Jennifer Lawrence is still Hollywood’s Golden Girl. I get it. She’s racked up four Oscar nominations already and she’s only 25 years old. She’s funny, she gives great interviews, and her persona is “the real girl.” She also had a Midas touch when it comes to box office – even her smaller, artsy outings are financially successful (for the most part). So of course J-Law sees #AllTheScripts. She’s sent every script and offered every role for a character between the ages of 16 and 40, regardless of whether J-Law could realistically play the role, regardless of the fact that she still has a baby-face and she can never look older than “early 20s.” So how do you feel about Jennifer Lawrence, Our Lady of Dorito Farts, being cast as 32-year-old Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes?
Jennifer Lawrence is attaching herself to Adam McKay’s drama about medical company Theranos and its 32-year-old founder Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos is the blood-testing startup that once had Silicon Valley investors salivating over its commercial potential with a $9 billion valuation as recently as two years ago. Gary Sanchez Productions is producing with Sanchez producer Kevin Messick planning to approach buyers next week.
Founded in 2003 by Holmes, Theranos claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by being able to use only a pinprick of blood, rather than traditional methods of drawing blood by injection. The company however is now under investigation over claims of inaccurate test results and Holmes’ own worth — at one point valued at $4.5 billion by Forbes thanks to her 50% stake in the company — has plummeted to a fraction of that. What’s more, Theranos may even be banned from practicing for two years for failing to resolve significant problems at its main California lab, according to a report from federal health regulator The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
I think it’s an interesting story – more on that in a moment – but this seems like a role for an actress who is just a tad older. While I think J-Law IS a wonderful actress, I’m not sure her strength is super-serious corporate/medical dramas? She’s good at melodrama, action, comedy, etc. But this seems like something more for Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Kirsten Dunst or Rachel McAdams. You can see photos of Holmes here – while J-Law certainly looks a bit like Holmes, Rachel McAdams looks so much like her, they could be sisters.
As for the story of Theranos and what really went wrong… I don’t know. Vanity Fair has had some great stories about the drama though – go here and here to read some of the latest developments.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I wonder is she will mimic Elisabeth Holmes voice? That could be funny…
I agree. Nailing the voice is key to nailing her. She is buttoned up to the point that her voice is very distinctive, robotic monotone. Elizabeth Holmes fascinates me. On the one hand, she is another brilliant techy who has no idea how to run a business. On the other hand, she is a female who has broken barriers like no other.
Have you looked into her family? She comes from incredible wealth and her father is very well connected politically (and he used to work for Enron…hmmm). There’s a reason she has been able to “break barriers” and it’s not that she’s a brilliant techy, it’s that her “college fund” (the one that she used to start Theranos) was seven figures and that her dad has people like Henry Kissinger on speed dial.
Maybe she is a brilliant techy, but there is something a bit shady about her. In some interviews I’ve seen with her I almost get a Martin Shkreli vibe, I’m NOT saying she’s an evil sociopath like him…just a little strange.
If Jennifer does change her voice to sound like Elizabeth, it could end up sounding as wierd as Joseph Gordon Levitt did in the ‘Snowden’ trailer.
Jenna- I went to high school with her (St. John’s in Houston) and her family was well off but definitely not super wealthy. More like super smart and wanted the best education for their daughter. She used the money they saved for college to help start the company but it’s not like they bankrolled her and made calls. Elizabeth is crazy smart and had a brilliant idea. I think it seems soon to make a movie about this as the situation with Theranos is far from over.
@GoSsip Do you know if her voice was always that deep, or if it’s an affectation?
@D: From what I have read about her is that she has no social life. She doesn’t seem to have friends; she doesn’t seem to be in a relationship. People need connections with other people or else they do end up weird. She has no balance whatsoever so she is very awkward.
I’ve wondered if Elizabeth’s voice and manner of speaking is an affectation, also.
GoSsip: If you went to a high school where the current tuition is $24k/yr, you may have a slightly different definition of well off vs. wealthy than most. Her family may not be Saudi oil kingpins, but by most standards, they *are* rich. It’s been widely reported at this point that some of her early VC funding (from DFJ) was largely due to a family connection.
My parents are “well off” but my father certainly doesn’t know anyone who would be in a position to pony up a half million dollars to fund any of my business ideas, even brilliant ones.
