Here are some photos of Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson at the NYC premiere of Die, My Love. I’m not sure if the film itself has “Oscar” written all over it, but Jennifer is certainly promoting the film like she believes she will be an Oscar contender. You can feel the shift with some actors, when they’re promoting something awards-buzzy, and Jennifer is definitely shifting into that gear. Her first big interview was with the New Yorker, and now she’s got a new interview with the New York Times. I would assume a major magazine cover piece is coming soon, maybe Vanity Fair or Vogue. Some highlights from the Times:

Whether ‘Die My Love’ is a reaction to trad-wife/motherhood-is-everything propaganda: “It morphs for me. It’s definitely about somebody losing her identity in motherhood and rage at not just her husband, but the change of the relationship, the change of the love.

Whether her character is bipolar or going through postpartum psychosis: “It’s another thing that morphed for me and never really felt like one thing. I was pregnant [with my second] when I was filming this. There were certain realities that I just couldn’t look at. I spoke to a postpartum specialist who told me that a No. 1 cause of death in mothers in the first year is suicide. And that obviously went into our thinking about the ending, the forest. What is the forest? What is the fire? Do they find their way back to each other? What does all of it mean? I think I saw the forest as more of a cleansing…”

Jennifer’s postpartum depression: “I felt like a tiger was chasing me every day. I had so much anxiety. I had nonstop intrusive thoughts that I was at the whim of. They controlled me. It was fear about my child, just picturing every worst-case scenario, and then doubting everything that I was doing. I was already in therapy, but I got on a drug called Zurzuvae and I took it for two weeks and it really helped. So if anybody’s having postpartum: Zurzuvae. I’m not paid by them, but they could maybe throw me something.

Having kids is sacrificial. It’s gratifying and it’s amazing and rewarding, but it’s not not sacrificial. I’d never had to say no to something before that I really wanted to do. I could just go do it. I do wrestle. It feels vain and selfish that I love being a creative person as much as I do. My kids and my family are more important, obviously, but they feel like an equal part of me. I would not be complete if I couldn’t make movies. I just wouldn’t. When I had my son, my firstborn, I was like, Being an actress is the perfect job for being a hands-on mom! Now I’m realizing: That was Covid. So I’m reckoning with, How much is it OK to love this and not want to give it up? I definitely relate to that. I found the opposite problem with creativity. I had so much anxiety when my second was born that the only way I could escape was in stories and books, and in particular the American Revolution. I really lost myself in ideas. That’s always been how I digest feelings.

Learning from other actors: “Leonardo DiCaprio [who is in the Scorsese movie, too], we worked together on “Don’t Look Up,” and he’s somebody who knows when his character was born and what kind of cologne they wear. Leo in “One Battle After Another” is so serious in his commitment, and that’s what makes it hilarious. When I was working with Leo, I was just like, I gotta be doing whatever he’s doing. But Christian Bale changed me a lot, too, in “American Hustle.” I was 23 and very sensitive about getting embarrassed in front of the crew. I thought acting was embarrassing. And so I would make a point of not acting until I absolutely had to, at “action.” But then I would see Christian. When the crew started getting ready, the lights started getting ready, and it became clear we were going to start rolling soon, he would slowly start getting ready. I was like, That seems like a good idea and I should do that when I’m more mature and can handle people looking at me and being like, “Pshh, she’s acting.”

Speaking out about politics nowadays: “I don’t really know if I should. During the first Trump administration, I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart. I think I’m in a complicated recalibration because I’m also an artist. I don’t want to start turning people off to films and to art that could change consciousness or change the world because they don’t like my political opinions. I want to protect my craft so that you can still get lost in what I’m doing. And if I can’t say something that’s going to speak to some kind of peace or lowering the temperature or some sort of solution, I don’t want to be a part of the problem. I don’t want to make the problem worse.

[From The NY Times]

I respect what she says about motherhood forcing her to sacrifice things she loves, like working and reading and being in creative spheres. In these interviews, it feels like people are expecting her to be the same person who wouldn’t shut up about Doritos and farting, but she’s changed so much in the past five years. She’s a mom of two, she’s a woman in her 30s, and she’s trying to find some balance in her professional and personal life. As for what she says about politics… I’m fine with it, mostly because I don’t actually want to hear from her politically. She was raised as a Kentucky Republican and it’s taken her years to unlearn that mindset (which is still there, lurking beneath her updated political views). She’s right that it would affect how people interact with her work too. Is it still a massively privileged position for her to take as a white woman? Sure. But as I said, I don’t want to hear from her on politics. Just let her votes and her political donations do the talking.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.