Steven Spielberg to Direct Jennifer Lawrence as War Photographer Lynsey Addario

By  · Published on March 3rd, 2015

Jennifer Lawrence

The Weinstein Company

Steven Spielberg was once attached to direct American Sniper, a movie produced by Andrew Lazar about a man with an impeccable eye who is serving in the Iraq War and who is played by one of the stars of Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Serena. Now he’s attached to a movie about a woman with an impeccable eye who is covering the War in Afghanistan and who will be played by one of the stars of Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Serena. The actress for the new project is Jennifer Lawrence, and the photojournalist she’ll portray is Lynsey Addario.

According to The Wrap, Warner Bros. won a bidding war for rights to Addario’s memoir, “It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War,” and Spielberg and Lawrence are currently on board for the adaptation, which will also be titled It’s What I Do. The movie is described as a “romantic drama,” which fits the “love” part of the book’s title. Presumably we’ll hear about another star, then, to play Addario’s husband, Reuters reporter Paul de Bendern (for now you can watch their wedding ceremony on YouTube). Much of the plot will likely focus on her dangerous work, however, including the events of her imprisonment by the Libyan government in 2011.

Reportedly, Lawrence beat out Reese Witherspoon, Margot Robbie and Natalie Portman for the part. Lawrence is pretty young for the role, but she’s good enough to make up for the difference – even if she doesn’t look old enough, as in her Oscar-winning performance in American Hustle. She has a lot of material to watch in order to help her portray Addario, too. There’s her appearance on The Daily Show last week, for instance, discussing journalist covering ISIS. There’s also this video from National Geographic of her presenting her images of the effect of the war on women and civilians:

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Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.