10 Films Actors Wanted You To Hate

Mother! is exactly the sort of movie an actor makes after they've won an Oscar and are keen to take some big career risks.

Hot off a lengthy streak of awards-courting prestige pics and blockbusters, Jennifer Lawrence starred in Darren Aronofsky's surreal 2017 psychological horror film, playing a young woman whose life is upended by the arrival of some unwanted guests.

As an allegory for humanity's treatment of Earth, mother! is as subtle as a brick to the face, and while both the film's narrative and its shocking depictions of violence made it immediately divisive, there's little arguing with the tenacity of Lawrence's courageous performance.

At this point in her career, J-Law was so firmly recognised as an "It girl" of the moment, a critical darling in classy awards movies and slickly produced blockbusters, that a down-and-dirty collaboration with a bold arthouse auteur was likely exactly what she needed creatively.

Basically, this was Lawrence doing a movie for herself rather than to bolster her "brand," and being entirely unconcerned that it left many critics and fans totally dismayed.