Jennifer Lawrence has recalled the conversations surrounding her weight when filming Hunger Games.
Lawrence, 32, rose to fame when she played Katniss Everdeen in the 2012 movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s 2008 book.
The actor reprised her role in three sequels, released in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Speaking to Viola Davis as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Lawrence opened up about the challenges of the role.
She told Davis that she had been asked to lose weight for the film franchise.
“Those books were huge, and I knew that the audience was children. I remember the biggest conversation was, ‘How much weight are you going to lose?’” she said, in the episode that was released on Wednesday (7 December).
Lawrence spoke about the huge impact of the film adaptations, stating that “nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it didn’t work”.
The Silver Linings Playbook star said that she therefore felt an “awesome responsibility” when approaching the role of Katniss.
She added that she wanted fans to be able to relate to her portrayal of the character and not be alienated “because they’re not a certain weight”.
She continued: “I can’t let that seep into my brain either.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the Oscar winner said that doing press and interviews has been the biggest “hindrance” to her craft.
