Jennifer Lawrence “wanted to kill” Harvey Weinstein after the news of his sexual assault scandal

When Jennifer Lawrence worked with Harvey Weinstein on her 2012 movie Silver Linings Playbook, she says she dealt with the producer’s occasional meaness by “[calling] him an asshole” and getting back to work. But in a new interview with 60 Minutes, the Red Sparrow star says in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations surfacing against Weinstein, her once-ambivalent attitude toward him has, understandably, shifted.

Lawrence told 60 Minutes that though Weinstein was never inappropriate when they worked together, the behavior he’s been accused of is “criminal and deplorable.” And she took her anger a step further:

"When it came out and I heard about it, I wanted to kill him," she said. "The way he destroyed so many women’s lives. I want to see him in jail."

The Weinstein story actually first broke when Lawrence was sitting down with Oprah for another interview for the Hollywood Reporter. In that one, and the 60 Minutes sit-down, Lawrence talked about one of her own personal experiences with feeling sexually violated: When her nude photos were hacked and distributed in 2014. Her role in Red Sparrow marks the first time Lawrence says she’s felt comfortable taking on a sexy part since going through that trauma. The nudity in Red Sparrow, Lawrence says, was actually empowering for her. As she went on to say in the 60 Minutes interview, the experience of owning her own body in this way in the movie “took the power out of having [her] body taken from [her].”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AILdxxWf3g0?feature=oembed

The interview covered Lawrence’s childhood and start in acting, too. She talked about knowing she wanted to pursue a Hollywood career and dropping out of middle school, as well as her efforts to combat corruption and inspire the next generation to be politically active.

Lawrence is fighting for a brighter future and, as she told Oprah in her Hollywood Reporter feature, she’s optimistic that the current conversations about injustice will help us get there. “I’m sad by the women’s stories, but I’m excited by the change that’s going to come from it. The rule book is being rewritten right now,” Lawrence said. Here’s hoping that new rulebook keeps men like Weinstein from ever abusing their power again.