Jennifer Lawrence is most definitely reclaiming her sexuality, and felt empowered by the nude scenes in “Red Sparrow”

One of the taglines for upcoming spy drama Red Sparrow is “Take Back Control.” And that’s exactly what star Jennifer Lawrence says she’s done by playing the role of badass ballerina-turned-human-weapon Dominika Egorova.

The Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence says her choice to play such an erotically charged part and bare it all in nude scenes has helped her own her body and her sexuality again after the 2014 photo hack left her feeling violated, per a new interview with British magazine Total Film.

Back in December, The Hollywood Reporter published a conversation between Lawrence and Oprah in which the Hunger Games star said that ever since her private photos were hacked and distributed online, she’s felt uncomfortable taking on sexier roles in her career. “I just thought, ‘I’ll never do that again,’” Lawrence told Oprah. “‘I’ll never share that part of myself ever since it got shared against my will.’”

Now, in Red Sparrow, she’s playing Egorova, a dancer in danger of losing everything who becomes a highly trained intelligence agent who seduces targets.

As Lawrence told Total Film, the experience flipped an important switch in her.

"My character is told to strip in front of the class, and I had to strip in front of a class and an entire crew," Lawrence says in the interview out this week. "I worked myself up [about the scene], I was really nervous. But [director] Francis [Lawrence] made me feel so much more comfortable. Everybody made me feel like I had clothes on. And then when I finished, I just walked out feeling empowered. I felt amazing."

Take back control. See #RedSparrow in theaters March 2. pic.twitter.com/a9nv2nlZT3

— Red Sparrow (@RedSparrowMovie) February 6, 2018

The decision to share her body with the public was Lawrence’s this time and, to her, that made all the difference.

"It was never my choice for the world to see my naked body. I didn’t get to make that decision. In doing this film, in doing this for my art…I really felt, I still feel, empowered," she said. "I feel like I took something back that was taken from me."

That reclaiming of power definitely shines through in all the dramatic footage that’s been released so far for Red Sparrow, and we’re hoping the experience continues to boost Lawrence’s confidence and feeling of ownership of her sexuality as she considers future roles. The hackers may have taken something from Lawrence a few years ago, but now, she seems stronger than ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmUL6wMpMWw?feature=oembed

We can’t wait to see that strength light up the big screen when Red Sparrow hits theaters on March 2nd.