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“Red Sparrow” feels aptly timed, drawing parallels to current news headlines


Director Francis Lawrence and actress Jennifer Lawrence at Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington on Feb. 15. (Kris Connor/20th Century Fox)

In our current political climate, when truth is often stranger than fiction, Jennifer Lawrence’s new movie, “Red Sparrow,” feels almost uncomfortably relevant — especially on a day when a federal grand jury issued indictments against 13 Russian nationals for meddling in U.S. affairs.

“The Cold War never ended,” Charlotte Rampling’s strict head mistress character, Matron, announces to a fresh class of Russian spies-in-training, including Dominika Egorova, played by fan-favorite Lawrence. “You will become weapons in a global struggle for power.” Tensions between the two nations, she tells her students, were merely transformed as American culture changed and fascination with social media grew. Even two years ago, this sentiment would have seemed a bit far-fetched. But as speculation over Russian interference in the 2016 election and the word “collusion” have dominated headlines over the past year, the film seems less sensationalized.

“Red Sparrow,” based on the 2013 novel by the same name written by former CIA operative Jason Matthews, follows Egorova, a prima ballerina who finds herself unable to take care of her ailing mother when an accident ruins her dancing career. Egorova ends up forced into a life of espionage, with American CIA agent Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) trying to convince her that he’s the only one she can trust, creating a battle of loyalties.

Lawrence, Edgerton and director Francis Lawrence made the rounds in Washington on Thursday, including stopping by the Newseum for a Times Talk earlier in the day and ending with a discussion panel after a screening of the film at E Street Cinema. Fox film critic Kevin McCarthy moderated the panel, prompting the stars to talk about the film’s parallels to real life.

“My question is, where did you find floppy disks?” McCarthy asked, referring to a scene in which Egorova thwarts an American senator’s chief of staff’s plans to sell state secrets to the Russians, which are contained on … floppy disks. Really? Apparently yes, really. Lawrence explained that the CIA still uses the technology, which has become so outdated that BBC News had to write an explainer on it when news circulated in 2016 that the U.S. was still using floppy disks in its nuclear program.

According to Edgerton, Matthews was around during production to help the actors understand the real-life cat-and-mouse aspect of intelligence gathering. In addition to fact-based information on the workings of the CIA, Edgerton said, Matthews taught them to embrace the anxiety that comes with the job, including “understanding that you were probably always being watched while you were the watcher.”

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