There's no question Jennifer Lawrence is currently riding a career high. The charmingly candid 25-year-old, who rocked the boat with her open letter about Hollywood's wage gap, just nabbed a Golden Globe for "Joy" (despite the film's lackluster reviews), topped Vulture's list of most valuable stars and continues to win our hearts with that likability factor that's so hard to describe.
But, as actress Heather Graham reminded HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski, JLaw's quick rise is a rare sight to see for women in the industry.
"Of course, Jennifer Lawrence is a total exception. She's great. She has this whole 'Hunger Games' [series], it's so popular. But I think those are the exception, rather than the rule," she said. "I think that's wonderful that that exists, but if you look at the absolute numbers, it's the exception. And if you look at the numbers of female directors in Hollywood, it's 7 percent … so that's not good."
The "Hangover" actress lamented the limited opportunities for women in film and pointed out that female leading roles are few and far between.
"If you look at it, the amount of roles available for men and the amount available for women, it's just a massive difference. There's just so many more opportunities for men, and it's just kind of a Hollywood thing where they believe men can headline movies but women can't," she said. "There are a few, small number of women that they think might be able to, [but] there's a total sexism in Hollywood. Why do you think there are not more movies made with female leads?"
Graham, who drew inspiration from Tina Fey and Amy Schumer while making her directorial debut "Half Magic," said she wrote the film's script to "question" Hollywood's nagging gender bias, especially with regard to sexuality.
"There's a much more repressive idea of how women should be around sexuality than there is around men. I think men can have all these wild sexual adventures in movies and it's OK, but if you watch women in movies, you don't get to see as many points of view, I think, on [a] female perspective on sex," she said.
Watch the full HuffPost Live interview with "Norm of the North" star Heather Graham here.
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