by Rich Cline
Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence
Essentially the only stars of their lost-in-space romantic thriller Passengers, Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt make such a strong on-screen pairing that it's surprising no one thought of it before.
"I had actually tried to work with him before," Lawrence says. "This wasn't the first attempt I'd made because I'm a huge fan. I thought he was hilarious in Parks and Recreation, then when I saw him in Guardians of the Galaxy, he's a movie star. So when it finally came together with Passengers, yeah, I was really excited."
Chris chimes in that, "When I read the script originally, my manager said, 'I want you to picture Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role.' And I was like, 'Yeah, right!' But it ruined the movie for anyone else who would try, because when I read it I was like, 'Oh my God, this movie has to be Jennifer Lawrence, and if you're going to let me do this movie and she would be willing to do this movie, oh my, that would be the greatest thing in history!' And she did it and I couldn't believe it. I got to work with her, and now she's my best friend!"
On the promotional trail for the film, they have entertained journalists with a continual stream of pranks and jokes. "We have a very similar sense of humour," Pratt says. "And she's very real, which is so rare now. Jen doesn't really promote herself, so she'll burp in the middle of a press tour interview or fall down at the Oscars, and everyone knows about it. She takes her work very seriously, but she doesn't take herself seriously."
With Passengers, Lawrence had to shoot her first sex scene, which she called bizarre. "It was really weird," she says. "It was going to be my first time kissing a married man, and guilt is the worst feeling in your stomach. I knew it was my job, but I couldn't tell my stomach that. You want to do it real, you want everything to be real."
"Aside from doing a great job and telling a good story, I think your primary goal is to make the other person comfortable," Pratt says of shooting those kinds of scenes. "She wanted to have some wine to relax, so we did, and that was nice."
And since they're both part of the Marvel Comics universe, Lawrence is hoping they get another chance to work together. "I won't be Mystique in another X-Men movie," she says, "but I would love to be Mystique in Guardians of the Galaxy! I wonder if I could do that."