Is Jennifer Lawrence in Dumb and Dumber, or isn’t she?
This unusual casting controversy has been brewing for the past few days, ever since Peter Farrelly confirmed during a Dumber press event that the cameo Jennifer Lawrence was supposed to film for the comedy fell apart. "Jennifer was in Atlanta when we were working down there, doing The Hunger Games, and a couple times – because we’re friends with Woody Harrelson – we got together with them," he told us. "We talked about trying to work it in, but we weren’t able to do it."
Is that the end of the story? Not exactly. THR is going on record to say that Lawrence "shot the scene in Georgia last fall," but that the Oscar winner "retained the right to nix it if she didn't like it -- a right that she exercised." The trade admits that the Farrellys AND Lawrence’s camp deny that this happened. But they stand by the report.
What is happening? We think we know. But we’ll hide the explanation after the Dumb and Dumber trailer, because it talks openly about a scene late in Dumber, and some might view it as a spoiler.
OK, so, the scene in question is a flashback to an evening where young Lloyd (also played by Jim Carrey) sleeps with young Fraida Felcher, who was supposed to be played by Jennifer Lawrence. They are at some place called Oyster Swallow Cove, and Carrey says he wants to wear "protection." Then he puts a biking helmet on his head, and he makes out with young Fraida. Only, the scene in question reeks of a reshoot. We never see the face of the actress playing young Fraida in the film’s final cut. We can only see the back of her head, and the hair looks dark and long (not unlike Jennifer Lawrence’s cut in The Hunger Games).
What probably happened is that Lawrence filmed the scene, but changed her mind (for whatever reason). I can’t guess why. The scene isn’t wildly offensive. The film isn’t great, but it’s better than, say, House at the End of the Street. And exercising her veto power is a little diva-ish… which I don’t think fits Lawrence. She seems more than willing to roll with a bad joke in a sequel to a movie she claims to adore.
But when you see the scene in question in Dumb and Dumber, the way that it is staged and shot suggests that something funny went down. Not "funny ha ha," but "funny strange."
