I'm stuck between wanting to do podcasts and not wanting to do podcasts at all. That's great. What was that? That's my favorite line in the movie, which is when she's at the party with the neighborhood families and the woman asks her what do you do?
I'm a writer or whatever. No, no, that's not what she says. In fact, what she says is the thing I just quoted. She said I'm stuck between wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything at all.
You're right. That's a good line. It's in there. It's incredible.
Incredibly related. It's a real, you have captured something in words perfectly performed by one of her most powerful movie stars that I have never been able to quite get my hands around. Jennifer Lawrence, she is, I guess. I'm choosing the word powerful.
You can use the just words in terms of the power of what she does, like her work. You remember how when Angelina Jolie was sort of the number one most famous actress of her age? Like was the, I guess, consensus A-list movie star? Who was a woman?
For generation? No question. And like, and you would, every so often people would be like, she's never been in a good movie or really like made a proper hit. And I would always push back on that.
I would be like, no, no, no, no. You can look at her career and she took like a salt or even a fucking Maleficent. And like, you can tell that she plus it, you know, box up as white, right? You know what I mean?
Bullshit. It's a good movie is an ongoing conversation. This is what I'm saying. So does J-Laugh have her beat?
No question. J-Laugh is sort of the, maybe the Jolie-esque, you know, okay, Allison. I would say yes, but also I think she has yet to really do the thing that Jolie did, which is like coming to a movie and just like blow everyone else out of office. You know, like girl interrupted.
I feel like in that movie, she just comes in and you're just like, who is that? Like she, you know, right? I would argue that Winter's bone was a version of that. I mean, she's great in that.
But also it is like a role that is almost like built around, I don't know, like a showcase for her in a way that is, I think, and it is an incredible one. I was going to say, Silver Line's playbook does have that girl interrupted energy in it. The difference is that the rest of the movie is closer to her level than maybe girl interrupted. That is not a movie I think is perfect.
But certainly at the time as it was received, it was like, that's a movie that got four acting now, nation. Have we never really discussed Jennifer Lawrence on the show? Yes, we haven't. Lots of talk about it.
It's like we've never wanted to do David O'Russell, who is her primary or term. We've never wanted to cover the X-Men series on our Patreon. I wonder why. Yeah, let me just check the Epstein files, check the X-Men series.
And like, I mean, those are those directors are still clean. One, I don't know. You know, I guess we could do Mother one day. Yeah, although I have the rich text.
I would argue is Darren arguing his way out of being covered. I'm going to say, I think our chances of doing Mother one day have been greatly diminished by everything Post-Mother. Yeah, I like Mother though. Still fond of Mother.
It is a rich day. It is a movie I am eager to sort of revisit. I do feel like- Joy Mother. I like this better as a showcase for that angle of J-law.
I wonder if I re-watch Mother now, will I think it's a masterpiece. I was angry when I saw it. I was a little dismissive when I saw it and then I re-watched and was like, I think I respect the swing here. I kind of like this.
I mean, there's some of his movies. I mean, where you're just like, oh, he's on to something, even if it's not entirely cohearing. And also Mother does feel a lot to me, like, mostly inversion, confession about why you should not date Darren Aronoski, which is like, I think- We projected all that on to it, but it's there. It's there.
Yes, and I think that that is incredible. Yeah, I'll say this. I, this is not a Mother podcast, but the context in which I saw Mother was a screening at the Metrograph. We definitely talked about it because it was there, right?
Yes, he was there and she was there. And I think it was the first time the movie was being screened anywhere outside of they had done the big New York magazine profile. Do you remember who wrote that? Whoever it was just kept talking about how they weren't allowed to talk about the movie.
That the movie was shrouded in so much sequence. Wouldn't even tell you what it was about. No, and they were like, it has interesting metaphors in it. And you were like, what the fuck is this?
And the whole profile was Darren Aronoski being like, people are going to be pissed at me and that's fine. And you're like, the fuck is this? And he got up before the movie with a scarf, quite the scarf on, had a real air about him, introduced her as the greatest movie starring in the world. There was an energy between the two of them that was a little like, is this the bourgeois dancing on a collapsing Paris kind of thing?
