Jennifer Lawrence by Nadia Cohen

Author:Nadia Cohen [Nadia Cohen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786060907
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2016-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

A POP STAR IN THE MAKING

One thing that Jennifer and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin have in common is a shared love of music, and it can be no coincidence that their romance started to blossom just as she recorded her first single – ‘The Hanging Tree’, a haunting folk song taken from the soundtrack of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.

For many actors, the moment that the last instalment of a franchise hits the cinemas can be a difficult stage in their career, as they find themselves wondering if they can continue their early success.

When the stars of Harry Potter, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, or Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson reached the end of the blockbuster film series that made them stars, they had to prove to Hollywood that they were more than just the lucky beneficiaries of can’t-miss roles, and battle to be taken seriously as adults, and not to be typecast in the same kind of roles.

Jennifer was not to be faced with that problem, however, thanks to strong performances in a variety of movies like X-Men, American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, as well as revealing hidden musical talents. On top of trying her hand at action, comedy and drama, she was also smart enough to branch out, setting her sights on the music world, after her debut release triumphed in the music charts around the world.

‘The Hanging Tree’ landed at Number 12 on America’s Billboard Hot 100, raking in more than 200,000 downloads within its first few days. It went on to sell over 1.1 million copies, and Jennifer also scored a Top 20 hit in the UK charts.

In the film, her character Katniss Everdeen performed the song she had learnt from her father. Her rendition the haunting, bluesy piece, which became a rallying cry for rebellion in the Districts, was seen as one of the more moving sequences.

The song, which also appears on the film’s official soundtrack, was written by The Lumineers’ Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz, with lyrics by Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins.

Schultz told Billboard that Mockingjay director Francis Lawrence explained to him that the song had ‘to be something that can be hummed or sung by one person [or] by a thousand people’ and that it couldn’t be ‘overly complicated’.

He added: ‘It’s supposed to almost feel like a nursery rhyme, innocent, even though it has a really dark undertone to it.’

Schultz and Fraites submitted several melodies in September 2013, and Schultz recalled producers eventually choosing one and telling them: ‘This one seems promising, let’s do this.’

But the pair were still not sure their tune would be used in such a big movie, and they assumed there were other, far more famous songwriters in the running: ‘Probably a lot of people were trying to write a melody. I just don’t think we really had our hopes up.’

Despite their lack of confidence the song’s use in the film clearly moved audiences, who downloaded it in their droves.

‘The first time

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