Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that the experience of playing Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen was part of her inspiration for writing her recent essay on gender pay inequality in the movie industry.

In a press conference on Wednesday (November 4th), the day before the world premiere in Berlin of Mockingjay Part 2, the final instalment in the quadrilogy of The Hunger Games movies, she was asked whether her most famous role had played any part in her mindset when she penned the open letter for Lena Dunham’s newsletter Lenny last month.

Jennifer LawrenceJennifer Lawrence was speaking the day before 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2' has its world premiere

“I don't see how I couldn't be inspired by this character, I mean I was so inspired by her when I read the books, it's the reason I wanted to play her,” Reuters reported her as saying. “So I think it would be impossible to go four years with this character and not be inspired by her.”

Speaking about the development of her character from a reluctant hero to an impassioned leader, Lawrence said that she initially found the slow-burning nature of Katniss’ character development problematic, but had set aside those feelings for her performance.

More: Jennifer Lawrence explains that her Hollywood gender pay gap essay was self-critical

“I wanted her to be a warrior right away, I wanted her to want to be a leader,” 25 year old Lawrence admitted. “I had to keep my own personal emotions about her situation out of my performance.”

Lawrence’s co-star Donald Sutherland, who plays Katniss’s arch-enemy President Snow, said that he hoped that Mockingjay Part 2 would inspire young people to be actively involved in political and social affairs.

“If it doesn't work, we're dead, all of us, if we don't evoke climate change, if we don't solve refugee problems, we don't do any of that, we're dead,” Sutherland said, also revealing that movies could be triggers for personal change as he had experienced such an awakening himself when he was younger.

“I know that it can because Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick's film, politicized me in 1956,” the 80 year old said. “So this one is universal, it goes all over the world and young people love it.”

More: Jeremy Renner says it’s “not my job” to help female actors get equal pay in Hollywood

Watch the trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 below