Jennifer Lawrence praises ‘troublemaker’ Patricia Arquette at Women in Film pre-Oscar party
Jennifer Lawrence speaks at the ninth annual Women in Film pre-Oscar cocktail party in Los Angeles on Friday.
Called to the stage for impromptu remarks at Friday’s pre-Oscar party staged by Women in Film, Jennifer Lawrence declared herself “a huge fan” of the previous speaker, Patricia Arquette. She noted that in prior years, she played a younger version of the outspoken actress.
“I love that she stood up,” Lawrence told the gathering at Hyde Sunset Kitchen + Cocktails in Los Angeles. “We’re starting a conversation. We’re getting a dialogue going.”
She also expressed support for mentoring, a topic broached by another speaker, screenwriter Andrea Berloff, nominated for “Straight Outta Compton,” before wrapping up with a chant.
“Equal pay for women!” said the leading actress nominee for “Joy,” before handing the microphone back to Cathy Schulman, WIF president and an Oscar-winning producer of “Crash.”
In her talk, Arquette recalled her 2015 acceptance speech after capturing the supporting actress Oscar for her role in “Boyhood.”
“I made a little bit of a wave, troublemaker that I am, when I talked about pay equality [for female actors] because I was winning this award because I was playing a single mom taking care of her kids” she said. “So when I was talking about pay equality, it wasn’t just about Hollywood, it was really the bigger picture, about all women in America.”
And Arquette didn’t confine her concerns to pay equality. Continuing, she said, “Karma has come to roost now, and it’s not going to let cops kill black boys. It’s not going to let us screw up the planet. Global warning is going to say, ‘No more.’ ‘Black Lives Matter’ is going to say, ‘No more.’ We’re going to see videos, and we’re going to talk about pay equality once and for all, and we’re going to deal with these issues and clean up our act.”
She ended by calling on the crowd to sign a petition to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, which Lawrence said she’d check out as soon as she got home.
The affair honored female Oscar nominees — this year numbering 51 — with more than 30 gatherings to chat over Champagne, hors d’oeuvres and a light buffet supper.
Michelle Monaghan of “Source Code” said she’d come to this party the previous year as well, as she enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with colleagues. She said Berloff, standing beside her, also had written one of her upcoming films, “Sleepless Night.”
Seated opposite a fireplace with Diane Warren, Frances Fisher of “Outlaws and Angels” pointed out that the Songwriting Hall-of-Famer’s nomination for the original song “Til It Happens to You,” written with Lady Gaga for “The Hunting Ground,” was Warren’s eighth Oscar nomination. Fisher then held up crossed fingers for this year’s hopes of a win.
Among others in the star-studded crowd were supporting actress nominees Alicia Vikander and Jennifer Jason Leigh; lead actress nominee Charlotte Rampling, actors Lake Bell, Alicia Silverstone, Maria Bello, Alysia Reiner, Amy Landecker, Kate Walsh and Kate Flannery, actor Josh Gad and director Tom Hooper.
The affair was presented by Max Mara, BMW, MAC Cosmetics, Perrier-Jouët and Fiji Water.
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