Jennifer Lawrence teases new Lynne Ramsay collaboration
Speaking at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), esteemed actor and producer Jennifer Lawrence revealed her love of franchise movies as an “art” and teased a new project involving Lynne Ramsay.
“I never thought I would be offered a superhero movie; I thought that was a huge opportunity,” said Lawrence during the LFF Screen Talk, which looked back over her illustrious career to date. “I loved superhero movies and loved the X-Men movies. Franchise is art, and they’re so fun; I could never do one now because I’m too old and brittle.”
Lawrence, famed for her leading role as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise, played superhero Raven Darkholme/Mystique in four X-Men films from 2011’s X-Men: First Class to 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
The actor said the modern obsession with big-budget franchise films is “totally understandable. I love them too. This generation understandably likes a world to escape to, and I can relate to that.”
Lawrence’s appeared at the LFF to crack the bottle on the brand-new Lila Neugebauer film Causeway. Lawrence took on production duties for the film with her new company, Excellent Cadaver, as well as starring in it.
It is the company’s first production to make it to screen. It was produced with A24, who are on distributing duties alongside Apple TV+. The film will be launched on the platform worldwide on November 4th. “It felt serendipitous to have the first film in my production company be an independent film [Causeway],” said Lawrence. “The best part about producing is I can just span out – I’m developing something with Lynne Ramsay, I’m obsessed with Lynne Ramsay.”
The combination of her Hunger Games success and winning the Best Actress Oscar in 2013 for David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook when she was aged just 22 pushed Lawrence to new heights of fame, deeply affecting her career path. “I lost a sense of control between Hunger Games coming out and winning the Oscar,” she said. “I felt like every decision was a big group decision. I think of those following years as a loss of control and then a reaction to try and get that back.”
This sentiment even played a part in the naming of her production company. ‘Excellent Cadaver’ is a Sicilian mafia term for the assassination of a celebrity or prominent official. “It just made sense,” laughed Lawrence. “There was a part of me that wanted to execute that.”
“I finally got the voice in my head back,” she said of her recent producing work, “and it feels personal to me for the first time in a long time.”
Watch the official trailer for Lila Neugebauer’s Causeway below.
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