That’s not even the high school tuition. It’s $24K for K-5 and $27,545 for 9-12 (not to mention all of the extra fees). Families who can afford that sound super-rich to poor me.
Valid point! When we went there it was more like $10-12K a year but, yes, I suppose my view might be skewed. I have no idea if her voice was like that in high school but I doubt it’s an affectation. She didn’t keep in touch with many people and was always a bit different. I hope there is a better ending to this story than jail for an obviously brilliant, if eccentric and damagingly not forthcoming, young woman!
I am officially bored of JLaw.
Silver Linings Playbook was a weak movie, and her American Hustle cameo was a RHoNJ knock-off.
Her best performance still is from the Winter’s Bone, and the first Hunger Games movie.
+1000!
I was just going to say the EXACT same – about her and her crap movies.
She’s kind of a joke at this point to me.
Completely agree with you!
She is better in roles that are closer to her age.
You said it all. Has Hollywood heard of an actress over 30 recently?
Like JLaw but no. Rachel McAdams would be a better fit.
McAdams is great!
McAdams is a fine actor, but doesn’t have Lawrence’s range or charisma.
Lawrence is a fine actor, but doesn’t have McAdams range or professionalism.
It seems too soon for a movie about Theranos – things are still playing out with regards to how things will end for the company. I get that Hollywood wants to jump on an interesting story, but I almost wish they would just wait a few years.
I agree. Especially because SO much of it was kept very secret in terms of what they were doing and how they were doing it.
Agree, I was wondering about that too.
Like the writer said she probably gets all the scripts but she’s choosing biographies of older women. Oscar Bait films.
Oscar bait, or just meatier roles? That’s what every actor says they want, and unfortunately I just don’t think there are that many scripts like that being written about 25 year olds (especially not 25 y.o. women).
That said, while I very much like her as an actress, I don’t think she’s convincing past 30 yet.
I think JLaw looks a lot like her. She’s only 7 years older, and Holmes has a bit of a babyface herself.
“She also had a Midas touch when it comes to box office – even her smaller, artsy outings are financially successful (for the most part)” – How exactly? “Serena” flopped, “Joy” flopped.
This. She’s being bolstered by her comic book movies and ensembles films. Has she actually opened one by herself? Where she was the only headliner? Her IT girl status seems to be all hype but her actual star power seems lacking to me.
Every actor has a flop. Serena was released in VOD and then in few theaters. And Joy made $100M worldwide and was about a Mop. So yes, she’s a BO draw
100M on 60M budget is a flop.
@Toniko
I’m not sure that is true. I know you have to consider advertising and the cut the theaters take, but when you considering the topic of the film (a freaking mop) and the fact that it was released during Christmas….$100 mil on a $60 mil budget isn’t all that bad. It wasn’t a hit but I’m not sure one could call it a flop either.
That being said, she hasn’t carried a film outside a franchise yet but I don’t think any star is capable of doing that in this day and age. The Afronofsky film will be the first true test to see if she can do so (since she and Pratt are co-stars in Passengers).
100 mil worldwide (given that percentages to studio are lower outside the US) on a holiday season counter-programming “feel-good” movie that cost 60 mil is, indeed, a flop. It would have to do spectacularly well on DVD to make up for that, and I’m just not getting the sense that is in the cards.
Joy made 100 million, that’s a lot for a film of its type. It’s not her fault some idiot decided to give DOR 60 million to make the thing when his usual 20-40 million would have more than sufficed. Had it not been for that the film would have been seen as a huge hit.
Totally agree, that film in no way should have cost $60 million.
It likely cost $60 million because Lawrence got a big paycheck.
Serena is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, it’s truly BAD.
Serena may be the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life. It is awful.
Is there no JLaw fatigue at this point? I mean, once you see an actor too much, it’s hard for me to get lost in their new roles. Unless they’re SUPER talented, and I don’t think she is.
This. Every movie I see with her I’m so aware that I am watching Jennifer Lawrence that it is hard to get into the film. It was especially ridiculous in Joy. Her acting was fine but it was impossible to see her as this thirty something year old mother and wife, like watching a child play dress up.
There are so many talented thirty-something actresses, why not cast one of them? I like J-law and it’s nothing against her personally, the entire situation just p***** me right off.
