“But what I really want to do is direct,” is an adage somewhat commonplace for movie stars. A great many have found success behind the camera- Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood and Jodie Foster to name a few. Jennifer Lawrence, the Oscar-winning actress whose starred in movies as varied as Winter’s Bone, Silver Linings Playbook and the astronomically successful Hunger Games franchise, seems poised to follow suit.
Lawrence, currently touting The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and soon to appear in the awards hopeful Joy, appears to have specific subject in mind to make her directorial debut- a black comedy entitled Project Delirium. Adapted from “Operation Delirium,” an article first published in The New Yorker by Raffi Khatchadourian in 2012, Project Delirium would be set in the 1960s focusing on an acid experiment gone awry. Lawrence spoke to Entertainment Weekly on her hopes to go behind the camera for the first time.
I’d also like to direct a comedy. I have wanted to direct as long as I’ve wanted to act. I just don’t talk about it because I’d rather just do it. I’ve signed on to direct something called Project Delirium — it’s based on this article about mental warfare in the ’60s, like an acid experiment gone terribly wrong. It’s funny, I’ve wanted to direct since I was 16 and always thought I should start making steps towards that. If I had tried to do it earlier, I wouldn’t have been ready. Now I actually feel ready. My passion for directing happened at the same time it did for acting on my first movie. So I would love to direct – but I don’t want to suck.
If plans come to fruition, Project Delirium would mark quite an ambitious debut for the 25-year-old superstar. The New Yorker piece examined the military career of Col James S. Ketchum, a psychiatrist who during the Cold War tested psychochemicals that could inhibit the minds of soldiers on the war field. These drugs included LSD. So, Project Delirium would be a black comedy for sure, with a logline that reads somewhere between Dr. Strangelove and The Men Who Stare at Goats. The project appears to be gaining financing through 2929 Entertainment with Lawrence producing along with partner Justin Ciarrocchi- it doesn’t appear she will act in the film. The next phase for the film includes finding a screenwriter.
The bigger question mark may be when Lawrence will have the time to make her directorial debut. Even with Hunger Games duties nearly complete, the actress has a lot of projects in the works. Joy, her third collaboration with director David O. Russell (Silver Linings, American Hustle) hits theaters on Christmas Day, plus she’ll soon appear in X-Men: Apocalypse (reprising her role of Mystique) and is currently filming the science fiction drama Passengers alongside Chris Pratt (Jurassic World). Plus, there’s three other enticing projects in the works: an untitled Darren Aronosky project, It’s What I Do (a bio of war photographer Lynsey Addario that Steven Spielberg is attached to direct) and comedy Lawrence is co-starring and co-scripting alongside Trainwreck star Amy Schumer.
We will stay tuned to the latest developments.
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