Jennifer Lawrence_ Nude scene was empowering

Take off your clothes. Your body belongs to the state. Since your birth, the state nourished it. Now the state asks something in return. You must learn to sacrifice for a higher purpose. To push yourself beyond all limitation. And forget the sentimental morality with which you were raised. It's pretty brutal. How did you feel doing that? You know, the preemptive anxiety is so much worse than the actual reality. I had had a good year to prepare mentally for what I was going to do. Because we talked about it extensively when I read the script. Because I knew that there was only one way to do it. You know, we really had to go all the way if we were going to make this movie. So I was either going to be comfortable doing the scenes or somebody else should do it. And so I had a year to mentally prepare. The worst part was the night before. I didn't sleep at all. But then when I got there, everybody was so professional and so nice. And they really do an amazing job of clearing out the set. And I was perfectly comfortable. And afterwards I felt empowered. I still feel empowered. And I can actually watch that scene. Tell me what you mean by empowered. I had just had a lot of insecurities when it came to sexuality and nudity and my body. And I had just been carrying them around for years. And I thought, you know, when I read the script, I loved it so much. And I thought, if I don't do it and if I say no and I miss out on a chance of working with Francis again and doing this movie that I love, it's almost like all of these insecurities and fears win. And so I felt like I got something back. And when you were doing this and, you know, as you finished the film, etc., I assume it was before the Me Too movement, before this whole revelation started in October. Yes. So you weren't talking about, that wasn't part of the conversation at that time. No, it wasn't. But I feel like this is a perfect movie that we need right now. I think that in all of our test screenings with women and also just for me, I find it incredibly empowering. And it also opens up the conversation for the difference between consent and not consent. And, you know, I had a choice. I'm an adult. I made a decision. I knew what I was doing. And that's really the end of the story. The two aren't comparable. So I think it's important to open up that conversation. I just wonder because obviously in the research I've been reading some of the issues that you brought up in the past. And you mentioned that one of your early experiences with a female producer, I think it was, was almost identical to this. Tell me that story. Yeah, I had a hard experience on a movie where basically the producers were trying to illustrate to me that I was overweight, but I wasn't. And a part of that was having me do a lineup with women who are much, much thinner than I was. And, you know, we had pieces covering our private parts, but we're essentially naked. And then I was told to use the photos as motivation for my diet. So it was dehumanizing in a different way. It wasn't, I didn't feel, it was, it was more, I don't know, mentally brutal. And that was a woman. Yeah, it was a woman. And I saw your face as she was telling that story. You probably heard it many, many times. It is extraordinary when you think that that kind of conversation can still be happening. Yeah. That people in your position can actually still do that to people like Jennifer. Well, hopefully that'll change now. I mean, that's, I think the great thing about people coming out and telling the story is I think there'll be great change. But what I think it shows, and one of the reasons we made the movie, is these things have been happening for a very long time. So those ideas, the ideas in our movie, are not new. I think what's new is the bravery of people coming out and speaking about it and the movement that she's involved in to make some change. Yeah, well, in creating a society that is supporting people who are coming forward, 97% of sexual abuse allegations are true. There's a 3% that isn't. And I feel over the past, we've focused on the 3% and it's been so easy to say, oh, she's lying. But if we create a community where survivors can come forward and talk, then there's going to be change. There's going to be no way of going backwards. Are you a survivor? Are you a me too-er? I don't, when I hear the harrowing stories of the victims of Harvey Weinstein and when I hear, I don't feel right putting myself in that exact category. I was certainly mistreated. I was definitely treated in a way that I think now we would call abusive. I mean, I had to deal with being young and having executives or higher up, you know, putting their hands on my legs and not feeling like I could say, please don't do that. But no, I don't know. I don't know. But as you say, both of you, the floodgates have been open now that you can talk almost about everything. The extremes of sexual abuse and harassment and the kind of things that young girls are going to be looking at and looking towards you. You are the millennial icon. And they're going to hear this story about how you were shamed when you're a perfectly beautiful woman into somebody making you have a diet. What would you say to the young girls who listen to you all the time and the young men who hang on your every word? I mean, you have to know who you are and you have to know your worth and you have to know what's worth, what's worth it and what isn't. You know, I mean, if you're doing a physical role, I mean, when I was doing The Hunger Games, I did a lot of training. It was a really physical role and I had to be in good shape. There's a difference between getting in shape for a movie and being mentally abused and told that you're fat. A lot of people lose weight from movies. They gain weight from movies. That's all okay. That's a very different thing than shaming, you know, basically a teenager into losing weight. I mean, when we were doing The Hunger Games, it's not like we told any teenagers that they should lose weight. Yeah, I mean, in fact, Josh Hutcherson had to lose a bunch of weight because he had been starved in the movie and we did it with visual effects. I didn't want him to be unhealthy. You know, I would never ask that of somebody. I wonder where you think people like you, all the men in Hollywood, can really help change this because obviously it's not just going to be the women. It has to be the men in all our professions. Where do you think it should start in Hollywood? Wow, I think it can start on a lot of fronts. As somebody that employs people, I would say creating the safest environments possible. I always try to do that. I will continue to do that. I would encourage other people to do that so that people feel respected and safe and comfortable and can enjoy their work as they should. I think one is to continue to tell stories about women. I think one is to hire women in front of and behind the cameras as much as possible. And so that there can be a collaboration in terms of point of view in storytelling. I would also say, sorry, that I think that we also need more female executives out there in the world that are calling the shots and hiring people like me or hiring other female directors. I feel very lucky. I mean, the chairman of our studio is a woman. The president of the studio is a woman. The creative exec is a woman. So that's a good environment. But that's really, really rare. And you were splashed all over the headlines a few years ago for another sort of moment of activism when it was shown with the Sony hack that you were not paid equally to your male co-stars in American Hustle. Has time changed that? Are you now satisfied that you are fairly and equally paid as a woman? It's something I'm still diligent about. And, you know, I think I look for full transparency in all of my negotiations. I think a few years ago, I think when I wrote that essay, it was more about my mentality because this is an issue that my problems aren't necessarily relatable to everybody. But it is. Pay inequity is an issue across the globe. I was more interested in my own mindset of why I didn't think that I deserved to be paid equally. You know, at that point, I had won an Academy Award. I had led movies to be number one at the box office. And why I thought I didn't deserve to be paid equally than the men or that I didn't think that it was possible. I mean, of course, I asked. Of course, I pushed. But I didn't want to push too far. And I think a lot of that has to do with opportunity. If women or people of color don't have the same opportunity as white men, then it's harder for them to walk away from a job. It's easier for them to just take a role. And we lose the negotiating power.