LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jennifer Lawrence had wanted to do a great comedy for years. She has always been funny and vibrant in her television appearances. And while he’s brought humor and physical comedy to many of his roles for David O. Russell and others, he hadn’t had a big “Dumb and Dumber” or “Anchorman” (“Anchorman”)-style experience. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”), to name a few of his favorites.
That has changed with “No Hard Feelings,” a classic raunchy come-up comedy that was tailor-made for the Oscar-winning actress.
“I always wanted to do a comedy. And I’ve read a lot,” Lawrence told The Associated Press during an interview about the summer movie season. “I just didn’t read anything that was funny enough.”
“No Hard Feelings” was inspired by an actual Craigslist ad posted by parents looking for a woman to “date” their son out of his shell the summer before college. There are debates about how real the “real ad” was, but thinking about the woman who might respond to an ad like that was a funny enough premise to get the attention of several producers and writer-director Gene Stupnitsky.
Stupnitsky, an Emmy-nominated actor from “The Office” who also spearheaded and co-wrote the 2019 hit “Good Boys,” knew exactly who he would call on. He pitched the idea to Lawrence one night at a dinner party with friends where, he estimated, they had had “eight or nine martinis” between them.
The two met over a decade ago, through a mutual friend, at the Medieval Times dinner and show. Lawrence, she reminded herself, was dressed in a full wizard’s outfit. And soon they became true friends. Stupnitsky even introduced Lawrence to the one who would become her husband.
“I owed him one,” Lawrence said. “That’s why I made this movie.”
Stupnitsky, sitting next to Lawrence, added: “There’s probably some truth to that.”
With Lawrence on board to star and produce, the film became a hot commodity, with streaming services and studios vying for the rights to make it. In the end they opted for Sony and a traditional theatrical release.
“The reason I wrote this movie for her is because I knew how funny it was and I wanted everyone else to know it. I mean, people know she’s funny, but they wanted her in a comedy. I thought, yeah, I know how to do this. I know how to write her voice, ”Stupnitsky said. “I remember saying to her, ‘I really want you to experience the feeling of sitting in a theater with hundreds of people laughing.’ She has had many, many experiences in film, but she hadn’t had that.”
In “No Hard Feelings,” Lawrence’s character, Maddie, has money problems. As an Uber driver without a car, she finds herself in a bind. So when she sees that ad with the promise of a Buick Regal as payment, she takes the bait. Maddie meets 19-year-old Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) for the first time in a pink minidress and high heels, acting openly flirtatious and available.
“She’s dressed as what she thinks is a 19-year-old’s idea of a sexual fantasy. And she is wrong, ”Stupnitsky said. “He’s like the only guy she can’t seduce.”
The situation escalates from there when she tries to get him home. He thinks he’s being kidnapped and, as anyone who’s seen a preview of the movie knows, she ends up getting pepper sprayed. But there is also a sweet core to the film.
“He’s craving a connection, which is what she needs too, but she doesn’t know it yet,” Stupnitsky said. “She wants to get the car and get on with her life. But he’s forcing her to take it slow and get to know him and be intimate, in a way, in a platonic way.”
The experience, Lawrence said, was great, helped along by her connection to her younger co-star.
“We just laughed all day,” he said. “Sometimes I would climb into bed after work and laugh before going to sleep, just thinking about the day. She was also sad because she thought ‘God, I’m just not going to have the same thing again. This is this is very unique.’”
As the film’s producer, Lawrence was already able to see it with audiences and experience that great communal laugh that Stupnitsky promised.
“I went to a test screening and sat in the back,” he said. “It was quite extraordinary.”
She knows that every movie is a gamble, but she’s pretty sure about “No Hard Feelings.”
“You really never know. You might think that the public wants this and they don’t. And I’ve certainly had my experiences with it,” she said. “It’s a mix of instinct and looking at the information you have. I knew what we had was the funniest movie anyone had ever seen, I have no doubt about that, and I knew Gene was the one to do it.”
It’s also Lawrence’s first major theatrical release in a few years, since the 2019 X-Men movie “Dark Phoenix.” His most recent movies have been mostly streaming releases with Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” and Apple’s “Causeway,” which he also produced.
“I think the public will really remember why they love her,” Stupnitsky said.
Lawrence laughed: “I look much better at 12 feet tall.”
2023-06-26 07:00:00
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