Lawrence was playing mid-twenties for the majority of Joy. The real-life Joy had kids young. By her early 30’s she was already way into her mop business, and by mid thirties she was already a huge success.
I didn’t see that movie. I actively try to avoid movies where she’s a main focus. Her acting isn’t that great to me. Hunger Games was good because that was her “breakout” role per se, but that’s all I’ve seen.
It seems that Hollywood is always going to the same A list actors for every movie in order to get financing for a script. Which I understand on the one hand…. but then on the other you have completely crazy casting rumours like Leo DiCaprio and RDJ in a film about a Sufi poet. It’s just getting ridiculous, and I’m also tired of always seeing the same people.
YES! It’s SO annoying. What’s really crazy is that as a writer, I would want to see my projects come to life in the most accurate way possible. The fact that someone is trying to cast a blonde haired, blue eyed, Italian man as a Middle Eastern poet is probably the poorest and most frustrating (potential) casting I’ve seen. And I didn’t think Nina Simone could be topped.
I hope to God that movie does not get made with those two in the role.
Sorry to nitpick, because I agree with what you’re saying; but he was not Middle Eastern. Afghanistan is not in the Middle East.
Maybe I’m crazy but I always think (when she’s not talking of farts) she seems early 30s. I dont see a baby face. I dont see problems playing 32. I think it’s odd to see her as 16 or 40.
ITA, partly because she’s tall and voluptuous, so playing older is understandable. It’s the teen roles that bug me. She looked like a teenager in Winter’s Bone, and understandably with Katniss bring such a similar character, she was cast, but by the second film her look gets way too mature for a 16 year old. I’m not blaming her for having too mature a look to play a teenager, but older casting actually makes more sense to me. I think she comes across as early 30s. The politics of casting younger actresses are still problematic, of course. But super young looking actresses like KStew don’t really get cast older, do they?
Adam McKay is behind this, so this will be well thought out and very good. So good that a up and comer or unknown can have the lead. Eh on Lawrence.
I can’t wait until she starts aging out of roles and complains about ageism
A lot of these movies wouldnt even be greenlit without her name attached. I’ll never understand why people take isue with her. I’m glad that the most powerful actress of this generation selects important empowering stories like these and isnt wasting herself on romcoms. She also happens to be outspoken about the most controversial issue in Hollywood today, I couldnt ask for more.
Agree 100% Naya
Me too
+1,000,000
I’m not a Lawrence stan but the hate she gets around here is so OTT.
Thank you!
I really do not get the issue with her age. In SLP the character was aged down for her, she was playing just a couple of years older than she was. She was meant to come across young. In Hustle her character and Adams swapped ages, so she was meant to be playing a really young wife and mother (which btw meant that Adams, the older actress, got the meatier role with way more screen time). In Joy she plays teen Joy, then mid-twenties Joy for most of it. She wasn’t playing a 40-something at any point, the story ends with Joy at around 34-35. Ageing up 10 years in a biopic is nothing, actors regularly age up 30-40 years.
Unless they’ve got a face that’s forever 12 or forever 40, actors always take on roles older/younger than they actually are. I don’t know why people act like its something JLaw does more than most, just about every single film features at least one actor ageing up or down a decade. If actors only took roles for their exact age, or within a year or two of their age, their options would be extremely limited.
Agreed. The woman in question is 32 currently. So the movie will be a few years back. Aka the exact age Jlaw is. Often times the roles are aged down for her. Yes the issue of the older man/younger woman is still prevalent but its not just Jlaw. That’s everywhere. She plays within her age range
That is a really great point about the romcoms. I think she’s made some interesting choices so far, though I think she needs to get away from DOR.
Because the reason that a 25-year-old blonde female has so much power is due to the creepy obsession that the older white males who run Hollywood have with her.
Words can’t even describe how over Jennifer Lawerence I am… And “wonderful actress” is such a stretch.
She will have a long career. Really impressive and she’s just 25
I don’t blame Jlaw for this. She is 25 and doesn’t really grasp how deeply insulted women are (or should be) by the endless parade of:
1) 25 year olds as love interests to 50 year old men.
2)Beautiful 20 somethings cast as 30 or 40 somethings.
