In the wake of the Sony hack, Jennifer Lawrence quickly neared a $20 million salary to star in Passengers, a space drama co-starring Chris Pratt (who would make $12 million). The film was later greenlighted, which left me with mixed feelings. There are plenty of space dramas out there, and The Martian will capture a major audience this year, which could result in space drama burnout. However, I am always happy to see JLaw succeed, especially because I still see her as an underdog. She’s successful, but so many people would love to see her topple. Yes, she can be immature at times, yet she’s a terribly talented actress with loads of charisma. I do think she deserves to be Forbes highest paid actress right now.
Passengers may already be shooting, which is news to me because IMDb says the film is still in preproduction. Is it really filming yet? If not, this New York Daily News article about on-set filming disasters sounds totally made up:
“Production has been grappling with budget problems because of the pricey space suit costumes which cost $20,000 to create and design,” says our source, “There has also been various creative differences and disagreements with one of the producers, and glaring similarities to the movie Titanic which the studio is worried makes Passengers feel more like a parody than a good love story set in an abandoned space milieu.”
We hear there’s even a line in the script in a scene between Lawrence and Pratt in which she tells him “If you die, I die,” which has been causing stifled laughter throughout the set during filming.
“It’s been a lot of headaches and problems,” says our source. “A documentary about the making of this movie would be better than this actual movie.”
Our source adds that Sony is being really careful about overspending on costumes and wasting money, and have become “frugal.” “The whole thing is chaotic,” says our source.
Lawrence and Pratt are being paid a pretty penny for the blockbuster, with Pratt making a cool $12 million and Lawrence raking in $20 million plus 30 percent of the box office after the movie breaks even.
[From New York Daily News]
Eh. IF this story is true, it sounds like a script issue being used as an excuse for people to jump all over Jennifer Lawrence. This makes me pretty sad. Make no mistake, if this film fails, the blame will largely fall on her shoulders because people are so eager to blame leading women for box-office failures. Whereas male stars like Vince Vaughn and Johnny Depp have starred in multiple flops and still hold onto their A-list status. Think of it this way – JLaw has yet to star in a big-budget movie that hasn’t made major profits, but we’re still hearing about this in terms of a JLaw problem. Whereas if Chris Pratt was holding onto the larger salary, we wouldn’t have heard about this story at all.
Photos courtesy of WENN
I’m really excited for this movie. I have a crush on both JLaw and Chris Pratt and I think they will be an awesome pairing. I hope they work the budget and script issues out!
Well this isn’t true. Passengers doesn’t start filming until the end of the month and Pratt is still working on that western with Denzel Washington.
It’s just a click bait article, all made up.
I was going to say that Pratt was posting some pics on instagram of a cool grasshopper he found while filming The Magnificent Seven with Denzel Washington, so Passengers cannot be filming yet. So this has to be a click bait article.
I don’t know that I see Jennifer as an underdog though. She’s the most bankable actress in Hollywood and I think is going to remain that way for a very long time, unless she chooses differently in her career path.
Exactly. The movie does start filming for another few weeks. They just released the filming dates last week.
Ugh. Hopefully it doesn’t ruin Chris. Jennifer, I don’t care about. I think Margot Robbie is going to overshadow her soon anyway…she’s an incredible actress who can hold a damn accent for an entire movie (Unlike Jennifer in American Hustle, which was awful).
We have no idea whether Robbie (who is talented) can deliver the type of intense yet subtle work that J-Law has done repeatedly in her films. Comparing them at this stage is a bit ridiculous, IMHO. (Robbie’s Z for Zachariah has just vanished at the box office, incidentally.)
‘Subtle’ would not be a word I’d use to describe anything Jennifer Lawrence does, including act. Katniss, maybe.
@abbott
Winter’s bone was subtle and Lawrence was terrific
@grace good point. I always forget about Winter’s Bone. The manic chortling she does in the David O films always stick out more.
Winter’s Bone is literally the only movie she’s been in that can be described as subtle. In everything else she is completely over the top and ridiculous.
