JLaw says "nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie" before Hunger Games

[babarsuhail]

"We were told girls and boys could both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead," Jennifer Lawrence says of taking on the role of Katniss in #TheHungerGames. https://t.co/TqYPwDLCC4 pic.twitter.com/1qyqqkh8aX
- Variety (@Variety) December 7, 2022
In her Actors on Actors interview with Viola Davis, while talking about

Comments

[ostsiberia]

Your Kill Bill icon is perfect for this post.

[svexsal]

...

[j___adore]

haha YES. Uma! And then those Milla Jovivich films and the Kate Beckinsale ones. I don't know the names lol But neither does JLAW.

[anderbobo]

This Point of No Return/La Femme Nikita erasure.

[squirrels_oh_no]

Considering she's talking about boys and girls, does she mean a YA action movie? Because obviously that makes way more sense than action movies period.

[ellie_andrews]

that's what i was wondering

[mayjailer]

i think so

[zibbydoo324]

That’s how I interpreted the quote. Most of the hero stories for children were all male centered (Harry Potter, lord of the rings, Percy Jackson, etc) but were also marketed towards girls. Hell, we even saw it with team ensembles like mighty ducks and sandlot. But any movie where a girl was the lead was typically only marketed towards girls (princess diaries and sisterhood of the traveling pants are all I’ve got right now).

[progression]

Why did the first person to pop into my head as an action movie lead happen to be Sandra Bullock? Like I KNOW there are others, but as a bb I loved her in Speed and how she took control of things even though she was terrified.

Anyway, I hope she’s talking about teen movies.. but, even then I’m not sure she’s right.

[kansascshuffle]

My first thought was mf Ellen Ripley.

[progression]

Lol she was my second thought. And then the whole cast of Kill Bill, Angelina Jolie, etc. She must’ve misspoken.

[carminaburana]

This was mine - if Alien doesn't count, then i don't know what does.

[britneyjeanspea]

I honestly think she meant like a major studio action franchise.

[irajaxon]

...which would still be incorrect

[babarsuhail]

alien, terminator, resident evil franchises to name a few.

[deja_vu822]

would terminator count here? linda hamilton was the protagonist but i think arnold schwarzenegger was marketed just as much as the lead, if not more