The world’s love affair with Jennifer Lawrence continues on with no end in sight — literally, I would follow her anywhere. We all have reasons for loving her, whether because she gives a proud voice to our obsession with food without ever giving in to Hollywood’s beauty standard or because she keeps it real and talks to the camera like we do our best friend. If you Google “Reasons we love,” the third hit is Jennifer Lawrence, right below “you” and “Scotland,” and firmly above “grandma” — sorry grams, but until you get drunk and do a seven-hour interview with Vogue, you’re staying put.
In case you live on a very remote farm and didn’t already know The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is released tomorrow (which I don’t buy, because you’re on the internet right now and have no excuse), the second installment of the trilogy (with the last being split into two films) is more than just a placeholder for the finale. Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers calls her performance “sublime” and Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan says her “intertwined strength and vulnerability” as Katniss is the film’s biggest asset.
With nine films in the works (including an East of Eden adaptation directed by Gary Ross), with some already finished and just awaiting release, Lawrence is staying put. Needless to say, Jennifer Lawrence is everyone’s dream best friends, and here are just a few reasons why.
1. In this interview with BBC Radio 1, Jennifer perfectly voices our rage when stuck in a taxiing airplane.
2. This Yahoo interview where a father asks Jennifer a question on behalf of his young daughter, wanting to know how Jennifer deals with those who judge others based on appearance. Beginning her answer with “Screw those people,” Jennifer goes on to encourage people to support one another and quit throwing out hatred. Her answer reminds us all that while she’s a hoot, she has a healthy message of acceptance to spread.
3. Everyone saw her trip and fall while on her way up to get her Oscar, but at the time she had no idea Hugh Jackman lept up to her aid. In an interview with Access Hollywood afterwards, the stunned actress found out, saying, “He did?! Are you lying to me? Oh my God, and it’s on camera?”
Later in the evening, she gave Extra her perfectly crafted response to anyone who dare mock her for falling: “Anybody who makes fun of me [for falling], I’m just gonna go, ‘Yeah, and then I got touched by Hugh Jackman.'”
Well played, Jennifer. Well played.
4. She sets up her friends with Bradley Cooper. So, this should maybe have gone at the top of the list.
“I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is setting him up,” she told MTV. “I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna save time and just get you a booklet with pictures of my friends. You just go through and pick them out, because this is getting exhausting.'”
5. “My family went on a cruise, and I got a terrible haircut. FYI: Never get you hair cut on a cruise.”
This pearl of wisdom was uttered during her drunk Vogue interview, so you know it’s good.
6. During the Comic Con panel for Hunger Games: Catching Fire, MTV asked Jennifer if this is the movie where she hunts squirrels. She misunderstood, as we all would:
“I thought you said ‘hump squirrels.’ This is the one where I hump squirrels, yes.”
7. In an interview with David Letterman, he asked her how she learned to act so well. Her response?
“I was just like a pathological liar when I was a kid. I think […] I just wanted to one-up somebody. Somebody would be like, ‘Oh, God, my legs hurt.’ I’d be like, ‘Your legs hurt? I’m getting mine amputated next week.’ And that’s actually how my mother found out. She came to school and somebody was like, ‘God, that’s such a shame about Jennifer’s legs.’ She made me purge. […] I had to spill out all of my lies. I was like, ‘I said that Dad drove a barge, and we were millionaires, and you were pregnant, I had to get my legs amputated, and I spayed cats and dogs on the weekends.’ Now I can’t lie. Now I get anxiety over it. [Dave asks if she was insecure] I think I just love stories, Dave. I don’t think I was insecure!”
8. When asked which other Hunger Games character she would play: “I would be Wes Bentley’s beard.”
9. She had the same reaction to seeing Meryl Streep that anyone else would have.
“Once I’m obsessed with somebody, I’m terrified of them instantly. I’m not scared of them — I’m scared of me and how I will react. Like, for instance, one time someone was introducing me to Bill Maher, and I saw Meryl Streep walk into the room, and I literally put my hand right in Bill Maher’s face and said, ‘Not now, Bill!’ and I just stared at Meryl Streep. I just creepily stared at her,” she told Vanity Fair.
Bonus: Watch her freak out when meeting Jeff Bridges for the first time on Extra TV.
10. Finally, here’s a first-hand account from Anthony Breznican for Entertainment Weekly, telling the tale of Jennifer resisting the temptation of donuts on Oscar night, a struggle we all know too well.
“As she swept along the shadowy corridor behind the Oscar stage, Lawrence suddenly slammed to a stop, causing a mini-pileup among her entourage, which included last year’s Best Actor winner, The Artist’s Jean Dujardin, who was escorting her to awaiting press in the hotel next door. Still holding her Oscar in one hand and her gown in the other, Lawrence backtracked a few steps to a folding table holding drums of coffee and a stack of Krispy Kreme boxes — chow for the crew. She flipped open the box on top and regarded the two remaining doughnuts. Each glistened with gooey chocolate frosting. She looked nervously at her publicist, then flipped open the other box. More chocolate. Lawrence frowned, looking down at her pale pink and white Dior ball gown, then walked off, shaking her head. Knowing her luck lately, she wasn’t about to risk a chocolate fiasco.”
