Yahoo Movies David O. Russell: “Jennifer Lawrence was unlike anybody I’d ever seen”
Silver Linings Playbook director reveals a spider won Lawrence the role of Tiffany.
America’s sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence is clearly a favourite of Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle director David O. Russell.
But it may surprise some to learn that the actress had to work hard to win him over - as well as producer Harvey Weinstein.
[Jennifer Lawrence reveals shock at winning best supporting actress BAFTA]
It seems hard to believe, but the director wasn’t at all impressed by the actress on first meeting her at an American Film Institute lunch.
“She looked kind of like an Orange County girl," he told The Hollywood Reporter. “All dressed up in a white dress with big hair, with high heels. And I was like, ‘Who is that? That’s the girl from Winter’s Bone?’ I said, ‘Wow, she doesn’t look anything like that.’
“Then [later in 2011], she did a Skype audition that blew me away."
That audition would win the actress the role of Tiffany in Silver Lining’s Playbook - and ultimately an Oscar.
"I asked her to cry and she made me cry,” he said, reportedly emotional at the memory. “She cried, so she went to get a tissue in the bathroom. She went, ‘Ah! There’s a gigantic spider in the bathroom!’ She imitated how the spider went when she tried to attack [it]. That fascinated me as much as anything else. She was unlike anybody I’d ever seen.
"Harvey was very skeptical,” the director continued. "I went personally to his office in New York to show him the Skype. I didn’t trust him just looking at it casually himself...within 30 seconds of looking at her I heard him say, ‘Oh my God.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, there you go.’ And that was that.”
It’s a relationship that Russell is clearly keen to continue. Speaking about future projects, he revealed: “I have two things that I’m writing, I don’t know which one is going to come first.
[Russell likes being close to actors]
“One is an opus that I want to write, kind of a family saga that would involve many of the actors who are in Silver Linings and maybe some from American Hustle, about a big family story over time.
“The other one is [based on] a true story based about a lady in Long Island who was a waitress who invented a Miracle Mop that you sell on late-night television. She invented several things, but ended up in litigation with her own family. And that’s for Jennifer and I to do.”
After winning three awards, including Best Motion Picture, at the Golden Globes and picking up two BAFTAs, American Hustle is expected to do well from its 10 nominations at this year’s Academy Awards.