And then he said like, this was a movie about the most important mother in the world, mother of earth and how we've disrespected her. And I was like, you just told me the metaphor right before the movie started. And immediately I'm like, okay, yeah, I get it. I was so kind of set up to be pissed off from the moment it started.
And I was like, I was more in mine's eye. But yes, no, I mean, who else would we cover that she has worked with? Like, Granex unlikely, Francis Lawrence is unlikely. We could do Francis Lawrence.
We didn't like Francis Lawrence. But like, are we going to do him? Sure. Versus doing stuff this?
Okay, Ben, I'm sorry. Stop that. What was the first movie? This was Blanche Tech with Griffin and David.
I'm Griffin. I would love to talk to him by the way. Great movie. When I interviewed him, I interviewed him once.
And I was like, truly like, sucking a stick about Constantine. And I guess I am legend. I'm just kind of being like, man, you, he was like, I appreciate it. But also cradle the ball.
You know, I was just like, you actually make, you know, like really fun Hollywood stuff. And like, I just been a long time fan. He was like, thank you. Like, he was very nice about it, but he was not like, he was not like, thank God.
Fine. Let's all sing. Right. I'm seeing you.
Really. Can I just go back and say anything? Please, please. When I did, uh, Requinford Dream oral history.
You did. That's right. Yes. Yes.
You talked to everyone. I talked to everyone. The fridge. Uh, including the fridge.
Uh, the fridge is very rude, by the way. I don't know. The fridge is very, the fridge is canceled. Um, oh, the work did next minute.
Uh, Darren Aronofsky, uh, before we started was like, jokingly, but also it was like, can you tell the vulture editors to stop calling me scarf wearing guy? So. And now his neck is so fucking cold. It's so cold all the time.
What's going to happen to him? I love that. That was his explanation at the time where he's like, I have a very sensitive throat. Is nobody so.
Yeah. He was like, I'm sorry, susceptible to that impression. I don't know what he sounds like. I don't know what he sounds like.
I don't know. I have a sensitive throat. I guess so. Did anyone watch his AI American Revolution?
I only to jerk off to it. No, I didn't watch it. I didn't watch it. I absorbed it.
I set my ass down and listen. Uh, so it's to use AI to make a Revolutionary war series. Like web series. Is that like, reenactments?
But it's just like, imagine if we could see. Right. You are there. You are trying to be like, this is what AI is for.
It's so that. Bring history to large scale production quickly. And he's like, I hire. Oh, good.
It looks like spookily denied. It looks like a polar express. It looks like a polar express. I watch, uh, I look at TikTok all the time, right?
And TikTok will serve you AI in the middle of like, a person being like, like my baby fell sideways. Like, which is what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah.
You're trying to. We're still at the place and maybe this will change when they wear you. Just like, I know it's AI immediately. There's just equality.
You know it when you see it. Look, that's how I feel. And every time I see some fucker post something and go like, Hollywood is cooked. This is what AI can do now.
I'm like, bullshit. It's not good enough. And then I'm also like, well, what? Like six months from now, maybe it is.
And I'm like, great. So reality doesn't exist anymore. I think it's always been like the way I feel about video games around like, I got better and better and better. But it never got where we all when we were younger thought it was going to get.
I mean, it's the uncanny valley thing. Yeah. I think it is true. And I'm wrong.
Maybe I'll be a fool. I don't, that's my worry. My worry is that you will be a fool. Have you seen there's one that keeps going around that's like, it took like thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars to make like friends.
And this is what like Sora can whip up right now. And it's a super cut of like fake AI friends scenes. I've seen this. Yeah.
And you're like, oh, it is weird how real it looks. But also they are speaking gibberish. No. And it's like Chandler walks through the door and he's like, well, I got pizza.
Yeah. Everyone laughs. Very weird because right. The lines don't make sense.
