Jennifer Lawrence Bashed Online For Claiming To Be The First Female Action Lead

The internet is blowing hot at Jennifer Lawrence after the "X-Men" star said she was the first woman cast in an action film, referencing her "The Hunger Games" performance. Since shooting to fame and earning her first Oscars for her performance in "Silver Linings Playbook," Lawrence has starred in several films of multiple genres.

The actress's portrayal of Katniss Everdeen in the action sci-fi movie series is one of her most lauded roles and notably earned her a Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie. Since the first release in 2012, three other "Hunger Games" films have been released.

Read on to learn more.

Known for her blunt comments, Oscar-winning actress Lawrence is under fire for claiming she was the first woman cast in an action series. She sat with fellow actress Viola David in a Wednesday interview on Variety's "Actors on Actors" and talked about various topics in the film industry.

The actress mentioned the unfair treatment of women in the industry regarding movie roles, particularly in action films. Lawrence then said, quite inaccurately, that before her role in the "Hunger Games," no woman had been filmed in a lead action role.

"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."

Lawrence added that she felt happy whenever she saw a movie that seemed to trump the restricting beliefs the industry upheld. "And it just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every one of those beliefs and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies," the actress said.

"To keep certain people in the same positions that they've always been in." Lawrence starred in the "Hunger Games" franchise as Katniss for all four films. The series was based on young adult titles by Suzanne Collins and followed the lives of teenagers from all 12 Panem districts randomly chosen to participate in a death match.

While Lawrence's input in the films continues to be lauded, the internet took offense to her claims. Following her comments, fans called out the actress and blasted her in the comment and quotes of Variety's Twitter post of the interview.

Per Several comments pointed out other actresses who had starred in action titles long before Lawrence, including Angelina Jolie, Sigourney Weaver, Uma Thurman, Linda Hamilton, and several others.

Journalist David Leavitt wrote, "Jennifer Lawrence proclaiming she was the first woman to ever be the lead in an action movie…Clearly, she never saw Sigourney Weaver's Alien franchise." 

Another Twitter user commented, "Now how Jennifer Lawrence gon sit up here and say there wasn't a female actress in an action movie until her in hunger games….. so what was Pam Grier, Sigourney Weaver, Uma Thurman, and Mila Jovovich doing?"

While there were overwhelming comments against her, several Lawrence fans defended the actress, claiming that she was likely saying what the studio told her to. "Everyone's dragging J-Law for this, but it's pretty clear she's sharing (with great derision) what was told to her and her team by studio execs, not what she thought at the time," they wrote(Per Huffpost)

Lawrence made her controversial comment at the start of the 45-minute-long interview, and while several fans seemed to take offense, Davis, who interviewed the actress, did not correct her. Further on, the "Silver Linings" star talked about her acting career and how she has faced some difficulty because she was self-conscious about her intellect.

"The biggest hindrance to my craft has been press, doing interviews. I'm always very self-conscious of my intellect because I didn't finish school. I dropped out of middle school," Lawrence admitted

The conversation soon branched to the topic of motherhood and the ideal body weight in the industry. Lawrence gave birth to her first child in February this year with art gallery director Cooke Maroney. The duo married in October 2019 in a small ceremony in Rhode Island.