Jennifer Lawrence, Real or Not Real? Harrelson, Cooper, and Russell Agree she is Very Real!

11/20/2012Jennifer LawrenceTheresa

In a great new article from USA Today, Jennifer Lawrence talks about the characters she plays, staying grounded and more.

This time, Lawrence is Tiffany, a mouthy dancer who befriends the bipolar loose cannon (Bradley Cooper) who becomes her partner. Lawrence, a longtime fan of Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter), hadn’t read the script when she said yes to the film.

“I find it really amazing how he can take someone who is obviously crazy and not someone you look up to and turn them into someone charming and someone you want to be like,” she says of Tiffany. “Your first instinct is to judge her but she turns it around. She’s crazy and a slut and likes that about herself. There’s so many dimensions to all of David’s characters.”

Talking to Lawrence, you get the sense that she’s as outspoken, sharp-tongued and quick-witted as Tiffany, with her same inability to suffer fools or be fake.

“I never compare my characters to me. Not really. I gotta figure out an answer to these acting questions. I guess like her, I can say the wrong thing. ” says Lawrence. “I’m a big believer in accepting yourself the way you are and not really worrying about it. I felt like I admired Tiffany more than I compared myself to her. You can dislike her. David gives you a choice. He’s not a manipulative filmmaker at all.”

In addition, there are a lot of fantastic quotes about Jennifer from her Silver Linings Director, David O. Russell, Co-star, Bradley Cooper and even our own Haymitch, Woody Harrelson, who shared a fantastic story about Jen from the set of Catching Fire.

Off-screen, says Russell, she’s equally captivating. “She’s a good egg. She’s a lot of fun and she enjoys her life. She’s not neurotic. She’s not anguished about stuff. She makes it feel easy and look easy. She likes people. She likes living. She likes food,” says Russell, who says that between takes, Lawrence would joke around and chat with the crew. “And then, you think, ‘Is she paying attention?’ And the cameras go on and she knocks it out of the park.”

Perhaps the highest compliment Cooper could pay Lawrence is this: “She doesn’t seem like an actor. She’s not narcissistic and it’s not all about her. Even in the midst of promoting a movie, she’s the same wherever she is, which is awesome. She makes you happy no matter what. She spreads happiness wherever she is. She’s got her priorities. She gets it and knows what’s important. You meet her parents and you know why right away. She keeps her family close to her.”

Her Hunger Games co-star Woody Harrelson calls Lawrence, simply, “a hell of a gal. I think it has to do with the way a person was raised. She was raised well. Her folks are really cool. A lot of times when people lose their head when they get famous, it’s because they’re insecure. She’s not insecure. You’d think arrogance comes from thinking too much of themselves. But it comes from thinking too little. She doesn’t need to put on any airs. Her folks, her family, are all very important to her and she’s always including them in her life. Her friends are really cool people. She’s got her head screwed on pretty good.”

Yet for all her fearlessness, Lawrence did exhibit some neuroses. One thing that amused Harrelson during the filming of the second Hunger Games installment, Catching Fire: Lawrence’s very vocal arachnophobia.

“We had this real-looking spider. Josh (Hutcherson) came up behind her with the spider. She started screaming at the top of her lungs. We were on a big stage and she ran out screaming,” says Harrelson, still laughing about the incident. “She’s the funniest woman I know. I’m in a perpetual state of laughter with her, which is a pretty good way to be on set.”

And probably our favorite quote from the entire article, which shows in just a few sentences why we love Jennifer so much, and truly answers, Real or Not Real?

“I’m still in touch with reality and I see this business for what it is, which is a playground. I’m playing. I work at imagining things. None of this is real. None of this actually matters. I don’t have a sense of superiority. I feel lucky but I don’t feel special. I don’t think there’s ever a moment where I feel like I deserve it,” she says. “The celebrity and fame thing and the acting part of it are two separate things. The celebrity part of it is so predictable. I’m not wowed by it.”

As if there was a question, Jennifer is 100% Real!

You can read the full article at USA Today.