They are speaking English, but not legible English. And they keep walking in and out of doors that aren't connected to anything. And the doors keep moving. You know, so it's great.
It's like a melatonin nightmare. You're like, sort of is real. Like whatever AI app is started to be like, OK, so like 30% of friends is people dramatically walking through doors into apartments. It must be about that.
This must happen four times per scene. And they have everyone's like tone and the rhythm of everyone's joke delivery, right? But they don't understand how to build jokes through dialogue. And then like none of them look exactly like them.
All of them look like their stand-ins, but they look like real people. And then the Phoebe will sit down and split into two people a second. She gets the couch literally like a sexually reproducing into two people on a cushion. I remember that episode.
Yeah, that's a good one. Then the video I got served, which I second my brain, is like some guy who made an AI video as if he were visiting the set of a Dragon Ball Z movie. I saw this. He's like hugging Goats.
Yeah, so he's basically, it's like, as if he had just gone on and everyone were forced to take a selfie with him. And it's all of these incredibly famous people that he has like fan cast. And people are like, Hollywood is cooked. And I'm like, I don't know, you just seem sad.
Yeah, and I'm like, you know, the problem with this is like, it's like your limit, your limits of your imagination are like, I wish they were my friends. What if Goats thought I was cool? What's our focus? I tried to introduce them.
You didn't take the bait for once. I just want to let them crack. I'm sorry. I missed that.
What did you say? You said, let's stop right now and talk about Francis Lawrence. Oh, right. That's fine.
This podcast was Blank Check with Griffin. Oh, I didn't. Okay. Okay.
It's pretty funny. That is funny. Thank you. You're welcome.
I'm Griffin. I'm David. It's a podcast about philanthropies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers, kind of, and are given a series of Blank Check's sort of, to make whatever crazy passion products they want. And sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they get bought for $20 million at hand.
And become kind of like, I don't know, a cautionary tale? A little bit. I think a little bit of a cautionary tale of business wise. Yeah.
Alison and I were talking about this the other day. You have not been introduced yet. Could you introduce her? Hold on a second.
This is more important. Alison and I were talking the other day about how it feels like in the flop fall, kind of, trend piecing of a bunch of A-list movie stars had sort of prestigey dramas that were given wide releases that were supposed to hopefully cross over to some degree in the mainstream and also to also results completely flat line. And it feels like this was always included in that grouping of, here's a list of five movies in the last eight weeks. What would the others be?
Christie smashing machine. Roof man to a lesser degree. I feel like there's one more. The Springsteen movie you can argue.
Yeah. Yeah. Those are five pure theatrical releases that all had. What did all of those movies in?
I'll tell you. Not down my level. It was reviews. Really?
None of those really count on with anyone. This is what's interesting to me is I feel like this is the one of those films that was well received. It was well received. Maybe not rave.
But it was well received. All the other ones, even Christie, the strongest reviews were the like, it's weird that she's this good in this movie that is unpleasant to watch. And why did she make this? It's very long.
Right. The positive reviews all kind of had like flashing red lights that weren't really going to draw an audience in. I feel like this movie doesn't yet, wasn't turned into a punch line as much, despite it having like two A-listers and not converting into serious nominations anywhere. But it's sort of with distance just part of the narrative of like, what was like the weird movie 2025?
Sure. I mean, it was ludicrous to put this on. I don't think anyone could really be like, how dare Jennifer Lawrence not make this into a hit? No.
No, it is a very jagged, intentionally abrasive movie. Yeah. And it's a little it was to me, it was a little bit more like, oh, movie, like just because the substance broke through doesn't mean you can do this with anything. Like, you silly goosees.
I mean, they also clearly were like, for this amount of money, in the very least, we're going to have bought a best actress nomination. I think that's what they thought. And the other part of what's interesting about this movie to me is I just feel like a lot of people I talked to just don't know this happened. And yet, Jennifer Lawrence was like, as out there as she has been in many, many years.