3) And my favorite, scientists, professors and streetwise detectives who look like supermodels.
Good lord Hollywood. Please just stop (she yells pointlessly into the ethos)
I realised all this crap in my teens – so did most of my friends – even the ones that played the game anyway – don’t give her a pass she isn’t educationally challenged.
Agreed, Tiara.
Yes, this. I’m pretty much her age and I get it, I have for qute some time. It’s not the age that’s the problem.
Enough of her, please?
I like her but I don’t like her movies. Sorry but she’s not a good actress. She overkills it most of the time.
Holmes is 32 now, Lawrence will probably be 27-28 when this films. Holmes was 19 when she started her company. This same old age crap about Lawrence is ridiculous. Holmes is the one with the baby face.
That’s what I was thinking too. We don’t know where in Holmes life the script begins and the company has been up and running for several years. So yes, she actually is in the right age group for this one
Exactly! Holmes is 32 RIGHT NOW. She started her company 13 years ago, at 19.
It seems fairly likely the film will be going at least a year or two back, maybe all the way back to the beginnings. At worst by the time this films JLaw will be playing 2 to 4 years older than she is. Which is nothing for an actor.
Reese would be well over a decade older, Rachel at least 9 years, Kirsten at least 6. If the issue is accuracy and believability, how does hiring a then to be 40-something to play 30 (or possibly as young as 19) help with that? JLaw will be much closer in age.
Why can’t a 40-something play a 30-something? 20-somethings play teenagers and/or 30-somethings all the time.
Yes,exactly. When this film actually get made, Lawrence wil be the right age. And she is a massive star – without her involvement, it probably wouldn’t be happening.
I don’t think she’s as good an actress as the Academy is constantly telling me she is. That being said, she’ll probably be late 20s when this films so this casting doesn’t seem as egregious as Joy or American Hustle. I’m not a huge fan, but I can see where her appeal lies and her name does greenlight projects.
I think she is bloody selfish and I hope it comes back to bite her on the arse
– she doesn’t HAVE TO say yes to these parts -yes the casting/director/producer are partly to blame but so is she – she isn’t a starving actress trying to make her way in the big bad world.
I agree.
So…you’re asking her to pass up interesting roles as some form of charity? That hardly seems fair. It’s her career FFS—she has every right to take the job that she gets offered.
If you were offered an amazing job opportunity with a great salary that allowed you to work with the best in your profession, would you pass on it just so another candidate who is lesser-known in your field can have it?
I sure as hell wouldn’t and I wouldn’t feel guilty at all about it.
Hollywood is a business and actors lose out on roles all the time, even great actors. It’s not Lawrence’s fault that other actors aren’t getting offered the parts and she has ZERO obligation to assist them in their careers. Additionally (and I know you alluded to this in your comment) these studios often have an actor in mind when they’re backing a movie. Directors want to work with the best and like her or not, Lawrence is at the top of her field right now.
She’s not responsible for how the system works.
I also have to wonder if people would ask a male actor to pass on a role….would we ask that Tom Hardy pass on a great role so some up-and-comer can have it?
Somehow I think that we wouldn’t expect that of a man.
This. It’s really tiring. It’s always the individual’s fault that the system sucks. People are just directing their outrage at the most convenient target, rather than the actual ones at fault. This is like the Emma Stone/Aloha thing. ES got the brunt of the blame for taking a job not the director/producers etc for their crap casting.
Agreed. The only time I wish people would say no to parts is when you have Swinton playing an obviously Asian character. Just say no to whitewashing. Otherwise go ahead. Its not her fault people are clamoring to work with her.
I get your point, I really do, but I als do think that she’s in a position of power right now where she could green light any movie that crosses her desk, and she goes for David O Russell films where she consistently plays older characters and now now this. I haven’t seen the script, it might be great, but for someone with as much power as she apparently has, I just wish she’d be braver, and go for stuff that I feel like I’ve already seen. Jmo.
If she rejected the role, there’s 2 posible out comes.
1) The movie wouldnt be made.
2) They’d call Emma Stone.
yes and emma stone is her exact same age. lol
Apparently, we’re still doing this whole “blame the woman for a problem created mostly by men” thing in 2016.
I’m tired of her at this point. And yes it is ridiculous to continuously cast younger over older women in Hollywood. It can be stopped if enough people don’t buy tickets to these kinds of movies.
