Jennifer Lawrence says she has departed Adam McKay’s Bad Blood, the writer-director’s take on Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ fraud controversy.
The New York Times‘ Kyle Buchanan was first to report the departure, tweeting what Lawrence had told him about the decision following the publication of his profile on the Causeway star. The Times awards season columnist said the decision followed Lawrence seeing Amanda Seyfried play Holmes in the Hulu limited series The Dropout.
“I thought she was terrific,” Lawrence, who was also a producer on the film, told Buchanan. “I was like, ‘Yeah, we don’t need to redo that.’ She did it.”
Picked up by Apple in December 2021, Bad Blood had Lawrence attached to pull double-duty as lead actress and producer with McKay writing and directing. It was a reteaming for the duo following their work on the Oscar-nominated Don’t Look Up.
McKay was also slated to produce alongside Kevin Messick, Justine Polsky and Will Ferrell, with Apple Studios producing in association with Legendary Pictures, who won rights to the film in 2016 following a bidding war.
The feature, which was to chart how Holmes built Theranos before her billion-dollar success unraveled, is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist John Carreyrou’s 2018 book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. The book explores Holmes’ rise and fall, as well as the greed within, and perils, of Silicon Valley’s hustle and hype culture.
Seyfried went on to win the Emmy for best actress in a limited or anthology series or movie for her portrayal of Holmes, the Stanford dropout and founder of blood-testing startup Theranos, which at one point was valued at an estimated $9 billion. In July, Holmes was found guilty on federal fraud charges for lying to the startup’s investors.
Lawrence, whose latest film, Causeway, arrives on Apple on Nov. 4, is also attached to the streaming service’s Sue Mengers biopic.
Reps for Apple and Lawrence did not respond to requests for comment.