She did get out there. And kept doing it like in the lead up to theatrical release throughout the whole award season, she's not making precursor lists and she's still doing stuff. And all the stuff she was doing was hitting like classic Jennifer Lawrence, where people were kind of like, thank God, she's back. You know what?
I missed this and yet none of that energy went back over to the movie. Because it doesn't. It just doesn't. It doesn't go to the movie.
No, that's I think the biggest lesson learned from 2025. Like you doing playing Operation with Robert Pattinson will not mean anyone sees the movie. They simply watch the fun clip. Right.
It will. It will. You gave eyeballs to Variety or who monetize that clip. Yes.
And it might sell copies of operation. It actually doesn't get your movie anywhere. Well, I think especially when you're like, I'm quite sure that. Like, I'm best right.
Best year maybe you're mentioning this movie to a bunch of people who maybe, maybe we'll remember to look it up and then go, oh, that doesn't look like something. Oh, and that's like, you watch Jennifer Lawrence kill it on Hot Ones for like 25 minutes. And when she says like, through tears, my new movie is called, Dime I Love, It's in theaters, whatever. Right.
That basically, I think for most listeners of the equivalent of thanks, thank you for watching. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe. You know, it's just like, wait, noise you tune that part out. And I think the industry started thinking, well, this is the way to market.
This is the way to break through to this audience. And what they don't understand is that those aren't marketing tools. Those are their competition. Who's our guest?
Our guest today. From. Vulture. From the new podcast, Critical Darling.
A Blink Check production. The great Alison Wilmore. Hello. Hello.
Oh, Remain just got pushed to February, 2027. Wow. Okay. I'll take it off this spreadsheet.
Alison, the seismic waves on our spreadsheet. The scheduling changes that just happened are insane. Wow. It's gone.
Here's a Jennifer Lawrence thing. I would like to make. She famously took a few years off, right? And kind of was like, I need to reset.
I need to, people are going to get sick of me. And also like, clearly, she was like, I need to figure out what my grown up career as a movie star looks like, right? And she has, this is what like her third essentially soft relaunch, right? And the causeway is like an unbelievably soft relaunch.
Yes. But like, causeway was like, she was also like, I'm a producer now, right? She's like, I am not just going to be in, you know, playing characters that are 10 to 20 years too old for me in David O'Russell movies by God. Like, I am going to take control of my career and like, interesting.
And she has her, her producing, is it Justine Chaurachi? Yeah. Her style is brand. Like they met in the movie biz, right?
Forget if she got older. Like her clothes. She was like her assistant on hunger. Yeah, exactly.
And they basically come up together. They seem to have great taste. Yes. The produce, the things they produce are causeway, no hard feelings and die of my life.
And I was going to say movies I like, right? Causeway, unbelievable. And two docs that I've done much about. Small movie lost in the sort of post-pandemic morass.
Does get a best supporting actor nomination. But more than anything felt like, I think we're saying a proclamation of here's phase two. I'm developing material. I'm finding people I want to work with.
And doesn't get noticed much, but that's fine. Then she does. But it kind of Oscar. No.
Yeah. Yeah. It's because I was gonna play. I know.
And we're like also like pandemic era. I know. But like, there's so many Apple projects. Most of them are commercial Alia.
I feel like there's like three. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm a Herschel of Made Anything.
And then you're talking about something. I know. Like, causeway, not a bad movie. I think it's very, very fantastic.
I'm just gonna say it felt like part of the phase two thing that all the press she was doing for that movie was kind of just pushing him. It felt like, I mean, they talked about that movie was written to be something very different. And he had a very small part. And they were like assembling an edit.
And they were like, it feels like the only stuff that's working as our scenes together. And they went back and rewrote and re-shot a lot of it. And she was like, this is a two-hander. And it felt like part of her, this is my next stage is like, who do I want to work with?
Who do I want to boost? And she uses all her power to basically get him an nomination for a movie that no one remembers. Yeah. And then she makes no hard feelings.
Which was good. It was good. But she is like, look at me doing like a hard comedy, right? I know.
