Jennifer Lawrence reveals why Elizabeth Banks got ‘really annoyed’ with her on ‘Hunger Games’ set
Katniss Everdeen and Effie Trinket didn’t always see eye to eye.
Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that Elizabeth Banks once got “really annoyed” with her while the pair were filming “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” together in 2013.
“I once took an Ambien in the morning, thinking it was something else,” Lawrence, 35, told Leonardo DiCaprio, 51, during the latest episode of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series released Wednesday.
Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio discussed their Hollywood careers during Variety’s latest “Actors on Actors” session. Alexi Lubomirski for Variety
Elizabeth Banks and Lawrence in “The Hunger Games.” Photo credit: Murray Close
“It was a dance scene with Philip Seymour Hoffman on the second ‘Hunger Games’ movie,” she explained. “I was hallucinating. Elizabeth Banks got really annoyed with me. Maybe she didn’t know that I was on an Ambien.”
Lawrence and Banks worked together in all four of the hit dystopian adventure movies, beginning with “The Hunger Games” in 2012 and ending with “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” in 2015.
The “American Hustle” star portrayed Katniss Everdeen alongside Banks’ Effie Trinket, and the cast was rounded out with Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy and Donald Sutherland as President Snow.
Banks, Liam Hemsworth and Lawrence at the premiere of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” in New York City on Nov. 19, 2013. Clint Spaulding / PatrickMcMulla
Banks and Lawrence in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.” ©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection
Hoffman, who died at the age of 46 in 2014, played Plutarch Heavensbee.
However, the Ambien incident that occurred during “Catching Fire” wouldn’t be the only time Lawrence accidentally mixed up her medications.
Elsewhere during her chat with the “One Battle After Another” star, Lawrence revealed that she once took a stimulant when she actually meant to take a sleeping pill.
Josh Hutcherson, Banks and Lawrence in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” Getty Images
Hemsworth, Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Hutcherson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Stanley Tucci at the premiere of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” in Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 2013. Getty Images
“When I did ‘Red Sparrow,’ I took an Adderall instead of a sleeping pill, and then I didn’t sleep all night,” she told DiCaprio of the 2018 spy thriller. “I was taking hot showers in a panic.”
“I am not somebody who can function without sleep,” she added. “And then I had to say the phrase ‘Senate Armed Services Committee’ in a Russian accent. That sucked.”
As for DiCaprio, he revealed that he’s never watched “Titanic” since starring in the James Cameron-directed classic alongside Kate Winslet in 1997.
“No. I haven’t seen it before,” he told Lawrence. “I don’t really watch my films, do you?”
Leonardo DiCaprio during the AFI Awards Luncheon in Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2024. Getty Images
Kate Winslet and DiCaprio in “Titanic.” CBS via Getty Images
The “Departed” actor also opened up about the rumors that he didn’t star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” because he was busy shooting “Titanic” at the time.
Mark Wahlberg ended up being tapped for the lead role.
“We almost did ‘Boogie Nights’ together, and then I got to watch his entire career progress over the last 25 years and see this incredible visionary,” he said of the “One Battle After Another” filmmaker.
“It was a hybrid of that. ‘Titanic’ and ‘Boogie Nights’ kind of overlapped in production,” DiCaprio added after Lawrence asked if he “passed” on the 1997 comedy-drama. “Maybe it could have worked out.”
Paul Thomas Anderson and DiCaprio during a special screening of “One Battle After Another” in London, England, on Nov. 19, 2025. Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Warner Bros
DiCaprio and Winslet in “Titanic.” CBS via Getty Images
The “Inception” star previously opened up about his decision to pass on “Boogie Nights” during a joint interview with Anderson with Esquire in August.
“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing ‘Boogie Nights,’” he told the “Inherent Vice” filmmaker.
“It was a profound movie of my generation,” DiCaprio added. “I can’t imagine anyone but Mark [Wahlberg] in it.”