Jennifer will be in her late 20s by the time this films (she has other projects lined up beforehand) so the age difference isn’t that bad. However, I do agree that it would be nice to see an older actress given the opportunity to play younger rather than a younger actress playing a role of an older woman.
I’m honestly kind of impressed by how many films she does a year. Are there any other actors who do big films at the same rate?
I am generally surprised at her actual age because she seems like she is already in her 30s to me. I don’t think it is a stretch for her to play 32 at all. I am sick of her though and would like to see someone else in the role.
Ugh, just Ugh. I work in the industry that Ms. Holmes tried to revolutionize with her non-compliant, ultra-secretive Edison machine and nanotubes. She doesn’t need to be glorified. Theranos’ analyzers put out laboratory results that doctors relied on to give specific treatment and it turns out many of those results weren’t accurate. No amount of Steve Jobs drag can make up for the shortcomings of shit that doesn’t work.
Ugh.
/END RANT
She is literally cast for every female lead no matter the age. I’m so tired of seeing her in everything, it becomes boring even if the story is interesting.
She had two films last year, two films this year, and it looks like she’ll have the same the next two years…she’s really not gobbling up all the roles. Especially when you consider she’s played the same 2 roles across 7 of her recent films. There’s plenty on the table for her peers.
Most people can’t tell the difference between a 25 year old and a 30 year old woman.
I think everyone needs to calm down….a 7 year age difference is not that much.
THIS.
I look exactly the same when I was 24 and I am 29 now. I always laugh when people tell me that I look “young” for my age and I could pass for 23-25…ugh, ok. You shouldn’t look that different at 29-30 unless you have severe sun damage and live a hard party lifestyle, i.e. Lindsay Lohan.
Plus, Elizabeth Holmes is 32 now, meaning J-law would be playing her in the business development years, when she was in her 20’s, so there shouldn’t be any outrage here.
Exactly. If holmes started the company in 2003 she would have been 19 or 20…
I’m pretty sure I saw her (J-law)last weekend in Montreal while on vacation, she seemed very low key and to be keeping a very low profile … I do believe she values her privacy which is why I didn’t bother her…. Overall, I like her as an actress and think it’s great that she’s had soooo much success so early on in her career….
See I’d be slightly insulted because it’s like you think I look older than my age.
Big mistake. She needs to do something different from Joy.
What’s up with the black turtleneck in Holmes photos? It’s almost like if you want to be seen as successful you MUST dress like Steve Jobs lol
The real question is do we really need a movie about Elizabeth Holmes? And the answer is no. Theraonos and Edison are all smoke and mirrors. The value of the company has plummeted and they’ve recently had to invalidate two years worth of tests results. If anything EH should act as a cautionary tale about what happens with unchecked hype.
Also it seems that recently Holmes has been trying to morph into Marissa Meyer, another over hyped media darling.
I don’t expect this movie to be a flattering biopic. McKay likes blackly comic morality tales like his last film, The Big Short.
Kirsten Dunst would have been an excellent choice for this. I really wish she’d get more prestige/big roles: after watching her in Fargo and Melancholia I’ve really started rooting for her.
Studios want Adam McKay to make more black comedy-drama like The Big Short. It’s highly unlikely that this will be a ‘super serious’ drama.
Lawrence is possibly being cast in a new movie? What role is Bradley Cooper going to play?
Jlaw and her ascension reminds me of Rihanna back in 07-09 ….just walk with me here
Jlaw it seems have the Hollywood gods and goddesses really pushing her down in everyone’s throat and then have her counter that over saturation after taste with tales of sh*tting her self like NORMAL PPL YAL…
some would say Rihanna’s work 09′ and older was mediocre and this last album was mehhh… but she STAYS winning (the industry wants her to win)….. she’s offered #ALLTHESONGS I would say maybe more than bey (don’t sting me yal) but yeah its like over saturation at times…. but then we’ll hear a story of rockstarness or human moments and be like wow she’s like our YOUNG CRAZY SELF YAL…. but yeah
idk…. at least with rih I buy it… she seems more like herself just saturated at times than dorrito fart everday girl millionaire non-age specific role playing trip-2/3x for giggles jlaw