Jennifer Lawrence sparks controversy by saying she was the first woman to lead an action movie

She made the bold statement during an Actors on Actors interview.

Jennifer Lawrence has claimed she was the first woman to lead in an action film for her role in the Hunger Games franchise. Joining Viola Davis in a Actors on Actors conversation for Variety, Lawrence proclaimed: “Nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie” before her role as Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games series. “We were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead,” the 32-year-old continued. “It just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every one of those beliefs, and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies. "To keep certain people in the same positions that they’ve always been in.” While Lawrence was seemingly trying to make the point that roles for women and men in Hollywood typically differ unfairly, the comments quickly went viral on social media. People were quick to point out that a "ton of other women were cast as female leads in action films" such as Linda Hamilton, Sigourney Weaver, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and Uma Thurman. https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/1600579424696549401?s=20&t=VgNz3MiR-8cqhuuufpycmA https://twitter.com/madelineefry/status/1600579899172995077 https://twitter.com/AGoldmund/status/1600656490850836480 https://twitter.com/MrErnestOwens/status/1600562906134761472 https://twitter.com/TheBrandonMorse/status/1600592218158469122 Another Twitter user had a screenshot of Variety’s since-deleted tweet, featuring Lawrence’s controversial assertion. https://twitter.com/miltimore79/status/1600544342371975195?s=20&t=mlbIvZh_m2nteS-DVqQ-Tg Some social media users did rush to defend the Oscar-winning actor. “Everyone’s dragging J-Law for this, but it’s pretty clear she’s sharing (with great derision) what was told to her and her team by studio execs, not what she thought at the time,” one fan wrote. https://twitter.com/AlishaGrauso/status/1600568731255459840 Another tweeted in her defense that the “controversy is stupid” surrounding the actor’s statement. "Yes, Jennifer Lawrence is wrong about female-led action movies, but her main thesis is correct," they said. "Engage with that, maybe you’ll learn something.” https://twitter.com/iWatchiAm/status/1600552961352282112 https://twitter.com/kendallybrown/status/1600633220881694723 You can watch Lawrence and Davis’ Actors on Actors segment below. Clip via Variety