At the very top end of the movie business, actors take their craft very seriously. Method acting is becoming an increasingly contentious topic, with more and more top Hollywood stars speaking up against it. Still, there are those who know no other way to act than to immerse themselves completely into their character. Heath Ledger was one of the most famous method actors, with Christopher Bale, Jared Leto and Shia LaBeouf among living stars who have taken the process to extreme lengths.Even so, most top level actors barely hold back when it comes to preparing for a role, despite not going full-on method. One common practice in the industry involves either losing or putting on weight for a movie or TV show. Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson have all gone down this path. Brendan Fraser is one of the latest to do so, having gained some weight for his role in The Whale.When they’re not pushing themselves to the limit for a role, actors are usually passing along a set of demands to “facilitate their work.” When Uma Thurman was to feature in the movie Eloise in Paris, for instance, she reportedly had such an extensive and exacting list of demands that the production ended up shutting down.Things didn't quite go that far when Jennifer Lawrence starred in Darren Aronofsky’s mother!. Still, she had a very unorthodox request that involved watching episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in a tent on set.
Director Darren Aronofsky Called Mother! A “Psychological Freak-Out”
Darren Aronofsky directed the psychological horror film mother! from a script he wrote. The movie made its premiere at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in September 2017. That same month, the director was interviewed by The Guardian, where he described the film as “a psychological freak-out” that “shouldn’t be over-explained.”
“Yeah, well, that’s the journey,” said Aronofsky. “I think it’s OK to be confused. The movie has a dream-logic and that dream-logic makes sense. But if you try to unscrew it, it kind of falls apart.”
Mother! told the story of a young woman (played by Jennifer Lawrence) who lives with her husband (Javier Bardem) in a secluded house in the middle of a vast, idyllic landscape. The woman spends her days refurbishing and decorating the house, while her husband struggles to come up with new ideas for his writing.
One day, a stranger (Ed Harris) arrives at their door, claiming to have mistaken their house for a bed and breakfast. The stranger’s wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) soon arrives as well, and chaos begins to ensue.
Jennifer Lawrence Is a Massive Fan Of The Kardashians
Jennifer Lawrence has long held a very soft spot for the Kardashian family. As a matter of fact, she has often been vocal about her admiration for and close friendship with Kris Jenner. About three years after filming mother!, Lawrence fulfilled a dream when she actually got to feature in an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. That particular episode was Legally Brunette, the fifth of the series’ Season 16 in May 2019.
In this specific installment of KUWTK, Khloé Kardashian and Scott Disick had been attempting to reach out to Jenner via FaceTime. Instead, they were confronted by J-Law in her debut on the show. “This is Jennifer f***in’ Lawrence, that’s who you’re talking to,” she proclaimed.
When Disick insisted on talking to Jenner instead, Lawrence retorted: “I am the new Kris!” She also teased the pair, telling them: “I’m gonna be real… We wouldn’t be having this much fun if you guys were here [in person].” She wrapped up by telling Khloé that she was very proud of her.
Jennifer Lawrence Demanded A Tent And KUWTK Episodes On The Set Of Mother!
It was this affection for the Kardashians and their show that drove Jennifer Lawrence towards setting the very odd condition that she did on the set of mother!. Essentially, she asked the crew to set up a unique tent for her. In it, she also wanted to have a laptop where she could watch back-to-back episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
The demand was also driven by a desire to find some respite from the dark material she was having to process while working on the movie. The actress spoke about the extent of the film’s eerie undertones when she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in September 2017.
“I had to do this one scene, and I hadn’t gone that dark before, I had never done something that horrifying,” she told Fallon. “I started getting scared a couple days before so I was like, ‘I need a tent to keep away from all the extras because I didn’t know what I would do.’ It was just a computer that was playing the Kardashians and had headshots, and it also had notes to me from them that I had written.”