‘We went beyond the limits’: Jennifer Lawrence breaks free in comedy Le Challenge

There were some scenes from Happiness Therapy and American Hustle. Or the recent and satirical Don’t Look Up. But Jennifer Lawrence has never been one for comedy, as she does in The Challenge, which hits theaters this Wednesday, June 21.

Fronted by Gene Stupnicki (The Good Guys), the Oscar-winning actress plays a young woman with no tongue in her pocket and who faces the prospect of losing her home when she receives a surprising job offer from several parents. : Transferring a 19-year-old teenager to the series “dates” in order to free him to go to college.

While on a trip to Paris a few days ago, Jennifer Lawrence and her partner Andrew Feldman spoke to us about this gently silly and irreverent comedy. So did director and screenwriter Gene Stupnitsky, who achieved one of his goals.

AlloCiné: How did this film begin? Did you go to Jennifer to offer the role or did she come to you?

Ginny Stupnitsky : I wrote it with Jennifer in mind, along with my co-author John Phillips. This has always been our goal. We weren’t sure if he would agree or not, we had his pace of play in mind when we were writing the character.

Does that mean the character is based on it, or do you want to find something to challenge it?

Given his past, the character is not based on him, no. But his speech… he is a very funny person in life. Very lively and witty, and you can see that in Maddie’s character, except she’s not angry. I knew him, but I wanted the rest of the world to know that side of him. He is ready for any challenge and this was somewhat of a challenge for him. But he was ready for it.

I knew he would do comedy one day, and I very selfishly wanted to be the first director to direct him in that register.

You don’t see him often in comedies, even though he excels in them. When did you start thinking that he would be perfect for this genre?

I think shortly after meeting him. I knew him before making this film and I told myself that people haven’t seen this side of him. We’ve seen her in a lot of serious, dark roles, but when you see her doing interviews and on red carpets, she’s very charming, very funny.

I’m not the only one who noticed and talked about it, but I knew he was going to make a comedy these days, and I very selfishly wanted to be the first director to guide him in that register.

What is the biggest challenge for a director when directing a drama veteran in a comedy like this?

The first thing I think is: don’t try to be funny. This is the key. When people try to be funny, it usually doesn’t work. You have to act like you don’t know you’re in a comedy and take it seriously. I didn’t have to tell Jennifer or Andrew about this movie because they understood it very well. But seriously, we make things funny.

Is there another person best known for their dramas who you think would be perfect for a comedy?

I think of Tom Hanks. He started comedy and I would love to see him. He’s made a lot of great movies, but I’d like to see him go back to them.

In the United States, “Le Challenge” is rated R (restricted to children under 17 unaccompanied by an adult). Was it planned from the beginning?

That was the goal and I’m more interested in these comedies. The idea of ​​pushing the envelope, being subversive. This is obviously not a family comedy, and I’m not saying I never will be, but coming-of-age stories work best when rated R.

Have you ever set limits? Or does this classification allow you not to have one?

The only limits are the limits of creativity and imagination. There’s nothing that can’t be done, but limitations are good for creativity. It’s good to have some, in a given environment.

What do you think is the best material for comedy?

(he thinks) I like evil characters. There is something I find very funny about trifles. Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher There is a teacher who doesn’t like children and when adults aren’t around, he becomes self-centered and not very nice to them. I always laugh. Breaking the taboo amuses me.

We actually feel a family resemblance between Bad Teacher’s Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lawrence.

Yes. These are two storms that cross the film and destroy everything in their path (laughs)

By being serious, we make things funny

Why did we choose the original title, “No Hard Feelings”?

There is already this English expression that means “Without Disgust”, and describes what happens between him and her: it’s not against Percy, but he has to save his house. But we can also relate to Maddie trying to escape emotions and intimacy and putting up a wall as soon as feelings get involved. And there is another, more sexual meaning.

Who is your biggest comedy influence?

I love Billy Wilder, Mike Nichols and Harold Ramis. Groundhog Day is a great comedy, it’s my favorite movie. I like a lot of comedy directors like Judd Apatow, Elaine May who did The Heartbreak Kid. The English version of The Office also had a big impact on me .

Interview by Maximilien Pierret in Paris, June 13, 2023