Jennifer Lawrence’s role in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming biopic Sinatra feels much more awkward because of her role in a hit 2021 comedy opposite co-star Leonardo DiCaprio. As two of the most acclaimed and decorated actors of the past few decades, the prospect of seeing DiCaprio and Lawrence on screen together is a tantalizing prospect. However, because of the pair’s dynamic in a previous film, their roles in Scorsese’s anticipated movie may be somewhat compromised.
Although Scorsese’s Sinatra project is still in its infancy, what’s known about the movie is extremely exciting. Not only will the film supposedly follow Leonardo DiCaprio as the legendary crooner, but it will also explore some more controversial aspects of the singer’s life. In fact, part of the reason behind the film’s extended period in development hell (reported to be over 20 years since Scorsese first started planning) is the director’s determination to depict Sinatra’s darker side. However, while this might make the film more interesting, it may also fade into the background on account of star DiCaprio’s distracting screen history with Jennifer Lawrence.
According to multiple reports, Jennifer Lawrence is set to play Sinatra’s second wife, the performer Ava Gardner. Presuming the film takes a traditional biopic approach, this means that the pair will be engaged in a romantic relationship on-screen – reflecting the real-life dynamic between Gardner and Sinatra. However, this isn’t particularly problematic in and of itself, the situation may feel slightly awkward for audiences given that the pair’s only previous collaboration saw them play a teacher and student in Adam McKay’s comedy Don’t Look Up. Understandably, the shift between the two dynamics may prove uncomfortably jarring.
While such an abrupt change between two actors’ onscreen relationship may not prove difficult to negotiate for some performers, Lawrence and DiCaprio’s respective profiles and the small amount of time that has passed since Don’t Look Up (which was released in 2021) means that comparisons are inevitable. Since the platonic, professional nature of their relationship played a prominent role in the satire, some viewers may find it hard to get their heads around seeing DiCaprio and Lawrence presented in a completely different way. While Sinatra promises to be a very different kind of movie, Don’t Look Up‘s legacy is impossible to ignore.
Another complicating factor that makes the Lawrence and DiCaprio combination even more questionable is how different the two actors’ age gap is from Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s. In real life, Sinatra and Gardner were just seven years apart, with Sinatra born in December 1915 and Gardner born in December 1922. However, DiCaprio and Lawrence are nearly 16 years apart (born December 1974 and August 1990, respectively). This only accentuates the age discrepancy, which will already be under scrutiny after the pair’s performance in Don’t Look Up.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Scorsese has inflated a real age divide in a DiCaprio project. When casting The Wolf of Wall Street, the director paired DiCaprio with Margot Robbie as former husband and wife Jordan Belfort and Nadine Caridi. As with DiCaprio and Lawrence, the age difference between the two actors is nearly 16 years, whereas Belfort and Caridi are just five years apart. The success of Robbie and DiCaprio’s onscreen collaboration shows that this isn’t necessarily an obstacle. However, the pair didn’t have the added complication of a previous project distracting from their dynamic.
DiCaprio and Lawrence’s sustained success as actors means that the pair have every chance of making Sinatra and Gardner’s relationship believable on the big screen – whatever the impact of Don’t Look Up on the audience. However, an unfortunate side effect of the decision may be that viewers struggle to take the film as seriously as its producers may want, owing to a long-running joke about Leonardo DiCaprio’s personal life. The star has come under some scrutiny due to his supposed preference for dating women much younger than him, with the public perception – rightly or wrongly – being that his relationships typically involve women under 25.
This reputation, coupled with an artificially increased age limit for Sinatra, risks turning the movie into an unintentional real-life parody. Of course, it is unreasonable to suggest that any film make casting decisions based on the potential actors’ dating history. However, when combined with his and Lawrence’s Don’t Look Up legacy, there’s a chance that the actors’ ages overshadow what has been a long-standing passion project for one of the greatest directors of all time.