Jennifer Lawrence stars in the raunchy comedy "No Hard Feelings," which was released this summer in theaters. In the film, which is streaming now on Netflix, Lawrence plays an Uber driver named Maddie whose car gets repossessed, leaving her out of a job. To make matters worse, she's also on the verge of losing her childhood home. Just when she thinks all hope is lost, Maddie comes across an unusual ad promising a car in exchange for helping a couple's awkward 19-year-old son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), come out of his shell before college by "dating his brains out." Maddie accepts the job since she sees it as an easy opportunity to get back on her feet. However, it turns out to be much harder than she expected after she constantly fails to seduce Percy.
If you're wondering what inspired the film's wacky plot, director Gene Stupnitsky revealed at CinemaCon that the breakout comedy is actually based on a real Craigslist ad.
Is "No Hard Feelings" Based on a True Story?
In a May 12 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stupnitsky said the idea for the film came to him after producers Marc Provissiero and Naomi Odenkirk showed him a Craigslist ad from a couple looking for a woman to date their son. "I read it, and I thought, 'This is wild. Who is the woman that answers this ad?'" Stupnitsky said. "And I thought, 'Oh, that'll be a great role for my friend Jennifer Lawrence.'"
Stupnitsky also told the Associated Press that he specifically developed the film with Lawrence in mind because he wanted everyone to see her funny side. "I remember I told her, 'I really want you to experience a feeling of sitting in a theater with hundreds of people laughing,'" Stupnitsky said. "She's had many, many experiences in film, but she hasn't quite had this one."
Stupnitsky first mentioned the idea for the movie while grabbing dinner with Lawrence one night, and of course, she loved it. "Gene read the Craigslist ad to me, and I died laughing," Lawrence told EW. "I thought it was hilarious, but there wasn't a script or anything. I just thought he had a funny idea. And then a couple years later, he handed me the funniest script I've ever read in my life."
While speaking to AP, Lawrence said she jumped at the opportunity to do the film since she's "always wanted to do a comedy" but "didn't read anything that was funny enough" until "No Hard Feelings."
And yes, you can read the real Craigslist ad still. The Huffington Post wrote about the ad when it went viral back in 2013. Per the outlet, the real ad read, "This is going to sound strange but my son is a senior in High School and I want to help him." The anonymous parent went on to describe their son as "extremely smart" but "socially awkward" and said, "I want to find a cute young girl to date him and turn him from high school nerd to cool college kid." They added that he's "very handsome and extremely fit."
The parent then proposed a scheme where they would set up for their son to be at the same concert as the person answering the ad so she could "pick him up." Then they'd date until he went off to college. The parent wrote, "In return, I'll make your financial issues disappear."
Besides this ad, "No Hard Feelings" isn't based on a true story, but its internet origins are a fun twist on the comedy.
"No Hard Feelings" is streaming now on Netflix.
