Jennifer Lawrence Regrets Taking Role In Her Absolute Worst Film
In a new interview, Jennifer Lawrence admits that Adele warned her not to make 2016's Passengers, and that she should've listened to the singer's advice.
Jennifer Lawrence should’ve passed on Passengers, and she knows it. In a recent interview with The New York Times (via Variety), the Oscar-winning actress admits that she was warned away from the 2016 sci-fi dramedy thriller by Adele, and that she should’ve listened. Instead she signed on to star opposite Chris Pratt, and made one of the biggest critical failures of her career.
Asked if there were films that made her question her decision making skills, Jennifer Lawrence answered, “Passengers, I guess.”
She added that, “Adele told me not to do it! She was like, ‘I feel like space movies are the new vampire movies.’ I should have listened to her.”
Jennifer Lawrence stars in Passengers as one of thousands of people who should be in hibernation during their 90 year space trip. Lawrence’s character and Pratt’s are accidentally awakened mid-journey, and soon begin a romantic relationship. Of course, it’s space and space needs danger, and soon the couple is fighting to prevent the ship’s destruction.
In spite of Jennifer Lawrence’s regrets, Passengers didn’t perform too badly at the box office. Its opening weekend receipts of $14.9 million didn’t break any records, but when all was said and done the film made $303 million worldwide against a $110 million production budget. It was with the critics that Passengers failed to make the whole journey.
In spite of an impressive cast that not only included Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, but Laurence Fishburne and Andy Garcia, Passengers got torn apart by the critics. The cast seemed to be the only thing the critics liked, who couldn’t stand the story itself. Passengers is saddled with an embarrassing 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes; the fourth lowest score out of all of Lawrence’s films.
The only Lawrence movies to earn lower scores are the 2012 thriller House at the End of the Street (12%), the 2014 drama Serena (16%), and the disappointing end of Fox’s X-Men franchise 2019’s Dark Phoenix (22%).
As far as how Jennifer Lawrence managed to get roped into a stinker like Passengers, she says something interesting. She hints that perhaps her and the rest of the talent were dealing with people who made promises about casting before they should’ve.
Recalling her time on set, Lawrence said, “I was like, ‘Oh no, you guys are here because I’m here, and I’m here because you’re here. Wait, who decided that this was a good movie?’”
Jennifer Lawrence said Passengers was one of a series of films that made people “sick” of her. “It had just gotten to a point where I couldn’t do anything right,” Lawrence said. “If I walked a red carpet, it was, ‘Why didn’t she run?’”
Following Passengers came critical disappointments like Dark Phoenix, mother!, and Red Sparrow. They were tough pills to swallow to the woman who had first been nominated for an Oscar in 2011 for Winter’s Bone, took the trophy home for Silver Linings Playbook, and continued to be nominated for films like American Hustle and Joy.