@nina
She was very subtle in The Burning Plain (she won Mastroianni award at Venice FIlm Festival in 2008). And she was subtle in The Poker House. You should make some research before write
Z for Zachariah isn’t exactly a good example to use. It’s a very small movie, for a pretty niche audience.
Eh, idk about that. Margot is absolutely stunning and she can act, but she doesn’t have “it”. Jennifer, love her or hate her, has everyone talking about her. Margot hasn’t really been in a star-making role yet, but she seems to down to earth and normal to me. I think to reach “it-girl” status, you must be a bit of a fame-wh*re.
Yes, because obviously only one actress can be employed at one time in Hollywood…
Margot Robbie is going to be a star but her career success will have nothing to do whether JLaw’s career is doing fine or not.
Yes, J-Law has an Oscar nom for delivering a subtle and controlled performance in Winter’s Bone – people who think she can’t do subtle just haven’t been paying attention…
You keep saying that, but please name one other movie in which she’s delivered a “subtle” performance. it doesn’t exist.
@Nina: The Burning Plain, Like Crazy, The Hunger Games Series, The Poker House and of course, Winter’s Bone.
Jennifer Lawrence is a huge star right now because of her personality & public persona – or more accurately, because many people really like her personality and public persona. That’s what allowed her to skyrocket past her peers.
There’s several young actresses out there who are more talented than she is – however, none of them will be able to overshadow JLaw unless their personalities are able to capture the public’s attention/affection to the same extent.
@Dana: Agreed. The public really is taken with Lawrence’s personality and public personna…more than any other young actress right now or any that I can remember.
I would add that Lawrence is also incredibly talented and successful…that combination is rare indeed.
@nina – watch her in the Beaver, or Like Crazy, if you want more examples of J-Law doing subtle really well.
I don’t get where the idea that J-Law can’t do subtle comes from. The only times she is particularly flamboyant are in David O Russell films. The rest of the time – in her early indies and as Katniss and Mystique – she’s a very subtle, nuanced performer.
I was a fan of JLaw’s, but she’s too old to be “immature”, she’s around 25 years old, time to grow the heck up and stop acting liking a teenager.
She’s making a lot of money now, but that’s going to dry up soon, if she doesn’t up her game. Hunger Games is over, she may find it harder to keep the fans she had from that teenybopper franchise. There are many talented young actresses out there that can act circles around JLaw, and they act like the adults they are.
Lawrence has also a adult audience since The Burning Plain and Winter’s Bone
“Draw me like one of your Martian girls.”
Now that’s out of my system… I’d totally watch titanic set in space with two smoking hot lead actors. Yum.
My gigglesnort at this comment just woke the dogs, and they are now giving me very irritated looks. š
“I’ll never let you go, space soulmate. I’ll never let you go.”
*gently lets Chris Pratt float into black hole and turns into spaghetti atoms*
Omg!! Lol!!!!!
There were leaks to the press about her salary as well, which could only from come within Sony. I’m seeing it as pure sexism – people are pissed off that she’s insisting on her market value, when they’ll pay Depp much more for nonsense like Transcendence.
Sony is talented at messing films but this one is not filming yet so it is something the magazine made for attention.
It’s been passed around between the studios for years and sony have spent SO MUCH on it already, so it’s probably that this true. They just threw paychecks at the biggest stars to get it going.
I don’t see how this is a Lawrence problem, I hate her but she is the bigger star. Plus you hear about problems like this all the time case in point The Revnant.
Agree!
There is literally nothing in that article that “blames” Jennifer. Am I missing something?
@Sara: The title of the (fake) article in the NYDN reads: “Jennifer Lawrence’s Spaceship Stinks”…as in it’s HER film, not Pratt’s…but the story is pure unadulterated horseshit because filming hasn’t even begun.
It just seems so petty to even put an article like that out there even though it did not gain traction.
Filming hasn’t started but pre-production has and the budget has blown from 30 million to 200 million.
