Academy Award® winner Jennifer Lawrence who has established herself as the highest-grossing action heroine of all-time for her role in the worldwide blockbuster “The Hunger Games” franchise, stars anew in her latest R-rated starrer “Red Sparrow” that gives the audience an exhilarating reveal on the makings of a fully adept spy (especially) in sexual manipulation.
Lawrence takes on the role of Dominika Egorova, a ballerina who is forced to enter a state-run spy school after a terrible accident leaving her and her mother no choice but to be manipulated by the government. “(Director) Francis had introduced me to the story on the press tour for the last Hunger Games movie,” confirms the Lawrence. “It was a book that he had been reading and he thought it would be an interesting movie. I think the first thing that we were discussing for Dominika is that this was going to be a person and a personality that’s completely different from anything I really knew. She’s really been put into a position of survival from a very young age. Her body has been used by the Government from the time that she was young. What with Ballet, being an athlete, being paid by the Government and then ultimately forced into the Sparrow program. I mean, when I first read the script and we talked about it, the Sparrow School scenes were terrifying. It was going to be my first time really going… um, the full Monty if you will, but then after doing it there’s something that felt so freeing about it. Because I would never put my character into a situation that I myself am not comfortable being in. But as you can see in the movie it’s this moment where she gains power, where she turns the tables on the people that are trying to control her and I felt that power. I found that exciting. Because the truth is Dominika’s trained to use her body but, ultimately, prevails by using her mind. To me she seems like a complex modern heroine, she uses her own rules, and has a tenacity to succeed.”
“There was a lot of physical preparation that went into this,” acknowledges Lawrence. “For the ballet scenes I obviously did a lot of intense training. And even though I’m never going to get to the point where I’m going to be able to dance for the Bolshoi it taught me posture and discipline and changed my body. I was certainly very hungry for those first couple of months! And then of course as you can see in the movie I had a snapping point after ballet and you can see me continue to grow throughout the film.”
“The film is about survival and seduction,” observes Jenno Topping. “And the balance between the two is crucial. It’s survival that drives Dominika into the Sparrow world, and once she’s there, she needs to master seduction and intelligence skills in order to survive. The film explores seduction in a psychological, scientific way. We see a character figure out how much of herself she can give in order to survive, and if she’s able to hold something back and come out of this journey intact.”
“Red Sparrow” is now playing in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox.