UNITED STATES NEWS

In ‘No Hard Feelings,’ Jennifer Lawrence relishes playing a ‘messy and chaotic’ character

Jun 24, 2023, 10:49 AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s a beloved rom-com trope: an irresponsible, irreverent and seemingly irredeemable man falls in love with a woman, setting him on the path to finally get his act together.

But in “No Hard Feelings,” which hits theaters Friday, director Gene Stupnitsky sought to subvert those gendered expectations, with Jennifer Lawrence instead playing his dirtbag protagonist.

“We always described her as someone who cuts corners, who is lazy, doesn’t have great nutrition, likes to smoke pot and drink and doesn’t take anything too seriously,” he said of the character he and co-writer, John Phillips, created. “A guy doing it, that is well-trodden territory. It’s not very interesting.”

“No Hard Feelings” follows Lawrence’s Maddie as she conspires with the parents of an awkward 19-year-old (Andrew Barth Feldman) to have sex with him before he leaves for college in exchange for a car. He’s left in the dark about the scheme, leaving Maddie to try to seduce the shy brainiac more than a decade her junior.

Lawrence said the “messy and chaotic” character’s appeal were one of the things that drew her to the film. “She was just so determined and there was no way to really stop her from achieving what she was going to achieve.”

The film is based on an actual Craigslist post the producers stumbled upon years ago. In the film a similar message becomes the catalyst for Maddie — desperate to continue working as a Uber driver as a last-ditch effort to keep the house her late mother left her — to respond.

Stupnitsky said the post, in addition to being very funny, was ripe for exploring a host of timely topics.

“Helicopter parents are a real thing. And I think sex workers were in the news a lot. And just all these ideas were coming together, you know, class differences, all of it,” Stupnitsky, an Emmy-nominated writer on “The Office” who directed 2019’s “Good Boys” and co-wrote the R-rated Cameron Diaz comedy “Bad Teacher,” said. “It’s more just asking questions and bringing up these different ideas. I don’t even know how I feel about everything, but I think my favorite comedies usually go someplace deeper.”

Although not quite a romcom, the film employs many of the genre’s cliches, including raunchy humor, awkward date scenarios and even some nudity, although not in the way audiences might expect.

“I didn’t have any reservations,” Lawrence said laughing when asked about her feelings toward nude scenes, something she was candidly reluctant about when her role in the 2018 thriller, “Red Sparrow” required it. “Once you do it, then that’s done.”

Flurries of surprise and anticipation for the Oscar winner’s raunchy comedy debut abounded after the first “No Hard Feelings” trailer dropped, betraying a subtle assumption that perhaps this kind of movie would be beneath her.

“I don’t know,” she said of why people might not expect her to do a comedy. “You go about it the same way. It wouldn’t be funny if you were like, ‘I’m gonna make a joke now.’ You have to really believe what you’re saying, so the process is the same.”

Lawrence has long wanted to do a comedy and has received no shortage of scripts, but said she found none of them funny enough — that is until Stupnitsky handed her this one.

“I’ve known her socially over the years and I know how funny she is, and I know how much she loves comedy,” Stupnitsky said. “She’s done satire and comedy dramas, but a pure, straight up R-rated comedy, I just selfishly wanted her for myself.”

United States News

Associated Press

Judge again orders arrest of owner of former firearms training center in Vermont

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A judge has again issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a former firearms training center in Vermont, ruling that he is in contempt of court for failing to bring his property into compliance after an inspection last week. “Respondent has failed to do so. As such, imprisonment is an […]

3 minutes ago

FILE - Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., speaks with reporters as he departs after a Republican caucus ...

Associated Press

North Carolina Rep. McHenry, who led House through speaker stalemate, won’t seek reelection in 2024

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who presided temporarily over the U.S. House for three intense weeks while Republicans struggled to elect a permanent speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection to his seat next year. McHenry, who was first elected to the House in 2004 at […]

24 minutes ago

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Washington. The Supreme Court...

Associated Press

Supreme Court throws out case that could have limited lawsuits over disability access

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case surrounding a Maine hotel that could have made it harder for people with disabilities to learn in advance whether a hotel’s accommodations meet their needs. Hotels and other business interests had urged the justices to limit the ability of so-called testers to file lawsuits […]

3 hours ago

File - An employee works inside the Hanwha Qcells Solar plant on Oct. 16, 2023, in Dalton, Ga. On T...

Associated Press

US job openings fall to lowest level since March 2021 as labor market cools

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in a sign that hiring is cooling in the face of higher interest rates yet remains at a still-healthy pace. The Labor Department said Tuesday that openings were down significantly from 9.4 million in September. U.S. hiring is […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Cause sought of explosion that leveled an Arlington, Virginia, home as police tried to serve warrant

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Hours before a massive explosion destroyed a duplex and shook a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., a suspect inside his home fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times into the neighborhood, drawing a large police response, officials said Tuesday. All officers escaped serious injury but it was unclear what happened […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Math teacher Doug Walters sits among empty desks as he takes part in a video conference with...

Associated Press

Students around the world suffered huge learning setbacks during the pandemic, study finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Students around the world suffered historic setbacks in reading and math during the COVID-19 pandemic, with declines in test scores so widespread that the United States climbed in global rankings simply by falling behind less sharply, a new study finds. The state of global education was given a bleak appraisal in the […]

8 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

(KTAR News Graphic)...

KTAR launches online holiday auction benefitting Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley

KTAR is teaming up with The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley for a holiday auction benefitting thousands of Valley kids.

...

Dierdre Woodruff

Interest rates may have peaked. Should you buy a CD, high-yield savings account, or a fixed annuity?

Interest rates are the highest they’ve been in decades, and it looks like the Fed has paused hikes. This may be the best time to lock in rates for long-term, low-risk financial products like fixed annuities.

...

Midwestern University

Midwestern University: innovating Arizona health care education

Midwestern University’s Glendale Campus near Loop 101 and 59th Avenue is an established leader in health care education and one of Arizona’s largest and most valuable health care resources.

In ‘No Hard Feelings,’ Jennifer Lawrence relishes playing a ‘messy and chaotic’ character