Jennifer Lawrence responds to backlash over comments about female-led action movies

Jennifer Lawrence has clarified remarks she made suggesting she was the first ever female to star in a woman-led action movie.

The Oscar-winning actress caused a stir online when she claimed that “nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie” until she played Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games in an interview with Viola Davis as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series.

The 32-year-old said: “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, we were told.

“Girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead.”

However, film buffs were left unimpressed by her claims and insisted that there had been a number of female action stars long before her 2012 flick.

Many cited online Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise starting in 1979 as well as Angelina Jolie in the 2001 and 2003 Tomb Raider movies.

In light of the backlash, Lawrence spoke with The Hollywood Reporter to clarify her comments and explained that she “meant to emphasize how good it feels to blow past these old myths” regarding gender bias in Hollywood.

She said, “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.”

Noting how quotes can be misconstrued or taken out of context, Lawrence shared: “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.’”