Winning an Oscar at 26 years old is a major achievement for any actor, but Brie Larson says it was an honor that left her feeling incredibly vulnerable. In a new interview with InStyle ahead of the release of Larson’s upcoming tentpole “Captain Marvel,” the actress looks back at the aftermath of winning Best Actress in 2016 for her critically acclaimed performance in Lenny Abrahamson’s “Room.” Larson said the victory gave her no sense of validation, so she turned to her friend and fellow Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence for advice.
“I was like, ‘I don’t feel any different. I don’t feel better about myself. I still don’t feel like I’m a good actress,'” Larson said about her phone conversation with Lawrence the morning after the 2016 Oscars. “She was like, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s totally normal. I’ve had the same thing. Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as, like, you got your Ph.D. You’re certified; that’s it. It doesn’t change anything. You can still fuck up. Every judge is still human.’”
Larson said Lawrence’s advice was a much-needed reality check that brought her back down to earth and centered her drive to continue working on projects that are meaningful. Lawrence won Best Actress for “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2013 when she was only 22 years old, which made her the second youngest performer to ever win the category. Since winning her Academy Award, Larson has gone to star in major studio efforts like “Kong: Skull Island” and “Captain Marvel” and direct her own feature, the recent Netflix pick-up “Unicorn Store.”
When asked about her role in “Captain Marvel,” which makes Larson one of the primary figures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward, Larson said, “The movie was the biggest and best opportunity I could have ever asked for. It was, like, my superpower. This could be my form of activism: doing a film that can play all over the world and be in more places than I can be physically.”
“Captain Marvel” opens nationwide March 8 from Disney. Read Larson’s entire InStyle interview here.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
