Most fans of Jennifer Lawrence, the actress making serious waves in Hollywood for her star turn as Katniss Everdeen in the box-office blockbuster “The Hunger Games,” also know her as a former horror film “scream queen,” the alluring Raven Darkholme in “X Men: First Class” and for her scintillating and Oscar-nominated role in the movie “Winter’s Bone.”
That 2010 film, in which Lawrence portrayed “an Ozark Mountain girl who hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father,” according to her bio, explored the socially volatile underworld of illegal methamphetamine labs and earned her accolades from critics and moviegoers alike.
Despite the dark roles she has taken on, most actors who have worked with her in various projects have described her as a fun down-to-earth person to be around. Her co-stars in The Hunger Games almost unanimously depict her as a bouncy, offbeat personality who is unafraid to say and do things about which most people—even celebrities—feel decidedly uncomfortable.
For example, according to a recent profile in Rolling Stone magazine, Lawrence told Hunger Games co-star Josh Hutcherson in her initial conversation with him about his role that he should, “Think about a catheter going in—ouch!” Hutcherson revealed that the discussion then “turned into a 45-minute rant about zombies and the apocalypse.”
In that article, Lawrence was asked about the infamous squirrel-skinning scene in Winter’s Bone. When asked if the scene was real or whether it was staged courtesy of some “movie magic,” the actress replied: “I should say it wasn’t real, for PETA—but screw PETA.”
Those last two words provoked a blistering rebuttal from the ethical folks involved with the animal rights extremists.
Like Lawrence, they’re very skilled at feigning shock and horror—only she’s performing in a movie role; PETA does it for a living.
Another sample of practiced outrage
PETA released a statement attributed to President Ingrid Newkirk that said, “She’s young and the plight of animals somehow hasn’t yet touched her heart. As Henry David Thoreau said, ‘The squirrel you kill in jest, dies in earnest.’ When people kill animals, it is the animals who are ‘screwed,’ not PETA. One day, I hope she will try to make up for any pain she might cause any animal who did nothing but try to eke out a humble existence in nature.”
Comments (0) Leave a comment