Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence has been widely criticised after claiming that there's no female action movie lead before her.

Speaking with actress Viola Davis for Variety's Actors on Actors about female action heroes, she said: "I remember when I was doing 'Hunger Games', nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn't work - because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."

She added: "And it just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every one of those beliefs, and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies. To keep certain people in the same positions that they've always been in."

Many quickly disagreed with Lawrence as Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List, said on Twitter in response to the interview: "It is untrue that no one had ever put a woman in an action movie before Jennifer Lawrence in 'Hunger Games'."