Jennifer Lawrence is an American actress and producer who is widely known for her roles in films such as The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, and the X-Men series. She recently starred in the spy thriller, Red Sparrow, alongside Joel Edgerton and Matthias Schoenaerts. The film follows a Russian intelligence officer, Dominika Egorova (Lawrence), who is forced to become a “sparrow” agent after she suffers an injury during a ballet performance.
In order to prepare for her role in Red Sparrow, Lawrence had to undergo rigorous physical training to become a convincing ballerina. She took lessons from professional dancer Svetlana Zakharova, the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet.
According to Lawrence, she endured “six weeks of dance training [for] eight hours a day”. She also worked with choreographers Mandy Moore and Vincent Patterson to learn the choreography that was featured in the film.
The amount of physical effort that went into Lawrence’s preparation for Red Sparrow was immense. In addition to her dance training, she also went through hours of stunt work and physical conditioning to prepare for action sequences featured in the movie.
This included boxing, martial arts, and weightlifting. Her hard work paid off as her performance was praised by critics who noted that she “embodied [the] complex character” with ease and grace.
Overall, it can be said that Jennifer Lawrence put in the necessary effort to make sure that she could accurately portray a ballet dancer in Red Sparrow. While it is likely that she had some experience with ballet prior to shooting, it was clear that she had worked hard to perfect her technique so that she could be convincing onscreen. The combination of her dance training and physical preparation allowed her to bring life and depth to her character which made for an amazing performance overall.
In conclusion, yes Jennifer Lawrence had to learn ballet for Red Sparrow as part of her extensive preparation for the role. She underwent six weeks of dance training with professional dancers followed by hours of stunt work and physical conditioning which enabled her deliver an amazing performance on screen as Dominika Egorova.