After taking a break from acting for a few years because she felt she wasn’t “pumping out the quality” she should have (with X-Men: Dark Phoenix factoring into that belief), Jennifer Lawrence returned to cinematic territory last year with Don’t Look Up, which is streamable with a Netflix subscription. Nearly a year later, Apple TV+ subscribers will soon be able to watch Lawrence in the psychological drama Causeway, and that will be followed next year by No Hard Feelings. However, the upcoming movie Bad Blood is no longer on the horizon for the actress, and Lawrence explained why she dropped out of playing Elizabeth Holmes.
Back in 2016, it was announced that Jennifer McKay and writer/director Adam McKay were teaming together for Bad Blood, which is based on the same-named 2018 book about Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced CEO of the health technology company Theranos. Since then, Hulu subscribers have seen Amanda Seyfried play Holmes in the limited series The Dropout, and Lawrence informed New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan that Seyfried’s performance is the reason why she’s no longer doing Bad Blood. As Lawrence put it:
I thought she was terrific. I was like, 'Yeah, we don't need to redo that.' She did it.
So because Amanda Seyfried played Elizabeth Holmes so well in Jennifer Lawrence’s eyes (and many other people, considering she won an Emmy for that performance), the Hunger Games actress didn’t feel like it was worth her trying to put her own spin on Holmes. Lawrence added that she did try Holmes by trying on “a hundred outfits” involving black turtlenecks, but she ended up just looking like Seyfried or late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It’s ironic she mentioned the latter considering that Bad Blood was acquired by Apple Original Films in December 2021.
So after over half a decade of planning to play Elizabeth Holmes, Jennifer Lawrence has bid farewell to the role. What does this mean for Bad Blood? Presumably Adam McKay still intends to make the movie and will simply have to find another actress to replace Lawrence. Granted, it’s possible that McKay might feel the same way as Lawrence about tackling this project after seeing The Dropout, but I imagine Apple is still keen on getting Bad Blood off the ground.
Besides, there’s room for Bad Blood to expand beyond what was covered in the original book and The Dropout. In January 2022, Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors, three of those concerning wire fraud, and the final one for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She’ll be sentenced on November 18. If Adam McKay is willing to rework the Bad Blood script in the near future and Apple is willing to wait a little longer, that could provide enough material to improve its chances of standing out.
Jennifer Lawrence fans will be able to watch her in Causeway starting Friday, and No Hard Feelings is slated for June 16, 2023. Find out what other 2023 new movie releases are on the way and keep checking back with us for updates on Lawrence’s career.
