Jennifer Lawrence is, for better or for worse, the biggest thing in Hollywood right now. She’s already wrapped the Hunger Games franchise and most people believe X-Men: Apocalypse will be her last outing with the X-Men franchise. So Jennifer is packing her schedule with interesting non-franchise projects, and at this point, I believe she’s basically seeing every script first. If there’s a role for a woman aged 17-40, J-Law has been sent the script. Back in January, J-Law became attached to play Ilona Marita Lorenz, the controversial and scandalous woman who seduced her way through powerful men like Fidel Castro and a Venezuelan dictator. Now Page Six says that J-Law is the leading contender to play another controversial woman – the famous WWII spy Betty Pack.
“A Blonde Bond” — that’s what Time magazine called WWII secret agent Betty Pack in her obituary. She used the bedroom, the magazine wrote, as Bond “uses a Beretta.”
“The Last Goodnight,” Howard Blum’s nonfiction account of Pack’s life — a tale of clandestine missions, suspense and amorous adventures — will be published Tuesday by HarperCollins with a first printing of 100,000. Pack was the spy who, according to her bosses, “changed the entire course of the war.”
Sony’s Columbia TriStar Pictures has bought the film rights for a hefty six-figure sum and Mark Gordon (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Steve Jobs” and the TV series “Ray Donovan”) will be producing. Sony is already busily deciding who will star as Pack, and while many actresses are pursuing the role, the early studio favorite is Jennifer Lawrence.
The book’s title comes from a bit of wisdom the CIA passes on to its new agents: “The last person to whom you say good night is the most dangerous.” And Betty Pack, femme fatale, personified the risks of intimacy.
For a second, I was like “isn’t there already a movie about a female spy called The Last Goodnight?” I was thinking of The Long Kiss Goodnight, the Geena Davis film. Anyway, I looked up Betty Pack, and in 1941 (the start of the war for America), Pack would have been 31 years old. J-Law is currently 25 years old, but it will take a year or more for the script to be adapted and for the film to get financing and everything, so J-Law will be pretty close to the real age. So I don’t have a problem with that. I looked at some old photos of Pack, and I could sort of see J-Law in the role too. I could also see Jessica Chastain, I think. In any case, I’m sure Jennifer will be offered this part and she probably is everyone’s first choice. Could she pull it off?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
She’s the first option today for everything.
That’s what I was going to say, I’m not surprised by this casting at all. She gets dibs in all the roles, plus she gets send more scripts than anyone else. It’s interesting what she’s going to do after wrapping up her last franchise with X-men. I want to see what’s next for her, she’s been taking good, juicy roles & she has that movie with Chris Pratt.
Yep! Everyone else is getting her rejects. All movie roles go through her first.
But this is good for women! When Julia Roberts was super famous, she had scripts written for her that she didn’t do. So people like Sandra Bullock did them and became movie stars. Having a big popular female movie star generates better roles for women. This is why Rachel McAdams is still not a big movie star. There were no really big Julia style star when she was coming up that she could be the second choice for a decent role.
Exactly.
It’s going to take a while (and knowing Hollywood, possibly her turning 30) for that to change.
I want to see some fresh meat. I am so sick of seeing the same few women (and men) play in every movie. Good grief, and I don’t even mind JLaw. I can’t imagine how annoying it must be for those who don’t even like her. Do they even watch new films now?
i agree, lets hope they dont cast Bradley Cooper as her love interest.
Arrrgghhhh!!!!!! Please make it stop!
hear hear! I like her a lot: I think she’s funny, gives great interviews, down to earth and an amazing actress. Still, I can’t watch her movies anymore. I just can’t. She’s everywhere…and usually everywhere with Bradley Cooper…it’s just annoying to always see the same actors. It reaches a point that it doesn’t matter how good they are, it starts to look very repetitive. I wish they would give more roles to fresh faces and that JLaw would make more pauses and do some indie work and then come back every now and then with a big Hollywood production.
Makes me think of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks back in the day… But for some reason I was happy to see them in everything.
ITA with everything you said. No offense to J Law but variety is the spice of life, you know?
How does this plain, boring woman get so many roles? Maybe Charlize was on to something.
You think she’s plain? Seriously? Who do you consider beautiful?
She’s beautiful, but she is plain-beautiful, like Karlie Kloss. She’s beautiful in spite of her features, she’s not an over the top Glamazon, you know? A girl (well, woman, at 25) next door.
Meryl Streep isn’t beautiful. They are actresse4s, not models
Exactly Grace. She’s paid to act.
Don’t they say it is risqué to cast an actor/actress that has already been linked with a franchise to play in a new franchise ? Because the public will always see them as their precedent famous role and the acting won’t be believable ?
Anyways JLaw is more funny goofy than real badass imo. I can’t see her like Angelina in Tomb Rider.