So this is probably true but because we can’t say anything negative about jennifer so it’s fake.
Mark,Explain to me how the budget going from 30 to 200 mill is Lawrence fault? I am genuinely confused.. Normally its the director’s responsibility to stick to the budget..
@Hannah not jules.
Where did I say it was her fault?
āJennifer Lawrenceās Spaceship Stinksā lol!!
I read this article in The Daily News and it’s fake…Passengers hasn’t even started filming yet. Passengers begins filming on September 25th so, the part about how the source claims something or other during “filming” is an outright lie. The fact that NO major news outlet picked up this story is also very telling about how fake it is.
I’m really looking forward to the film and really can’t wait to see Lawrence and Pratt on screen together.
Vince Vaughan is hardly A list.
This article sounds like nonsense. I like Jennifer and Pratt. Hope the movie is good though space drama doesn’t immediately sell it to me.
I can’t imagine she’s getting 30% on top of the $20 million, but either way, it’s hilarious that they’re trying to say Sony is worried about the costume budget then.
Gotta love a totally made up story that is easily disproved.
it is probably 20 million against 30% of the BO. she gets a guarantee of the 20 million and if it makes more than that she will get the 30%. whatever is more.
so if 30% of the BO would be 25 million $ she would get 25 million $ and not 45 million.
Ah, that makes more sense. The 20 +30% would have been a humongous part of the returns, especially on a non-franchise project.
It hasn’t started filming yet, so it’s totally fabricated.
How the heck is Jennifer Lawrence considered and underdog?? She is like the furthest thing from that.
How is Jennifer Lawrence still considered an underdog?? She’s Hollywood’s most popular actress. She’s one of the highest paid and has so many projects lined up. Plus, she has so many fans. Of course she has some haters, but don’t we all?
Passengers hasn’t even started filming, but yeah…it’s spot on that it’s always put on the woman. If it flops, Jen will get the blame and not Chris even though she’s a superior actress and it sounds like they are co-leads.
She’ll get the blame because she is the lead – she is the one getting the big bucks. You can’t have it both ways, that she is the bigger star but avoids the responsibility if it bombs.
This is a classic case of mixed truth/lies. The budget arguments could definitely be true as if they start filming in 2-3 weeks then preparations on set are well under way. The dialogue issue, unless it was a table read, is clearly false. Plus if a line doesn’t work, they cut the line. Seems petty.
The press always has their claws out for one big movie and it looks like it is this one. Then it just depends on where you land on a scale of Avatar to John Carter.
‘especially because I still see her as an underdog. Sheās successful, but so many people would love to see her topple’
Not at all she’s won an oscar and made 50 million last year, she is no underdog. Plus you act like she’s the only person who gets bashed on the internet, she barely gets criticized at all, there are people who get worst than her but the internet cries when it happens to her.
Johnny Depp, Vince Vaughn, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Will Smith and Ben Affleck have all had movies that have bombed and they’ve been blamed, do you know why? Because they were the lead and got the biggest paycheck, so that is why Jennifer will get blamed. So we can’t act like it’s sexism when it happens to guys all the time.
Jennifer and nothing bad was even said about her, people just want to defend over nothing and if she’s being put out there has a mega superstar she’s going to get the superstar treatment, both negative and positive.
Agree with everything you said.
I also completely agree with everything.
Well the the question remains… will it bomb? For now they’re having budget problems, but that doesn’t mean anything… yet.
With all these young stars so caked on with makeup, it’s so refreshing to see a glowing complexion on someone not buried under heavy face makeup.
I don’t like the casting of Pratt. I think Jlaw and Pratt are too similar in their on-screen personas, I suspect there will be no chemistry between them and it is going to be boring.
It’s not even filming yet so I don’t know this can be used to attack Lawrence or Pratt. It sounds like they are talking about pre production meetings and prep. People arguing about script and budget, having creative differences is not unusual on big budget movies.
I love this site, but I can’t even imagine how the Forbes-highest-paid Oscar-winning-in-her-early-20s-with-multiple-award-nominations blonde and beautiful Jennifer Lawrence could ever be considered an underdog.
