Jennifer Lawrence Calls ‘Causeway’ Set a ‘Break’ From ‘Toxic Masculinity’
Jennifer Lawrence took a break from acting for a few years. Her return is marked by a few notable films, including 2022’s Apple TV+ release Causeway. The drama about an American soldier who befriends a man while recovering from an injury comes from a female-led production team. Lawrence explains why it was a nice “break” for her.
Jennifer Lawrence produced ‘Causeway’ alongside women
Interestingly, Causeway began its initial production in the summer of 2019. However, a hurricane put the film on hold. Production restarted in early March 2020. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, once again halting the movie’s progression. Ultimately, it completed production in Summer 2021.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, following abuse allegations, Scott Rudin stepped back as a producer on the project in April 2021. This left an all-female team in charge of directing and producing the film. Lila Neugebauer directed, while Lawrence and her partner at Excellent Cadaver Productions, Justine Ciarrocchi, as producers.
Jennifer Lawrence on the experience making ‘Causeway’
During a roundtable interview with THR, Lawrence discussed the many benefits of working on a film that was created by an all-female team. When asked about the differences, Lawrence said, “The schedule made sense. There were no huge fights.” This earned a huge laugh from her fellow roundtable guests, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Corrin, and Michelle Williams.
Lawrence continued. “If an actor had a personal thing and wanted to leave early, there were no sarcastic responses like ‘Oh, well, we all love to leave early,'” she said. “We would put our heads together and say ‘How can we figure this out?’ We disagree, [but] we’d listen to each other’s points of view.”
The actor added, “It was incredible to not be around toxic masculinity, to get a little break from it.”
Jennifer Lawrence wants more Hollywood films directed and produced by women
During the interview, Lawrence went on to discuss how it’s crazy that women have continually been denied prominent positions in the film industry by men who have said that women are simply too emotional to hold any position of power. She laughed, “I mean, I’ve worked with Bryan Singer. I’ve seen emotional men.” Her comment once again got a good laugh from the table. Lawrence followed up this statement by saying the biggest “hissy fits” she’s ever seen on set have all come from men.
Lawrence worked with Singer on the X-Men film franchise. In recent years he, too, has faced abuse allegations. The details of the set of his movies have become legendary. While Lawrence hasn’t lobbied any specific accusations against him, it’s clear she saw some less-than-exemplary behavior from the director.
In closing, Lawrence noted Neugebauer is one of the few female directors she’s worked with. Notably, the movie that first earned her acclaim, Winter’s Bone, was helmed by a woman, as was her 2014 drama Serena. “They are the calmest, best decision-makers I’ve ever worked with. I absolutely love working with female directors.
