Jennifer Lawrence Clarifies Her Controversial Comment About Female-Led Action Movies After Getting Dragged

Jennifer Lawrence is clarifying her comment last week that "nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie" before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. The Oscar-winning actress told The Hollywood Reporter she misspoke during her conversation about female-led action movies with Viola Davis for Variety's Actors on Actors series.

"That's certainly not what I meant to say at all. I know that I am not the only woman who has ever led an action film. What I meant to emphasize was how good it feels," she said on Dec. 8. "And I meant that with Viola – to blow past these old myths that you hear about ... about the chatter that you would hear around that kind of thing. But it was my blunder and it came out wrong. I had nerves talking to a living legend."

Lawrence previously reflected on breaking boundaries during a discussion with Davis about the Fences star's latest film, The Woman King, which was a box-office success. "I remember when I was doing Hunger Games, nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie, because it wouldn't work, we were told," Lawrence said. "Girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."

The Don't Look Up actress was roasted on Twitter for her take, with people reminding her of the iconic female-led action films such as The Terminator, Aliens and Kill Bill. Lawrence explained to THR that while she had experienced being misconstrued before, she felt she had to clarify her meaning this time. "One time I was quoted saying that Donald Trump was responsible for hurricanes," the Mother! actress said. "I felt that one was ridiculous, that it was so stupid I didn't need to comment. But this one, I was like, 'I think I want to clarify.'"

Davis' contribution to the conversation included her discussion of overcoming both racial and gender prejudice to make her action film. "'When have I ever seen anything like The Woman King?'" Davis recalled thinking during the interview. "Not just with me in it, but with anyone who looks like me in it? What studio is going to put money behind it? How are they going to be convinced that Black women can lead a global box office?"