Passengers fall in love in space

Jennifer Lawrence finds the sci-fi film physically challenging while co-star Chris Pratt likes the story for being original

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt at the press conference.
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt at the press conference. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES

Science-fiction film Passengers may be a romance, but it is also a thriller with plenty of action scenes.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence, 26, said at a press conference last Saturday at Park Hyatt Beijing that it had the most physically challenging scene she had ever done.

And the star of movies such as The Hunger Games series (2012 - 2015) is no stranger to action.

She said: "I was in a pool when the gravity went out on the ship and that took two weeks to shoot. I was either in the pool or in a tank of water all day and we were doing harness work."

Lawrence and actor Chris Pratt play fellow passengers on board the spaceship Starship Avalon. He is mechanical engineer Jim Preston and she plays writer Aurora Lane.

They wake up from hibernation 90 years before the spaceship reaches its destination, then fall in love and discover that the Avalon is breaking down.

Passengers opens in Singapore on Thursday.

Jurassic World (2015) star Pratt, 37, said he was attracted to "how original the story was" and "how daring and provocative the ideas were that exist inside the story".

Another thing that drew him to the project was the prospect of working with Lawrence.

"Picturing the movie with her in that role was a movie I wanted to see."

The two seemed thoroughly at ease in each other's company at the press event and were even dressed in matching black ensembles.

She said: "I knew he was going to be funny, but he was the funniest person to ever live. It's true, I've met everyone who's ever lived. We became best friends immediately."

Pratt showed his sense of humour when he was asked to share tips from the movie for wooing a woman. He joked: "Really try to find a girl who's isolated on a starship. Greatly diminish her other prospects by being the only potential mate. And dress nice."

The stars were presented with silk robes and panda bear stuffed figures in space suits. In turn, they showed off the Mandarin they had picked up by saying "xie xie" (thank you) often.

They also learnt a new phrase, "gong xi fa cai", at the end of the press conference and wished everyone prosperity in the coming Chinese New Year.

•Passengers opens on Thursday.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 19, 2016, with the headline Passengers fall in love in space. Subscribe