Don’t expect Jennifer Lawrence to go and join the ranks of Hollywood’s Method actors just yet.
On the latest episode of Hot Ones, the No Hard Feelings star was asked what it’s like working with actors who have a different process than her own and whether there’s a type that she’s most intrigued by — and let’s just say she’s a little apprehensive about the whole Lee Strasberg thing.
“I would be nervous to work with someone who’s Method,” she said. “Because I would have no idea how to talk to them, because like, do I have to be in character? That would just make me nervous. But I don’t know, I haven’t seen another process that I’ve been curious about because you don’t know about them all the time.”
Method acting, a technique that often involves a performer staying in character even when not actively on stage or filming, has been a bit of a hot-button topic in Hollywood lately. Actors such as Andrew Garfield and Jeremy Strong have publicly defended it, and TikTok star Addison Rae even dabbled in the technique for her role in He’s All That.
On the other hand, actors like Brian Cox, Mads Mikkelsen, Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour have been more critical. (The famously outspoken Cox called it “f—ing annoying.”)
On Hot Ones, host Sean Evans also asked Lawrence if she finds it easier to “turn that switch off” and get out of character now than earlier in her career.
Lawrence — whose non-Method acting made her an Oscar winner at 22 and has powered blockbuster franchises like The Hunger Games and X-Men — said, “I had always been very on/off, on/off until I did American Hustle and worked with Christian Bale, who I noticed when the camera started rolling and the crew started preparing and it would be about 10 seconds to action, [Bale] would start getting ready. I saw that and was like, ‘That seems like a really good idea.’ So then I started to do that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Lawrence opened up about useful real-life skills she’s learned while filming, on-set injuries, her famous chili-pizza sandwiches, and more. Watch the full episode above.
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