What did Jennifer Lawrence say about female action heroes? Actress clarifies remarks amid rising online backlash

American actress Jennifer Lawrence issued a statement of clarification after receiving backlash for her recent Variety’s Actors on Actors series interview.

On December 8, the 32-year-old actress spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, addressing the online flak she faced for talking about the sparsity of female action heroes in today's times.

Lawrence said that her statement was misunderstood and stated:

“That’s certainly not what I meant to say at all. I know that I am not the only woman who has ever led an action film. What I meant to emphasize was how good it feels. And I meant that with Viola — to blow past these old myths that you hear about … about the chatter that you would hear around that kind of thing. But it was my blunder and it came out wrong. I had nerves talking to a living legend.”

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Jennifer Lawrence talked about a lack of female representation in action films

In an interview published by Variety on December 7, Jennifer Lawrence spoke with Viola Davis about how past action films lacked female leads. Explaining her point, Lawrence spoke about her time while shooting Hunger Games.

“I remember when I was doing Hunger Games, nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work – because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."

Jennifer added that it makes her happy whenever she sees a movie that breaks stereotypes and norms "and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies."

After Jennifer Lawrence's comments about female leads in action films went viral, internet users criticized her for implying that she was the only female lead ever to have happened in Hollywood.

Lawrence joins a lengthy list of female leads that includes Sigourney Weaver in the Alien film series, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Pam Grier in Foxy Brown, Michelle Yeoh in Magnificent Warriors, Yes, Madam!, and Supercop, Linda Hamilton in the Terminator series, and Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider and Salt.

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer Lawrence stated that this is not the first time that her quotes have been taken out of context by the media and online users.

“One time I was quoted saying that Donald Trump was responsible for hurricanes. I felt that one was ridiculous, that it was so stupid I didn’t need to comment. But this one, I was like, ‘I think I want to clarify.'”

Jennifer Lawrence starred as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games series. The first film of the series, which came out in 2012, also starred Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Willow Shields in key roles.