Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss are Soulmates

The Chicago Sun Times interviewed Jennifer Lawrence.

"The Kentucky native and Oscar nominee admits the project made her cringe. “My first thought was, ‘Great. Here’s another book that Hollywood will screw up,’ ” says the husky-voiced young actress.
So what if the establishment — the Hollywood suits — might not appreciate her blunt honesty? Just like her character Katniss Everdeen, Lawrence is nothing if not upfront and in your face.
Ask whether impending superstardom is happening too fast, and she just throws her hands in the air.
“When you get a promotion at your job, you never say, ‘That was too fast. Can I stay in the mailroom?’ You take it gratefully,” she counters. “I’m as ready as I can be.”Then she laughs and gives her bluntly honest assessment. “Mostly, I’m clueless,” says Lawrence, who adds, “Every time, I pass a ‘Hunger Games’ poster, my entire body breaks out into goosebumps.”The 21-year-old native of Kentucky looks tough enough to take it on.
“I couldn’t have been more wrong about Hollywood screwing this one up because we didn’t,” she says in a defiant voice. “Everyone involved in this film was a fan of the books. We vowed not to make a watered-down version of a great story.”Lawrence might have had an Oscar nomination under her belt for an obscure film called “Winter’s Bone,” but that didn’t mean she was a lock for a role coveted by other accomplished actresses including Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”), Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) and Saoirse Ronan (“Hanna”).
“Hell, yes, I was competitive about it,” Lawrence insists. “For me, it has nothing to do with being a better actor. I’m not better than those other girls.“This role was just me. It was a little bit like Katniss and I were soulmates.”Director Gary Ross says Lawrence is the kind of actress Hollywood sees once every 10 years.“She actually has subtlety,” he says. “I don’t even understand where she gets it. But in the end, I was directing this girl in awe of her at the same time. One day I actually said, ‘Where do you come from? Where do you get this?’ She said, ‘I don’t know, I had a very ordinary childhood.’ ”Known for the long braid in her hair and the bow and arrow on her back, Katniss is one of 23 “tributes,” or teens fighting for their lives, in the film version of Suzanne Collins’ futuristic best-seller.
“I knew I could read the lines and say them without forcing anything. I could speak as this character,” she says. “There are a lot of scripts where I simply can’t find those words. There are no way those words can come out of my mouth and feel natural.”“Katniss is a girl I can understand.”"

Read the rest of the article at the  Sun Times.