Jennifer Lawrence says she had not been planning to work before receiving the script for her new film No Hard Feelings, describing it as the “funniest I’d ever read in my life”.
The Oscar-winning actress said she did not have any “specific genre” in mind when choosing her projects, but had wanted to do “something that resonates”.
Directed by Gene Stupnitsky, No Hard Feelings also stars Andrew Barth Feldman alongside Lawrence, marking her first major comedy film debut.
She plays Maddie, a desperate woman who agrees to date a wealthy couple’s introverted and awkward 19-year-old son before he leaves for college.
Speaking at the film’s London premiere, Lawrence recalled how she and Stupnitsky had “cracked up” over a 2013 Craigslist advertisement that had inspired the film.
“This was just a blast because Gene and I have been friends for a really long time,” she told the PA news agency.
“We got dinner maybe five years ago and he showed me the Craigslist ad and we just cracked up at who would post the ad and also who would respond to that ad.
“Then four years later I got the script and it couldn’t have been funnier.”
She added: “I didn’t want to tackle any genre, I didn’t want to work when I got this script.
“(Then) I read it and it was the funniest script I’d ever read in my life so I quickly changed my tune and we were on set four months later.”
She added: “I’m really just doing what feels right or something that resonates, I really don’t have a specific genre in mind, just anything I want to make.”
Stupnitsky said he had had Lawrence in mind for the role since conceiving the film’s concept.
“As you know she’s very authentic, very at ease and very much herself and I think people are very responsive to her personality,” he told PA.
“She has a very fun, vivacious personality.”