There was just sort of a try hard element to that whole rollout. And then I saw the movie and I was like, I think this movie is sort of above. And I really like the underlying themes of that movie. I liked that it's about like, Trashy Long Island, like, True, like, Montauk, life-er people being like, man, it fucking sucks here now.
Like, all these rich people have moved here. Like, you know, like that's like the undercurrent of that movie is good. I think that movie fucks again. And then we spun.
The ending's a little block. Yeah. The movie also has kind of a weird reputation because it's like, there was a lot of, is this the great way to hope that brings back that theatrical comedy. Here's Jennifer Lawrence, one of her most powerful movie stars.
She hasn't made a commercial film in over six years. Here she's back post-pandemic doing a sex comedy. Yeah. Is this gonna like, like the world on fire?
And it does well? But not the way people wanted it. Immediately explodes way more on Netflix and people were like, why wasn't this the biggest hit, bigger hit? But then you're like, guys, come on.
She was right here. Like, support her when it's happening. Yeah. And then now we have Diamond Love, which is the movie that was going to be like, here she is.
Serious actress, like doing this, like really, like, wrenching, difficult, real work, just going places you haven't ever seen her go before. And again, it does not really get there. No. And it's also fascinating because this is one of her best performances, I think.
I think she's incredible. It's like arguable. It's your best performance. Yeah.
And yeah, it's arguable. I think it's in the conversation. I think it's also like, it's sort of where, it's how you think of Winter's phone. Yeah.
And I think it also, it's such a deliberately difficult role, right? Like it just is like both opaque, but also like so raw. Like she is both like, letting you into these, like, incredibly dark, weird emotions. But also, and I think this is a bit of a lin-round thing.
You're like, you're cut a distance from her, right? You can't entirely figure her out. And so yeah, it's, I mean, she has to work with a lot of, I don't know, deal with a lot of different kind of like tensions, but I mean, she goes, like, she just throws herself in it. So, also possibly why movie went so like, Google eyed at this movie where you're like, fuck, it's funny.
Like she is so inherently funny and is able to make comedy out of odd, difficult things, Jennifer Lawrence, even just in her like, oversharing press to her way, that you're like, fuck, if you map that onto a lin-ramsy movie, does this thing have enough kind of like, weirdo laughs like the substance that there's a more commercial push for it? But then you're like, what's the movie about? And you're like, well, a woman collapses. Completely deconstructs.
It's a fascinating case. And yeah, I think, you know, she's doing this for Sazing movie next. It feels like she's being very selective. There was this moment a couple months back, David, where they announced like one weekend of filming that Taylor Russell was being recast in Michael B.
Jordan's very expensive starring and directed by Thomas Crown of Fairy, Make. And in one of our group texts, we were like, okay, thought experiment, who do you slot in there? If you're Michael B. Jordan, and you're like one of the like, kings of 2025, and this is your next directing project, and your chosen female co-star doesn't work, and you need someone on set within like less than five days, and you presumably want someone who you can like go to to to with, right age level, you know, whatever it is, we were like, who does he pick?
And we were throwing out names. And I at one point said, like, I mean, if you really fucking want to go for it, you cast Jennifer Lawrence. You cast Jennifer Lawrence in the Fade on Away Renee Russo parts, but is he willing to see that much ego? And beyond that, you said no, and you also said, I think she's just firmly in her weirdo phase now.
I think she doesn't really want to play that game. There's an argument that, you know, her reps would probably be like, please, Jennifer, can you just get paid $20 million to do this, and then make three more weirdo movies? And it feels like to her credit, she's like, kind of done with the game, want to just use my power to make whatever I want to make, and work with what I want to work for, and with. And I also think in talking about her, like, sort of disappearing for a couple years, and why there was so much energy and excitement for this movie, it's also like, she had two kids.
She like focused on her family. She focused on her personal life and caused way, and no hard feelings aren't tapping into that. No hard feelings is kind of pretending she hasn't gone through the growth that she has talked about in the press. And so when this movie's announced, it's like, oh, here's Jennifer Lawrence who seemingly holds nothing back, and she's making a post-partum movie.
