Even before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the X-Men movies provided an early example of how successful superhero films could be. 20th Century Fox ultimately kept this franchise going in a very unexpected way: by creating a series of prequel films showcasing our favorite heroes and villains when they were younger.
One of those villains was Mystique, a shape-shifting character who had previously been played by Rebecca Romijn. Starting with X-Men: First Class, the character was played by Jennifer Lawrence, the talented young actor who became a household name after the success of the Hunger Games films.
As it turns out, though, Lawrence had a much weirder time working on this mutant franchise. Don’t believe it? Keep reading to discover the most shocking facts about Jennifer Lawrence’s time making the X-Men films!
She nearly had to go supervillain on her landlord
The most striking thing about Jennifer Lawrence’s character was that she wore plenty of blue makeup. Her character was a supervillain in the earlier films, and while she could shift into any shape, her default form was that of a very blue young woman.
It took a very long time to put the makeup on each day (more on this later), and the work followed her home…literally. She was renting a London apartment while filming First Class, and her attempts to wash the blue paint off each day had dyed the tub blue. Because of this, Lawrence had a nasty fight with the landlord before she could get her security deposit back.
Putting on the make-up was a full-time job
Obviously, Jennifer Lawrence looked great in the X-Men films. That wasn’t just because of her natural beauty…it was because of the extensive makeup that transformed her from a beautiful young human to a striking blue mutant. This process wasn’t easy and quickly became the most time-consuming part of Lawrence’s day.
In short, it took an entire team to apply Lawrence’s makeup, with six people working around the clock to get her look absolutely perfect. Every day, it took a whopping eight hours to put the makeup on. While that time was likely very boring to the young actor, she looked the part of an otherworldly mutant whenever she was onscreen.
Peeing was extremely difficult
It’s not always considered polite, but many fans had some frank questions about Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique costume. For example, she looks functionally naked onscreen, albeit with all her naughty parts covered up. This led to fans asking a simple question: just how the heck did she pee?
The answer, of course, is “very carefully.” For the suit she wore in Days of Future Past, the actor actually had to urinate through a funnel. The process was annoying and a bit demeaning, but it was the only way for her to relieve herself without messing up a very expensive costume.
The costume led to health worries
Even the biggest haters of the X-Men prequel movies can agree that Jennifer Lawrence’s costume looked great. As for the actor, she didn’t have any objections to the actual look of the costume. Instead, she constantly worried that wearing it was harming her health.
What led to this worry? A major part of her look in these films is that she had to be painted blue from head to toe, literally. Even her nostrils were painted, and breathing in the fumes often gave her headaches. Later, she confessed she was worried that she was breathing in toxins, which is one of many reasons she wore the costume less and less in future films.
Why a movie poster ditched her blue look
The most famous thing about the Mystique character is that she is a beautiful blue woman. Correspondingly, most movie posters with the character feature Lawrence in the iconic blue makeup. The major exception was the poster for X-Men: Apocalypse, which featured Lawrence looking perfectly human.
Why did the movie’s producers ditch this character’s most iconic look for this poster? Simple: by the time the movie came out, the success of the Hunger Games films made her one of the most famous faces in the world. Producers hoped putting her face on the poster without any makeup would help boost ticket sails for this (let’s be honest) inferior sequel.
She impressed her costars from the beginning
When X-Men: First Class came out, audiences everywhere agreed that Jennifer Lawrence was one of the best parts of the film. Audiences weren’t the only ones who felt that way. As it turns out, her costars were similarly impressed by the young actor’s immense talents.
When Lawrence wrapped her last scene for her last X-Men film (X-Men: Dark Phoenix), the entire cast and crew gave her a standing ovation and then took her out to dinner. They felt this was the least they could do after Lawrence loaned her star power to this superhero franchise for the past eight years.