Have to agree on that one – she’s top of the food chain right now, not at all an underdog.
@insomniac and lucy2: Agreed. Jennifer Lawrence is the biggest actress on the planet…definitely not an underdog.
They’re not shooting, Chris Pratt is filming Magnificent Seven. Check his Instagram.
Man or woman if you are getting the biggest paycheck plus profit sharing then the failure or success is for the most part is attributed to you even though many factors play a role in the outcome. I feel it is not quite right to applaud when she rightfully gets paid as an equal but to imply that if the movie fails at the box office she will be unfairly targeted as the one responsible only because she is a woman.
Bingo!! I can’t believe how people want to have it both ways for her. Since she is getting the most money for film she is the de facto star. If it fails, it is a reflection on her. Otherwise, give her a smaller amount of money and blame Pratt.
An underdog??? You cannot be serious! Jen is the exact opposite of an underdog. Also this whole thing about people wanting her to fail because they hate successful actress is kind of bs. People just want to stop having her shoved down their throats and articles like this that paint her as some kind of underdog special snowflake make things worse. She is a good actress but there are so many other actresses as good and much better. Stop pretending Jen and everything to do with her is immune to criticism because you are doing more harm in 10 years when she is to old to play the young cool girl card she is going to be screwed. Calm down and give her some space to grow so in 10 years she isn’t still going on talk shows telling stories about how she shit her pants, tripping at awards shows, telling us how much she eats, and pretending she doesn’t know how to hold and award after she wins.
Sadly, I don’t think she will grow out of her silliness. I’m not sure how much “there” is there. I don’t think she is unintelligent, but I don’t think she is thoughtful or mature at all either. Everyone talks about her as though she is a “girl,” but she is a woman in her mid-20s and hasn’t grown up at all in her public persona. I expect to see her tripping on the red carpet again soon.
An underdog??? You cannot be serious! Jen is the exact opposite of an underdog. Also this whole thing about people wanting her to fail because they hate successful actresses is kind of bs. People just want to stop having her shoved down their throats and articles like this that paint her as some kind of underdog special snowflake make things worse. She is a good actress but there are so many other actresses as good and much better. Stop pretending Jen and everything to do with her is immune to criticism because you are doing more harm in 10 years when she is to old to play the young cool girl card she is going to be screwed. Calm down and give her some space to grow so in 10 years she isn’t still going on talk shows telling stories about how she shit her pants, tripping at awards shows, telling us how much she eats, and pretending she doesn’t know how to hold an award after she wins.
Calm down! You sound crazy
That’s rude. She is allowed to have an opinion, just like you.
Sony is doing it? Well then of course those idiots will eff it up. Look at Jobs. Hwo quickly it was shot and made into awards contender after it was taken from Sonys hands
“because people are so eager to blame leading women for box-office failures. Whereas male stars like Vince Vaughn and Johnny Depp have starred in multiple flops and still hold onto their A-list status. ”
…Ahh this is so accurate (sort of). Julia Roberts has been in only flops the past 5 yrs yet she’s still considered A-list. Emma Stone’s Woody Allen film and that awful movie Aloha did bad yet she’s still seen as A-list. But i understand what your saying but i don’t think it has to do with the sought after A-list status as an actor/actress but more so the public being more forgiving of failures by males than women actors, especially if the flop-after-flop male actor is good looking, it’s the “script was horrible, he needs a different role” and “that woman only got this role cus she’s hot, can’t act for sh*t”.
She’s the most overrated actress of all times.
But I would LOVE to see bloopers from the filming. Both Pratt and Lawrance are hilarious, goofy and love good pranks (and fart jokes). But other than that she’s just exhausting
@Gina: I must disagree with the first part of your post as I think Jennifer Lawrence is hands down one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood…definitely the most talented of her generation.
The second part, however, I totally agree with…bring on the Blooper reel!!. Lawrence and Pratt are both hilarious!.