New Delhi, April 14 -- "I jumped out the back of a bus because everyone told me I wouldn't."

This is Jennifer Lawrence at her most Jennifer Lawrence: reckless, funny, and accidentally profound. On the surface, it sounds like the kind of thing someone says at a party to get a laugh. Underneath, it is a surprisingly complete philosophy about the relationship between doubt, defiance, and the particular energy that comes from being told you cannot do something.

The bus is not a metaphor. Lawrence has spoken about literally jumping out of the back of a moving bus as a child, daring herself to do it precisely because someone said she would not. The story is absurd. It is also, in a very direct way, the story of her entire career.

The quote c...