Jennifer Lawrence has a LOT to say in the November issue of Vanity Fair. She initially spoke with contributing editor Sam Kashner a couple of weeks before the leaked photo scandal broke, and he went back to speak to her about it in hopes of giving the actress “a chance to have the last word.”
We've transcribed our favorite bits from the digital edition of the magazine here for you.
“Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this. It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world. ”
She had been tempted to write a statement when news of the leak broke, she says, but “every single thing that I tried to write made me cry or get angry. I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for. I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”
“I can’t even describe to anybody what it feels like to have my naked body shoot across the world like a news flash against my will. It just makes me feel like a piece of meat that’s being passed around for a profit.”
Lawrence also addresses the legal ramifications of the hack. “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime,” she tells Vanity Fair. “It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
And the saddest part, is that those closest to her had a peek at the photos too:
“Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame. Even people who I know and love say, ‘Oh, yeah, I looked at the pictures.’ I don’t want to get mad, but at the same time I’m thinking, I didn’t tell you that you could look at my naked body.”
Her message to the tabloid community:
[Perez Hilton] took [the pictures] down because people got pissed, and that's the only reason why. And then I had to watch his apology. And basically what he said was 'I just didn't think about it.' 'I just didn't think about it' is not an excuse. That is the exact issue itself." She also says to the entertainment-tabloid community, “You have a choice. You don’t have to be a person who spreads negativity and lies for a living. You can do something good. You can be good. Let’s just make that choice and—it feels better.”
She had to make that dreaded phone call to her father about the photos:
“When I have to make that phone call to my dad and tell him what’s happened … I don’t care how much money I get for The Hunger Games,” she says. “I promise you, anybody given the choice of that kind of money or having to make a phone call to tell your dad that something like that has happened, it’s not worth it.” She allows herself to joke a little about that terrible moment: “Fortunately, he was playing golf, so he was in a good mood.”
The healing has begun:
“Time does heal, you know,” she tells VF. “I’m not crying about it anymore. I can’t be angry anymore. I can’t have my happiness rest on these people being caught, because they might not be. I need to just find my own peace.”
Francis Lawrence and Woody Harrelson both talk about Jen in the piece.
Francis on Jen:
“I certainly cannot imagine anybody else in that role. I know that a bunch of people [felt] that she was miscast. This was before anybody saw it. I mean, nobody would question it once you see her performance. She really understands the character, and she spontaneously makes these choices which are always so honest and real and nuanced and believable. She picks up on the smallest little details in terms of people and personalities and behavior, and can read people and read a room so insanely quickly.”
Woody and Jennifer obviously have a close relationship:
“She's just constantly hounded by paparazzi. She's an amazing girl. She's one of my favorite people on the planet. [When we first met] she'd done a movie, and people in the industry knew her, but she wasn't really famous. And so I watched her grow into, amazingly, the biggest female star in the world. And it's staggering to me how much she's been able to just hold onto her basic decency and her amazing, marvelous spirit. You know, it’s not terrible, people telling you you’re great; what’s terrible is when you start believing it. She never got fucked up. She's incredibly vulnerable, but she's got all these wonderful contradictions. She's just very forthcoming. It's almost shocking how much she'll say, you know. That's super-fun, and also it's shocking sometimes because it's so on the edge. It's like she doesn't have a censor. I really love that in people. I guess there are some people I don't love it in, but in her it's wonderful."
While Jen is a blast on set, Woody says no one can break her focus once "action" is called:
“I’ve got to admit, I’m a bit of a butthole this way, but I will try to make people laugh sometimes during a scene. But you just can’t make her laugh. The times I’ve tried to, it just shamed me because she was just so completely in the scene. She goes deep.”
Jen loved The Hunger Games trilogy but never saw herself as Katniss while reading the books:
"My brothers always say the same thing. They're like, 'When we read the book, we didn't picture you.' I'm like, 'I didn't either.'" She always felt she was "too much of a klutz" to play the skillful archer.
In Vanity Fair's HUGE article (3,000 words), Lawrence speaks extensively about a variety of subjects, including what she needs in a relationship (“I would so much rather be bored than excited and have passion”), her adoration for the Real Housewives franchise, and her love for comedian Larry David. Vanity Fair also spoke to Serena director Susanne Bier about Lawrence.
Vanity Fair's November issue hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on October 9th, everywhere else October 14th. The digital edition - with the full article - comes out tomorrow, October 8th.
Molly 
