American Hustle’: David O. Russell Takes His All-Star Cast on Wild Ride to the ’70s
Scans from the issue are available in the gallery, many thanks to Luciana. And below is a preview of the article:
The cast talks with TheWrap about the director’s unconventional approach while filming the period tale
There’s never been a film quite like “American Hustle.”
The bellbottoms, big hair, coke snorting and propulsive pop soundtrack evoke earlier ’70s throwbacks, like “Boogie Nights” and “Anchorman.” And the story of crooked politicians, charming con artists and the feds who bring them together is reminiscent of caper movies like “Ocean’s Eleven.” Yet “American Hustle” still defies all expectations — it’s funny and tragic, often at the same moment, and a masterpiece of shifting moods.
The movie serves as a coda in a trilogy of reinvention for director David O. Russell, whose last two works, “Silver Linings Playbook” and “The Fighter,” together scored 15 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture for both) and won three Oscars for acting. “I want to do movies that are rooted in characters and that are based on their emotional lives and their struggles for survival and desire for reinvention,” Russell told TheWrap. “This theme of reinvention is what leapt out at me. It’s very American.”
That American theme binds the trilogy together, even though the films seem wildly different on the surface. “The Fighter” is an inspirational boxing movie with vivid and often comic characters. “Silver Linings Playbook” is a charming romantic comedy, with drops of pathos mixed in to leaven the uplift. And “American Hustle” riffs on the crime genre, dramatizing one of the most bizarre moments in law-enforcement history: the Abscam operation in which FBI employees posed as Arab sheiks in an effort to catch public officials on the take.
Read the rest of the article at thewrap.com
American Hustle’s Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams on Singing, Dancing, Locking Lips, and Building Characters
Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper may have top billing in American Hustle, director David O. Russell’s madcap seventies crime epic, but it’s the film’s knockout dames, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, who ultimately steal the show. Adams plays Sydney, the lover and partner of conman Irving (Bale), while Lawrence plays Rosalyn, Irving’s wife, who’s poised to spoil his deal with crazed cop Richie (Cooper). Together, they prove why they’re two of our finest actresses, inhabiting roles unlike any either star has played before.
When we caught up with Adams (who continues to fascinate us with the unexpected grit beneath her sunny persona) and Lawrence (whose mix of humor and bemusement only makes her more compelling), both women were more than ready to talk about crafting their characters, dancing with Cooper, and their incredible shared kiss.
On David O. Russell’s knack for creating hyperreal yet completely realistic stories:
AMY ADAMS: Not everything in reality is subtle and slow. When I lose my cool, it is over the top. That’s how we are as humans. What David really does, I feel, is exemplify reality. He finds moments in people’s lives where this so-called “pushed” reality is the truth for these characters.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: Sometimes real life can be so dramatic and so awful that it’s actually kind of funny. But, above anything else, David’s characters are so incredible, and you have so much emotional freedom, that sometimes what’s on the page turns into something completely different as David’s yelling these ideas and you’re on your toes.
On the best part of playing the rare, well-developed female role:
AMY ADAMS: My favorite part of the process was playing with the vulnerability of my character. She has this veneer, this physicality, and this power, but if I don’t ground that in any true emotion, it’s not going to be that much fun to play, because there are no layers. David always makes sure that his characters are multidimensional and that his women, specifically, are multidimensional. Playing with those dimensions is just a thrill as an actress.
On their kiss, which Adams came up with and Lawrence knocked out of the park:
AMY ADAMS: I feel like Jennifer really made that contribution. I came up with the idea, but she executed it in a way that felt purely driven from character. It didn’t just feel like a moment in which two girls are going to kiss onscreen. It was from somewhere emotional. I mean, she killed it. And that laugh she gives after? I mean, come on now. Genius. I didn’t tell her do that. All I thought was, “What if she plants one on her?” And Jennifer did that in a brilliant way that sells it comically and dramatically. It never feels like it shouldn’t have been there. It feels so organic. And that’s all due to Jennifer.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: [Whispers] Thanks, Amy.