I want to see if she can pull it off, if she does then I’ll have to admit that she can play decent roles. I did enjoy Winter’s bone & the first Hunger Games. She needs to branch out acting wise so taking this role might have something to do with proving she can do more.
it happens but Jlaw is Jlaw, she is more famous for own her name than being Harry Potter or Frodo.
Of course she is. Is JL the only actress that Hollywood can find?
Yes sure she can pull it off. Absolutely. But it’s getting tiring to see the same faces in every film. There are other actresses who can pull this roll off too. Let’s see them get a role like this instead of JLaw.
PS I have no issue with her either. I’m just saying it seems the same actresses and even actors are getting all the roles.
Sigh. What about Brie Larson or anyone else?! I don’t know, I just never, ever got on the JLaw train. I’m so tired of her.
I’m so tired of seeing her everywhere. And I am not happy that she is getting roles for movies I otherwise would want to see. Sigh. Which means I will have to see her again.
Know it’s been said many times before on this thread but I am also tired of seeing her in everything (and frankly it’s not just her).
Hollywood feels awfully stale lately. I feel like while the circles were small we still tended to get a new group of (white) actors every season. It seems lately the only new ones are all very young children (The Room, The Jungle Book, Beasts Of The Wild) and since the media blitz goes so damn hard these days with overselling and over interviewing I’m kinda sick of much of current crop.
How many times can J. Law explain what this strong independent woman movie role means to her and how she’s just a normal girl who likes to fart and make jokes?
That’s why I enjoyed Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander winning their Oscars this year. They are pretty new to the whole scene. I agree with you, we need more new people. I refuse to watch anything with a Hemsworth brother in it… in fact, I’m tired of all of the actors with the first name “Chris” (Pratt, Evans).
YES to Chris Evans, I was going to click the Celebitchy link to his story but just felt such a sense of ‘ugh’ that I skipped it. I’m so over hearing about his doubts and all his weird neurotic opinions and fears.
The Superhero crowd is getting old fast. They do these big budget movies that require promotion like crazy and then get the first pick of all the smaller scripts so it feels like they’re back to back all year round. I saw the trailer for the new film starring Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot and already felt over it.
my thoughts exactly. I have nothing against JLaw, in fact I think she’s a good actress but Hollywood tends to act like there can only be One Blonde to Rule Them All at any point in time, and right now JLaw is it.
I could do with some new blood too. Like lila, I enjoyed seeing Larson and Vikander win their Oscars simply because they weren’t the same old people who’d been shoved in our faces for the last five years. Though I suppose they could get ubiquitous and lose their appeal too.
Agreed Eternal, it’s like I’m getting force fed oatmeal everyday.
What a surprise.
I don’t hate this idea since there are lots of great female WWII stories that go untold. Although I’m not crazy that the selling point of this movie is she used sex as the ultimate weapon.
Bond didn’t use a Beretta.
(that’s the only part of this post I care about.)
Not a surprise, not in the least. I’m sure she can play just about any character. And while it is true that she’s everywhere these days, I refuse to hold that against her, since she will be the first one to tell you that she 100% agrees.
(ALSO, completely unrelated but I have recently discovered the six brothers from last years’ award-winning documentary The Wolfpack, and I absolutely love them! Their love for film is like no other, really. I saw this video of them meeting David O’Russell and the director of The Exorcist, and both of them were right away charmed by the boys and their story. Now I desperately want to see them making it big in the film industry, either as directors, producers, writers, or maybe even actors.)
So what else is new?
I feel as if I know too much about who she is to believe her as a femme fatale spy. I don’t think she would be believable in the role. She can do brash sexy, but an alluring spy with convictions of steel? Don’t think she has the gravitas.
How about someone like Saoirse Ronan?
She could play strategically manipulative even as a young actress (Atonement) and she has a certain delicacy of features that resemble the real (young) Betty Pack.
Go away!! Weird faced woman
Are you talking about yourself?
It cracks me up that all they’re really saying is “We think Jennifer Lawrence would be perfect!”. Not that she’s interested or anything. That’s like having an awards baity script and saying “We think Leonardo DiCaprio would be perfect!” – good luck there.
I think that Jennifer Lawrence would do fine in this role (I like her), but an interesting alternative would be Carice van Houten.
I have to agree with so many before: why is it always the same few actors? So many people I’d like to watch.
Her movie with Pratt had an amazing cuzz from Cinemacon. They seem to have crazy chemistry
Betty looks a bit like Rachel Keller. Think she would be a good choice.
Since I’m posting this so late, I’m sad that no one will see it but as someone who LOVES Betty Pack (there’s already a wonderful biography on her called Cast No Shadow) and my college application on her, I am praying that this is not true. Not that there’s anything wrong with J. Law, but she is a polar opposite of Betty and every conceivable way and I don’t think she’s a good enough actress to do that kind of 180. It’s like saying James Corbin could play Bond. Just a no bueno fit.