Jennifer Lawrence keeps us guessing
She wasn’t afraid to take risks after “Hunger Games” breakout
Jennifer Lawrence, we salute you (with three fingers, naturally).
As Suzanne Collins’ young-adult novel “The Hunger Games” turned 10 on Friday, respect must be paid to Lawrence, who made her blockbuster breakthrough as the film’s rebel leader, Katniss Everdeen.
The “Hunger Games” film series exploded to nearly $3 billion in worldwide box office, and Lawrence emerged as one of the world’s biggest superstars.
The Oscar-winning actress, 28, has never lost her willingness to take chances. Here are 10 career risks worth applauding for the book’s 10th anniversary:
Danced like no one was watching in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
In the midst of the “Hunger Games” films, Lawrence took on the role of depressed widow Tiffany Maxwell, who enters a dance competition with bipolar Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) in 2012’s “Silver Linings Playbook.”
A self-confessed “terrible” dancer, Lawrence practiced extensively with Cooper, rocking those dance routines all the way to the Oscars.
Got weird for ‘mother!’
Darren Aronofsky’s 2017 psychological horror film “mother!” is a polarizing film. Love or hate it, you have to admire Lawrence stepping into the title role as a woman who discovers human organs when using a plunger on her blocked toilet and watches a chaotic crowd eat her baby.
Stayed blue for ‘X-Men’
Lawrence remains true to her comicbook franchise role, playing the shapeshifting Mystique in three Marvel “XMen” films.
Even though her contract was up, Lawrence is returning to 2019’s “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” to complete her charac- ter arc. For the fans.
Went to deep space in ‘Passengers’
Lawrence could have done a romantic drama with Chris Pratt. Too earthbound. Instead, the super-duo did romance in deep space in “Passengers” as two people awakened 90 years early from induced hibernation on a spaceship heading to a distant colony.
Wears what she dang well pleases
Lawrence, the face of Dior, isn’t shy about her fashion. When she was criticized for not putting a coat over her revealing Versace dress at a chilly London photocall in February (co-star Joel Edgerton bundled up), Lawrence wrote on Facebook: “Get a grip, people. Every- thing you see me wear is my choice.”
Keeps laughing through the miscues
An admitted klutz, Lawrence tripped up the stairs on her way to accept her 2013 Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook.” People only loved her more. An Oscars red-carpet miscue followed the next year, and another fall at the Madrid premiere of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” in 2015. Still, she battles on and we love her.
Speaks her mind on hot-button issues
The star takes stands on political issues close to her heart. In 2016, she discussed with Glamour how Planned Parenthood gave her support growing up. “I wouldn’t have been able to get condoms and birth control and all these things I needed as a normal teenager who was growing up in a Jesus house,” she said.
Went Russian spy before Russian spies were trendy
Before the concept of anyone colluding with the Russian government became a national obsession, Lawrence signed on to play Dominika Egorova, a Bolshoi ballerina-turned-spy trained to seduce and ensnare her targets. It made February’s “Red Sparrow” release very timely.
Talks as if she’s our best friend
No one gets more real than Lawrence. When speaking to USA TODAY for “Red Sparrow,” Lawrence pulled out her iPhone to prove she follows the best Instagram accounts.
“I already have you beat,” she said, “because I have a (expletive) deer licking a kitten and I have a (expletive) wallaby eating some chips.”
Is over being likable, but we love her
Lawrence wrote a powerful essay for Lena Dunham’s feminist newsletter Lenny in 2015 about the Hollywood wage gap and the sexism she has experienced.
She closed the essay by declaring that she is “over” trying to find the “adorable” and “likable” way to speak her mind.