On getting down with the song and dance of American Hustle:
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: David came to me before we started shooting, and he said he had a vision of Rosalyn wearing yellow cleaning gloves and running through the entire house singing [Paul McCartney’s] “Live and Let Die.” And I thought that sounded incredible, but how’s it going to make sense? I’m usually so stupid with these things. I’m just like, “Yeah, I’ll dance, I’ll sing, whatever!” But I think this song [signifies how] Rosalyn is so angry, and she’s at this point where she’s been lied to for so long. And she’s getting to this point in her marriage, which she’s been fighting for for so long, where she’s finally ready to just let it die. So it was just a really great, crazy moment. I threw my neck out, actually.
AMY ADAMS: I was trained as a dancer, and dancing with Bradley was awesome. He’s such an amazing dancer. It was so much fun.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: You should have danced with me.
AMY ADAMS: There’s still time!
On using sexuality to get into character:
AMY ADAMS: One part of how I storytell has always been through my body. I find a character through movement. And one of the things that struck me once I had the wardrobe and I knew that Sydney was going to be a sexual being, was the thought of people who also had an elegance with their sexuality and the power expressed through their sexuality. So for me, dancing, again was kind of how I started to feel Sydney. I thought about Ann-Margret and Syd Charice and these women who seemed like they were in control because of the way they moved their bodies.
On playing female cons who are constantly juggling fact and fiction:
AMY ADAMS: It was a very delicate balance. Sydney is a girl who says she wants to be anyone other than who she is. And that’s where we meet her. She’s already at a point of reinvention. She meets Irving, and he presents to her who she wants to be. He sees her as smart and intelligent and as a lady. She loves him and feels found. And then he betrays her. That’s not cool. [Laughs] But I think there are moments where she’s not sure how she feels, and she’s starting to believe her own lies. Maybe things could work with Richie, and maybe she does like him. And it was a really interesting dynamic to play a woman who’s not so much torn between two guys, but between truth and a lie. I think she really just wants somebody to see the truth of who she is. I think every girl knows how that feels—she’s just a little crazy about it.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: It really just comes down to a study of people. It’s all of these things that I’ve been doing since I was little that were useless—just watching people and studying them and being able to mimic their body language and things like that. And being able to find a person. What kind of person are you playing? How do they move? How do they walk? Between “action” and “cut,” for me, it’s almost like meditating, in a weird way. Like, if I’m cold, in between “action” and “cut” I’m not. Or if I’m in physical pain, in between “action” and “cut” I’m not. I’m in a completely different frame of mind. It’s a high.
The film’s star-studded cast includes Oscar winners Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence and Oscar nominees Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner.
The star-studded cast of David O. Russell’s dramedy American Hustle — which includes Oscar winners Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence and Oscar nominees Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner — will receive the Ensemble Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, it was announced Friday.
The award will be presented on Jan. 4 at the Palm Springs Convention Center as part of the festival’s 25th edition, which runs from Jan. 3-13.
“Russell has created a viscerally powerful film,” said festival chairman Harold Matzner. “American Hustle grabs you from the start and is populated by a group of eminently believable characters as brought to life by this brilliant cast. The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present the entire cast of American Hustle with our 2014 Ensemble Performance Award.”
Past recipients of the award include last year’s eventual best picture Oscar winner Argo, as well as Babel (2006) and The Social Network (2012) before that.The fest previously announced that it will honor 12 Years a Slave’s helmer Steve McQueen with its Director of the Year Award; Dallas Buyers Club’s Matthew McConaughey with its Desert Palm Award, Actor; Gravity’s Sandra Bullock with its Desert Palm Award, Actress; August: Osage County’s supporting actress Julia Roberts with its Spotlight Award; and Nebraska’s Bruce Dern with its Career Achievement Award. Additional announcements are expected shortly.
SAG audience responds warmly to first guild showing of David O. Russell film, while Amy Adams dishes on showing skin and kissing J-Law
“American Hustle,” the David O. Russell film that has been considered a possible last-minute spoiler in this year’s awards race, was unveiled to Oscar watchers on Sunday in Santa Barbara and in Culver City on the Sony lot, and the initial verdict was … all over the place.
Early reactions on social media talked of a standing ovation for Russell at the Santa Barbara Film Society screening on Sunday afternoon, and of scattered boos at a SAG Nominating Committee screening on the Sony lot that night. I wasn’t in Santa Barbara so I can’t vouch for the ovation, but I was at Sony and certainly didn’t hear any boos.
Continue reading Jennifer Lawrence Steals the Show in ‘American Hustle’ First Screening