What is she going to share with us? Right, right. What, this is the problem with being Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie style movie star, where it's like every movie has to be like, okay, but what is it saying about you right now? Like, you know, what phase of life are you in?
What era, what table of earth are you doing now? I think it's less that it's like, what is the comment you're trying to make or what is the statement? And with her, it's more, especially in her 20s, David O'Russell kept pushing her into these roles that were 10 years ahead of her in life experience. And you were like, I guess through sheer movie star power, I am vaguely buying this woman being widowed, having two children, all these things.
And it just for someone who feels so emotionally intelligent, but was able to kind of render these things that she had no experience with, I think it was more like, is this about to be some level of moment in her ability with her being able to pull from life? Not what she's trying to communicate to us in the press or how she's going to use this movie to talk about her own personal experiences, but more does she have a new well to draw from? I think that's true. But I think it's also, I think we've all been waiting.
She is someone who is this very powerful and undeniable A-list actor, but she has been so much of her career either, yes, in these roles, I didn't feel quite right for her that she made work through sheer talent with David O'Russell, or in these giant franchises. At the same time, she's playing a widow and a mother of two, she's playing this fighting teenager, she's playing Katniss in The Hunger Games, and she's playing Mystique. And there is this real sense that so much of her career, so much of the path that made her the giant movie star was also never quite right. She was always playing roles that were never quite, they didn't seem like something that was kind of defining her, or that she really had a full, that fit her perfectly.
No, it's odd. It is odd for someone who, you step back with some distance, and her 20-10s is even more astounding. Like how kind of anomalous it was at a time where the industry was like, maybe movie stars don't exist anymore, and she became pretty undeniable. And yet it was like, they milked that so hard and so fast, and the whole kind of like, inevitable Jennifer Lawrence backlash, which she clearly and doing press with this movie, took very personally and was like, I'm too much, you know, I wasn't aware of how people were seeing me.
It's also just like, you break down the years and you're like, she was making two or three movies a year, and it was basically every year she was alternating between an X-Men and a Hunger Games in the press recently. Yeah. It's interesting on this press tour with, who was I listening to? She was on Poehler's thing.
She did that kind of like, late? What? No, late, I was saying. Like she did that very recently.
Oh, sure. I think Poehler kind of doesn't care, it seems as much about timing it to, I don't know. She did that kind of like half hour chat with Leo, the action actor thing, which was like, you know, no one has quite gotten Leo to open up, but like she had her moments with him, like the closest I've seen. Like a couple moments with him, but I'm trying to remember what she sort of acknowledged essentially to one of those.
David Russell, I think really taught me how to act. I know that's not the experience everyone has with him. You know, like, and she didn't say it in a dismissive way. She said it in a kind of like, I think it was quite helpful for me.
I do know that like the way he works was not helpful for some people. She hasn't worked with him since joy. I always found- And incredibly weird movie also. I mean, that movie came out early in the history of this podcast.
We talk about a lot on one of our Force Awakens episodes, and she did that because we, I think I had just seen it because it is indeed a really weird movie, and it has all the problems that all the movies she made with him had, where she's fundamentally wrong for the role. She's kind of working in any way. Like she's kind of like, but then the movie that's happening around her is also kind of chaotic and stupid. I was thinking about- Silver lining is the best of those movies, and I think that's like a really chaotic and- No, I agree.
I agree. We in the week we were recording this, the most recent episode of Critical Darling's was talking about Bagonia and Emma Stone, and your ghost kind of getting into that David O'Ressall, Jennifer Lawrence, auto lock nomination off the favorite state. And no one was pissed when Emma Stone was announced as a Best Actress candidate. I didn't feel that.
Yes, I mean, you were not like, Oh yes, that's like- No one was angry. But I can't remember if you or Richard said this, but the morning that Jennifer Lawrence made it into the Joy Five, there was a feeling of like, fuck that. And it's that kind of thing that Ben Affleck talks about of like a weekend after Glee Lee being like, I'm in the worst state my career could possibly be in. I can sell magazine covers, but I can't sell movie tickets.
