Jennifer Lawrence took time out on Monday night to shine a light on her Oscar nominated co-star Brian Tyree Henry and his work in their Apple/A24 movie Causeway, diving deep into his process. The actress sat down with the Best Supporting Actor nominee for a Q&A following a screening of the film at the London Hotel at Los Angeles.
The two play unlikely individuals, both who suffered trauma, as they find and prop each other in New Orleans. Lawrence plays Lynsey, an Afghanistan war vet who is suffering from body and brain injuries. Henry is James, a mechanic who lost his leg and a nephew in a car accident. Henry gravitated to the project having known the director Lila Neugebauer (making her feature directorial debut here) from Yale Drama School.
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The pic began shooting during Covid, but had to shutdown at which point the actors workshopped the script with Neugebauer as they mined greater resonance from the material, particularly against the ever-changing environment. Was there another side of trauma especially with Covid impacting everyone’s lives? Above all, the drama for both actors was never one of ‘boy meets girl’.
“We all questioned who we are and what humanity even means and we looked at what we had done,” Henry told the Silver Linings Playbook Best Actress Oscar winner.
“There’s something else to these people, especially Lynsey and James,” said Henry.
Henry’s window into James was tapping into his own humanity, however, in doing so, the actor encountered some self truths.
“I judged James: Why is he in the same place? He lost so much in the car accident. Why is he alone? Why is he still drinking? I realized I was questioning a lot about myself and me doing the same thing. Me using James as a mirror and me confronting my own shit. Film gives you a lot of space to do that,” said Henry.
Lawrence brought up how Henry has called Causeway, which was a 2 1/2 year project for them “a baptism”. Lawrence produced the movie with her Excellent Cadaver producing partner Justine Ciarrocchi.
Lawrence referenced a swimming pool scene that the two had together in which the characters truly connect and sync into their vibes.
Talking about that moment Henry explained, “We wanted to be made whole again, we wanted to be cleansed of all the pain and all things we suppressed and wanted to emerge anew…The vail drops, the hammer comes out…No way we can come out of that water the same way we came in. It felt that life gave us an opportunity to to turn the lens on ourselves.”
“Our characters had a complex relationship,” Lawrence told Henry.
While the two characters were labeled disabled, in their friendship they realized a glimmer of hope in their lives.
“The two of us weren’t that label anymore,” explains Henry about their arcs, “you didn’t smile until I came along.”
“Lynsey — all the obstacles she was met with, all telling her that she couldn’t do something and that she shouldn’t do something,” he added, “There’s a glimmer of her not being her disability for a minute, glimmer of her getting back to who she was. Both of us served as reflections of who we were.”
Henry continued about how the characters complement one another: “They gave each other grace, and I realized how rare that is to see especially between a Black man and white woman in a movie; there’s always some type of trope that we’re denied.”
“We’re existing in this space and time, that this friendship is possible, and that this is what it looks like,” he added, “These two people suffered so much, so why not give each other a chance to find some friendship and hope in each other?”
Off which Lawrence responded, “Hell, yeah.”
Henry is also up for Best Supporting Performance at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Causeway is available to watch on Apple TV+.
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