Even though it’s only been a little over a decade since she scored her breakthrough role in Winter’s Bone, Jennifer Lawrence is already regarded as one of her generation’s finest actors.
Of course, that tends to come with the territory when somebody wins an Academy Award from four nominations, scoops three Golden Globes, and plays a pivotal role in two multi-billion dollar blockbuster franchises before even turning 30, but success wasn’t handed to her on a plate.
In fact, Lawrence had her eyes on several parts that would have given her career a significant boost in its early days, not that it prevented her from rising to the top in the long run. Prime among them was Twilight, after she auditioned for the role of Bella Swan, which would ultimately go to Kristen Stewart.
Not that she believed she was in with a genuine shot, though, after regaling The Rewatchables podcast with her story: “I auditioned for Twilight, they turned me down immediately,” she said. “I didn’t even get a call back. But my life would have been totally different. I got Hunger Games, I think, like a year later.”
Lawrence also had her eyes on the part of Jules in Superbad. She didn’t get that one, either, but it did go on to serve as a launchpad for the person who eventually secured the gig, with Emma Stone ironically becoming one of Lawrence’s closest friends in Hollywood.
David Fincher’s exhaustive casting search for his Lisbeth Sander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake also drew Lawrence into its orbit, with virtually every nameworthy star of a certain age under consideration. She didn’t even make it to the final four in the end, with Rooney Mara winning out over Sophie Lowe, Sarah Snook, and Léa Seydoux, as Entertainment Weekly revealed.
Winter’s Bone may have been the film that outlined her credentials as a star-in-waiting, but it was a combination of X-Men and The Hunger Games that transformed Lawrence into a global superstar, something she acknowledged may not have even happened had she been hired for another multi-film series beforehand.
Reflecting on her desire to alternate between effects-heavy studio epics and character-driven dramas, she was actively “trying to counteract the franchise-ness,” which she suggests wouldn’t have been possible “if I was in Twilight“.
Not that she immediately signed on to play Katniss Everdeen in the quartet of literary adaptations, either, with the prospect of experiencing “a Twilight level of fame” leading her to deliberate over the decision to commit years of her life to a single property.
With Twilight and Superbad releasing before Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class, or The Hunger Games, Lawrence’s career path could have turned out completely differently had she landed one or both of them, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was also planned to be the first chapter in a trilogy before those plans were ultimately abandoned.