Everyone wants to hear about how I'm fucking up in my personal life, and no one wants to hire me. Everyone else can make money off of me. And there's that sort of feeling of like, okay, Jennifer Lawrence, you automatically get nominated every time. People now resent you for it.
Which, the moment that movie came out, it was just like, it happened one time too many. It's too late. Everyone wants you to go away now. Yeah.
And I mean, so like after that, she did what like passengers? Mm-hmm. A disaster. Yeah, a disaster.
Like a really incredibly unpleasant process. One of the most miscalculated like star packaging. Yeah. Yes.
And of course, a blackless script. Yes. It's often a very cursed thing. I have often contended you read that original script.
Yeah. And it's a really good Twilight Zone premise. And it was so buzzy, and it was necessitated such high production value because of the space thing that everyone in Hollywood thought it was meant to be romantic. That they just interpreted it entirely wrong.
Yeah. Right. Maybe there's a better version of that movie with what director? I don't know.
I'm trying to remember who the director- I'm just saying like a fincher. Like, you know, like, I mean, like, why would he- I mean, there was an earlier version of that movie announced. I'm trying to remember if there was a director ever attached, but I believe it was supposed to be Keanu Reeves and Rachel McAdams. And you're like, immediately, that makes so much sense.
Those are actors I've asked to prefer. The problem is they are not, uh, you know, who Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt were in 2015. At that point in particular, the that version of the movie died because it was pre- John Wickyano. And it was like, he is worth- Like a husband.
Yeah. Yeah. But you're like the sad haunted Keanu thing. Yeah.
That would make so much more sense in terms of what- I know. Rather than Starler being like, Oh, well, you love him. Right. Right.
Like, aren't you psyched? That way we have to live our full lives together. And imagine Dragons, please. Passengers.
Passengers. And then Mother. Which was much like this, like a wide release. Like, out of the gates that bomb.
Yes. And also, I mean, is this- It's similar, right. Where they're like 3000 screens for this, and they wanted to just like, No. What?
What are you doing? Also, like, I don't know. It has like weird undercurrents, you know, like their relationship, but also like, so much of that movie is just like, tormenting her. It is just like- Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That movie is her going- She's actively stressed.
She's shouting her head off about the syncing, not being braced. Yeah. And then the baby- Yeah. Remember the baby?
It was- They eat the baby. They eat the baby. As I happily tell people- It is. It is.
And then eating the baby. Canon. I hear they eat a baby. I'm into that.
They eat a baby. As many X-Men directors have told me. Is that my new terminology? We have normal and we have X-Men director.
Go on, Allison. Well, and then, you know, you have like dark Phoenix, if not a movie that ever happens. Yeah. Yeah.
Dark Phoenix. A movie I softly defend, but certainly never like, character revisits. I don't care if I ever saw it. I don't think of it as like her salt, right?
Her salt, it is very obviously- And she has talked about it about the sex crimes that were visited upon her. And her trying to kind of reclaim her naked body on screen and her sort of whatever. Her sexuality, her like feminine sort of- It's an ownership of sexuality. Yes.
Yes. And it's also like a decent-ish spy movie, but you are kind of like, this is like a Verhoeven movie. And I like Francis Lawrence, but he's no palverhoeven. And like, this is not quite nasty or freaking enough, but it is like an R-rated, sexy kind of violent spy thriller.
And so you come away with kind of like, okay, you know, I had a, I had an okay sandwich there. I know that could have been better. But when you look at, well, it's at 500 games movies. Because it's four books and five movies.
Yeah, there were two, right? Mucking damn shit. Yes. She makes four X-Men movies, the first three work commercially to some degree.
And then the first two David O'Russell movies, like, sore past 100 million, you know, 300 worldwide, whatever. That block was so fucking strong. And the fact that she's winning an Oscar, getting nominations in between, seen as supporting two franchises, the X-Men movie starts to warp themselves around. Right.
We all remember that Mystique is the leader. Everyone, yes. The best known and most famous X-Men. Of course.
