‘Kong: Skull Island’ Star Brie Larson On Getting Lucky And Girl Power

Brie Larson plays the female lead in Kong: Skull Island, but starring in such an attention grabbing role didn’t come without its price and Larson admits that she almost gave up on her acting aspirations.

After years enduring the struggle, Brie says her frustration had gotten the best of her, but she found an untapped well of inspiration from the women in the business and held on for a bit longer. That perseverance helped Larson nab her Kong: Skull Island role and achieve the recognition needed to also grab the title role in the upcoming Captain Marvel feature film adaptation.

Kong: Skull Island Star Brie Larson Taps Into Her Own Girl Power

Brie Larson rose to Hollywood recognition with her role in the 2015 film Room and, as her star continues to rise with her role as Mason Weaver in Kong: Skull Island, the actress opened up in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald about making it in Tinsel Town. It wasn’t an easy journey and Brie admits she almost quit more than once, nearly defeated by the durability of the glass ceiling, but for the strong women who came ahead of her and served as inspirations.

Larson says she drew on her own strengths, after connecting with women who were already powerful actresses in the Hollywood game and found them willing to share their wisdom. Among them, Brie says she feels grateful to Hunger Games icon, Jennifer Lawrence, who the Kong: Skull Island star counts among her closest friends.

“We’ve become much closer since this whole ride started, because it’s invaluable for me to have friends who have gone through what I’m going through,” says Larson of her friendship with Lawrence.

Jennifer Lawrence isn’t the only heavy hitter Brie Larson counts among her friends. She recalls meeting Emma Stone for the first time and immediately bonding with the La La Land star over french fries and small talk.

As for her own rise to stardom, Brie says she’s thankful that she’s still relatively unknown by the public, so she can still enjoy a normal lifestyle. That all may be about to change with the upcoming release of Kong: Skull Island, followed by her initiation into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Brie Larson Says She Was Lucky That Kong: Skull Island Was Her First CGI Film

Before getting cast in Kong: Skull Island, The List reports that Brie Larson had primarily been cast in dramas, films that don’t rely heavily on special effects the way fantasy and science fiction films do. For that reason, Larson feels fortunate that Kong: Skull Island was her first film in which she had to act with CGI generated characters, because much of the film was shot on location. Brie says Kong was the only CGI character she had to interact with regularly.

Larson adds that shooting in exotic locations for Kong: Skull Island was a rare treat for her, because she really enjoys connecting with nature.

“My character is coming from this place of deep compassion for nature and untouched land, and we were shooting in places that were untouched and hadn’t been seen on screen before. I got to really connect with it,” says Brie.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m a crazy person but I can connect just as deeply with the beauty of a tree as I can with a child. I’m a wacko!”

Ms. Larson also shared that the experience of working with CGI characters was especially difficult for her, because she often works off of her co-star’s eyes. Instead of having that physical connection, Brie says she and her other human Kong: Skull Island co-stars used music to gauge how their CGI counterparts would be interacting in each scene.

She adds that the music helped by getting the same reactions from all of the actors in the scene at the same time.

Kong: Skull Island, starring Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, and John Goodman, will hit theaters on March 10.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]