Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has shared a series of startling revelations about accidentally taking the wrong prescription medication during the filming of two of her biggest blockbuster movies.
Red Sparrow Adderall Incident
The 35-year-old star disclosed that in 2017, while preparing to shoot the spy thriller Red Sparrow, she intended to take a sleeping pill but mistakenly took an Adderall, a stimulant typically used to treat ADHD. "Then I didn't sleep all night and I was taking hot showers, panic, because I am not somebody who can function without sleep," Lawrence recalled during a conversation on CNN/Variety's Actors on Actors segment.
She described the particularly challenging consequence of her sleepless, medicated state: having to deliver a complex line in a convincing Russian accent. "And then I had to say 'senate arms services committee' in a Russian accent. That sucked," she groaned.
Earlier Ambien Confusion on Hunger Games Set
This was not the first such mishap in Lawrence's career. Five years earlier, in 2012, the Kentucky-born actress accidentally took the sleep aid Ambien "thinking it was something else" just before filming a crucial scene for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The scene in question was the elaborate Capitol party dance sequence, which she performed alongside the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. "I was hallucinating," Lawrence admitted. Her altered state led to confusion on set, where she repeatedly questioned director Francis Lawrence about the scene's meaning.
This frustrated her co-star, Elizabeth Banks. "Maybe she didn't know that I was on an Ambien, but I kept asking the director, 'Wait, and what does this mean? Wait, and what does this mean and what does that mean?'" Lawrence explained. "And she just threw her sides and was just like, 'Fine, let's just keep talking about it!'"
DiCaprio, Titanic Poisoning and Future Projects
During the same wide-ranging interview, Lawrence turned the tables on her fellow Oscar winner, Leonardo DiCaprio, grilling him about a notorious 1996 incident where over 50 members of the Titanic cast and crew were accidentally poisoned by PCP-laced lobster chowder. DiCaprio, who famously starred in the film, revealed he "wasn't there" for the event and shockingly confessed, "I haven't seen [Titanic]." Lawrence promptly urged him to watch it, insisting "it's so good!"
The pair, who headlined Netflix's Don't Look Up in 2021, confirmed they are teaming up again for Martin Scorsese's upcoming horror film, What Happens at Night. DiCaprio also jokingly advised Lawrence to "buy a DVD player" to keep up with the reference films the 83-year-old director Scorsese is known to provide.
Both actors are currently in the awards spotlight. DiCaprio is nominated for a Critics Choice Award and a Golden Globe for his role in One Battle After Another. Lawrence has received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Die My Love.
In other news, it was reported on December 10 that Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will reprise their iconic roles as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the 2026 Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping. Furthermore, Apple Original Films has acquired a murder mystery titled The Wives, which the self-proclaimed Bravo TV enthusiast will both star in and produce.
