JLaw’s next role: Playing this real-life war photographer who’s changing the world
America’s Bestie Jennifer Lawrence has many, many talents: she’s an AMAZE actress, she gives GREAT interview, she make a red carpet a MILLION times more fun, and BOY, does she know how to pick a role. Her latest part, announced this week, will undoubtedly shine a light on her own on-screen versatility—but it will also turn the spotlight on the talents of Lynsey Addario, the real-life female war photographer J-Law will be portraying.
Lawrence just signed on to play the Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Addario’s memoir It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life Of Love and War,
If you don’t know of Addario and her work, it’s time you get educated fast. Addario is super-important photographer who came into prominence in 2000 for her work photographing Afghanistan under Taliban control. In the past 15 year, she has shot for The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, reporting on conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, the Congo, and Haiti. Her work has never been easy, and has often put her right in the crossfire. She was involved in an automobile accident in Pakistan in 2009, and in 2011, she, along with four other journalists, was held captive by the Libyan government, during which time she was threatened with death and sexually assaulted. In 2008, Addario was awarded a Pulitzer prize for her work in Waziristan, and in 2009 Addario was the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” grant.
When interviewed a few years ago for Canadian Business, Addario was asked what goes through her head when photographing in conflict, and this was her honest reply:
“That I hope I don’t get shot; that I don’t get hit by shrapnel. But I want to ensure that I’m able to cover the story effectively and dramatically, because the only pictures people look at have drama and tension in them. It’s tough to cover a war without combat, so you have to position yourself and get in the thick of things.”
Yes, this definitely sounds like a woman whose story is movie-worthy. In celebration of the extraordinary life and work of Lynsey Addario, here’s a glimpse at some of the incredible images she’s taken through the years:
Check out more of Addario’s incredibly powerful coverage—from Isis in Iraq to Syrian refugee brides—at her website, LynseyAddario.com.
(Images by Lynsey Addario, John Moore, and Via)