The whole time. Like, there's the insane thing when you watch Days of Future Pass, where they're like, this movie needs to have her as ostensibly the lead character, but also her scheduling is impossible, because she's doing Hunger Games. So she needs to have the primary plot thread, where she's also on her own, and we can shoot her separate from everyone else. And then, but also they're like, we've got this incredibly famous actor.
Yeah. And also the character is blue all the time. Like, we need to figure out ways. Right.
Like, she's fully, like, barely a lot. Right. Did the fact that the first one is like, you need to be blue, because that's like your true self. Right.
And then the other one, she's like, yeah, but I'm not going to do that much. I'm not going to do that much. But like, no one- I'm also going to like be 70s. I feel like the response at the time is like, yeah, smart.
Build your movie around Jennifer Lawrence. People aren't like, they're shutting her down our throats. And so then there's the thing of like passengers, like squeaks to 98 million or whatever. Yeah.
It was a flop. I mean- It was a flop. It was sort of like, right. Like, less embarrassing than it could have been, because it's sort of made- Probably made international money for you.
But you're just doing a Jennifer Lawrence thing. I think it's important. You get to a point there where they're like, okay, but if her in a turkey still gets to 90 something, and obviously that movie costs too much, then making Red Sparrow for 40 or 60, or making Mother for like 40 or 50 still makes sense. And I think there was this belief of like, is she just the one person that her audience will auto-buy a ticket, they will follow her anywhere?
And even if Mother isn't going to make $100 million, maybe it makes 50. And instead it's just like, no, she's making things that are like unpleasant to watch. You know, often by design, it feels like that was the phase she was going through. And testing it.
She's made one pleasant to watch movie. And like before that, you know, the movie she made were Hunger Games, David or also movies and X-Men movies, none of which are light and fluffy. No, I mean, X-Men and Hunger Games are both- She's made one- Right. Test this by the pressure.
Fun movie in her entire career. He would say no. No, right. Like, obviously, X-Men movies are fun.
Like, Hunger Games movies, I mean, they are fun, I suppose, but like they're pretty dark. They're dark. Yeah. Like, I really think that's the- I mean, don't look up.
Is it comedy? But it's comedy that- How many of the buzz you have? Also, just like really not fun. That is like the angry character in the movie too.
She's playing the least fun of anybody. I think that's why there was so much hope around No Hard Feelings. It's like, wait, you're telling me it's Jennifer Lawrence Press interview the movie? That part of her power was this like, oh my god, she's this powerhouse dramatic actress.
She can do action and she can like do the dialogue. And then we see her in interviews and she's funnier than comedians. You know, and people I think liked the contrast between the two, but then the hope was, if you let her be funny in a movie, is that just gonna explode the box office? But we hate comedy now.
We just don't- That's the problem. I think if- I think she's probably happy enough with No Hard Feelings. I think if she looked at anyone but you, she might have the thought of like, oh, should I have like done a rom-com with like a really sort of established handsome actor guy rather than a silly girl. Also, I think she would have killed a match.
Yeah, it's actually like upsetting to run the simulation. But she should be happy. No hard feelings are just a better movie than anyone, but you and did pretty good. I also contend and I felt this way at the time.
No hard feelings comes out like June and then goes to Netflix very quickly. It's on the service by like September or October and immediately kind of explodes on Netflix. And I do feel like anyone but you got a bump from that. I was seeing so much social media FOMO of, oh fuck, there was a good comedy three months ago and we didn't go.
That Sony marketing, you know, both of those movies kind of capitalized upon. Well, don't miss this one. I would like to see her in just a full romantic comedy. Yeah.
That'd be interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she's kind of steered away, you know, in Causeway.
She's her, that's like a platonic romance almost like her character. Yeah. It's a sweet movie. Yeah.
You know, and then No Hard Feelings is like, you know, kind of- Oh, and once again, yes, Lynn Ramsey's Diamond Love on paper is offering, Hey, do you want to just see Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence go insane? Right. David? Yes.
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