“I’m breathing that?”: Jennifer Lawrence’s Nightmare with X-Men Costume – FULL VIDEO

Appearing in four films from the X-Men franchise, Jennifer Lawrence played the role of the mutant Mystique aka Raven Darkholme. Her character was distinctly known for her shape-shifting skills and her blue reptile-like skin with vividly red hair. But, the process of getting into that look was quite hectic.

Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique

According to Jennifer Lawrence, the makeup process took nearly eight hours, during which she was forced to either stand or sit on a bicycle seat. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the actress recalled the grueling process of getting ready, on a daily basis, to look like the blue-skinned superhero.

“It used to take eight hours, which is lovely. [During the eight hours], I stood, or I had to sit on a bicycle seat. Every woman knows this is our dream come true.”

Lawrence‘s Mystique makeup took eight hours to complete

And certainly, Jennifer Lawrence hated the tormenting process and was frustrated with the blue paint and fumes. The actress complained how the paint stayed for a long time and she often found a little bit of blue in the corners of her body after arriving home.

Jennifer Lawrence Almost Quit The X-Men Franchise

Comparing the paint to “a weird fungus”, Jennifer Lawrence mentioned how frustrating it was for her to go through the process of makeup, every day. According to Express UK, the actress even mentioned how she wanted to quit the franchise as she believed the paint and the fumes contained toxins harmful to her body.
“[At first I] didn’t care about fumes and toxins. Now I’m almost 25. And I’m like: ‘I can’t even pronounce this and that’s going in my nose? I’m breathing that?’”

Jennifer Lawrence almost quit X-Men as the blue paint irritated her skin

Finally, her complaints and decision to almost quit worked wonders, and the studio was forced to make major changes to her costume. Initially, there were three layers of airbrushed blue paint and another five layers of a splattering effect. But with Lawrence complaining that the paint irritated her skin, the actress was allowed to wear a bodysuit, and she was painted only from the neck up.

The studio was forced to make changes to Mystique’s costume

This change in process not only relieved her but also helped shorten the makeup process from eight tormenting hours to three hours. Eventually, despite Lawrence’s subtle hatred towards the franchise for the tormenting make-up process she had to go through, the actress kept it light-spirited.