No Hard Feelings may be a few years old at this point, but it is still on people's minds thanks to being available as one of Hulu's more sexually explicit releases. To be fair, the movie is really funny, and like many raunchy comedy movies before it -- I'm looking at you Old School -- Jennifer Lawrence absolutely plays the nudity for laughs. It's a refreshing take, and one of the many reasons to love Lawrence, but did she actually drop trou to film the flick's streaking scenes herself?
If you haven't seen the movie yet, the actress has one of the most awkward nude scenes I've personally seen in a movie. She's literally naked on a public beach, which means her character really lays it all out there. It's no wonder many viewers were left asking whether she used a body double during filming. I know it takes some tough nerves to say yes to something like this.
The answer though is: She did not. No substitutes, no stand-ins. It's all Jennifer, all the time, and she has opened up about the experience of baring it all for the scene. Let's break down what the actress has said before you throw it on with your Hulu subscription.
Did Jennifer Lawrence Really Film Nude For No Hard Feelings?
In No Hard Feelings, the actress stars as Maddie Barker, an Uber driver and gig worker who is in a financial bind. Because of this, she agrees to date the socially awkward son of a wealthy couple in exchange for a brand-new set of wheels. This son is played by Andrew Barth Feldman, an actor with a mop of curly hair who is 12 years Lawrence's junior. She was born in 1990; he's a Noughties baby born in 2002.
The age gap is key to making the plot feel as "icky" as possible, and as the story unfolds, it leads to a memorable skinny-dipping escapade and an unforgettable showdown on a beach in the buff that plays into the movie again later on. The scene made headlines upon release and the No Hard Feelings cast even responded to its "icky" premise.
In Hollywood, it can be a big decision to bare oneself so fully onscreen. Actresses like Emilia Clarke have expressed regrets about filming scenes sans clothes in the past, and it's certainly something actresses factor in before signing on the dotted line. Regardless, it's a job Lawrence didn't hesitate to take on. She said (via Variety):
Everyone in my life and my team is doing the right thing and going, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?’ I didn’t even have a second thought. It was hilarious to me.
It probably helped the nudity in No Hard Feelings is played for comedy and not meant to be taken super seriously. In fact, Lawrence's younger co-star Feldman noted the movie always felt completely "safe" while filming, given the nature of any scenes involving the human body. He said in the same interview:
Every situation that these characters end up in, you’re laughing your butt off.
The ease on set likely helped, but Jennifer Lawrence's choice to embrace her natural self on screen is not all that surprising. The move comes years after she opened up about understanding "the two sides of this job" as an actor: the business and the artistic. She tries to make choices that serve both.
Still, she knows those choices are not always popular with everyone. In 2025, Jennifer Lawrence also addressed the viewers who may not have liked that No Hard Feelings featured some instances of nudity, saying she's "definitely not bothered by people who are bothered by nudity." After all, as she pointed out, now that these movies are streaming, her audiences can always choose to fast forward.
Jennifer Lawrence Was Nude Onscreen Before And After No Hard Feelings
No Hard Feelings was not the first time the actress agreed to appear sans clothing onscreen. She had previously bared it all in Red Sparrow, marking her first full-frontal scene, though her comedic release has been more the talk of tinseltown. It wouldn't mark her last scene of this ilk.
In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she openly shared her experience with nudity, emphasizing the sense of liberation she felt. When asked in 2018 why she decided to do nudity despite prior statements, the actress responded in the most JLaw way during her conversation with the former daytime talk show host.
Finally, just got hot, you know? [laughing] No, it was really an amazing script and story to me. I loved the character, and I just didn't want to miss out on it because of, like, my weird insecurities. So I did it. And on that day, it was really lovely.
In fact, Lawrence's attitude toward not taking herself overly seriously is refreshing for a Hollywood actress. It's worth pointing out she's actually been pregnant twice before filming these types of scenes, once for No Hard Feelings and once for Die My Love, which also featured a nude scene she filmed during Day 1 on set. She said the first time she was pregnant in 2022 her body "bounced back" before No Hard Feelings, but then after being pregnant ahead of Die My Love "nothing bounced back." But she made the choice to dive back in, anyway.
Jennifer's candor regarding her choice to do nude scenes in movies like these showcases her confidence and fearlessness as an actress. It reminds me that actors, as artists, often need to venture beyond their comfort zones to portray characters authentically. Sometimes, the work calls for actors to engage in a beach brawl while in their birthday suits and then eat grilled cheese in between takes. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, I guess.
