Jennifer Lawrence has been so prolific over the past half decade that it’s no surprise that every director wants to work with her. She’s not only crazy talented, but she’s also one of the biggest box-office draws of her generation, putting her at the top of most people’s casting lists for characters in her age range. And now Steven Spielberg wants in on some of that JLaw magic.
Spielberg is attached to direct IT’S WHAT I DO, based on the memoir of the same name by Lynsey Addario. Lawrence is set to star as Addario, a photojournalist who has been on the ground in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, Haiti, and Libya, where she was captured by the army for several days.
This seems like a great way for Spielberg to depict all these hellish warzones without delving too deeply into the politics of the individual conflicts, as well as obviously being a plum role for Ms. Lawrence. She can obviously play heroic and determined in her sleep, but is there any doubt that she’ll render Addario into a deeply complex, yet empathetic character?
Either way, the idea of Spielberg working with Lawrence is enough to instantly make this project a hot item, as well as a magnet for Oscar nominations. Lawrence beat out Reese Witherspoon, Margot Robbie, and Natalie Portman (who would have had Darren Aronofsky direct) for the role, and even if she doesn’t really look the part (she’s about the age Addario was at the very beginning of her career), I’m expecting she’ll do killer things with it. And we could always use more Hollywood movies about heroic, self-capable women, especially when they're as real and interesting as Ms. Addario.
By depicting contemporary, real-world conflicts, could this be Spielberg’s next MUNICH??
