Before you start ripping apart your Katniss Everdeen poster, hear her out.

"Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence said acting "is stupid" in Vanity Fair's upcoming cover story. But in her defense, the 22-year-old actress -- who is gaining a reputation for being quite irreverent and self deprecating -- was sort of making a greater point. And yeah, sometimes she sticks her foot in her mouth:

Not to sound rude, but [acting] is stupid... Everybody’s like, 'How can you remain with a level head?' And I’m like, 'Why would I ever get cocky? I’m not saving anybody’s life. There are doctors who save lives and firemen who run into burning buildings. I’m making movies. It’s stupid.'

You see, it's just her way of staying level headed.

[Related: The 25 most anticipated movies of 2013]

View photos Jennifer Lawrence on Vanity Fair's February 2013 issue More

Some have suggested that such a comment, with just days to go until Oscar voting comes to a close, could cause the Academy to bristle. Lawrence does, after all, have the momentum of a Golden Globe nomination and a whole lot of Oscar buzz for her performance in "Silver Linings Playbook" going for her right now.

Lawrence regaled Vanity Fair with a few other zingers. Like the time she nearly used her bow-and-arrow on suspected home intruders. "I went to my car and I put this quiver [used in archery] on me and I had my bow and I loaded it and I'm walking up the stairs. And I look, and my patio doors were open, and there were guys working right there, and I was like, 'Heyyy, how you doin'?'"

In another possible foot-in-mouth moment, Lawrence noted how disappointed her friends were when danger proved not to be lurking. "They were like, 'We've got to stage someone to break into your house and you can kill them!' That would be the funniest news ever. Katniss Everdeen actually kills someone with a bow and arrow!"

Kill? Funny? Hmm.

The young talent also revealed how she shoved her hand in Bill Maher's face so she could awkwardly gaze at the sight of Meryl Streep -- one of her idols. "I literally put my hand right in Bill Maher’s face and said, ‘Not now, Bill!,’ and I just stared at Meryl Streep." And no, Lawrence didn't approach Streep. She just stared.

[Related: The top 25 films of 2012]

Other topics covered by Lawrence's special brand of irreverence in the magazine issue include:

-The fact that she didn't go to high school. She calls herself "vastly uneducated" but admits to reading "Anna Karenina." (Hey, she has the best excuse -- she was working on a television show. Plus, she had private tutors.)

-Crying to her mother.

-Not being mature enough to buy a house.

-Getting "slaughtered" on the red carpet.

"Silver Linings Playbook," starring Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, is in theaters now. Lawrence's next film, "Serena," also starring Cooper, comes out this year.

More from Vanity Fair:

25 Years in the Life of Model Kate Moss

Suri Cruise's 20 Most-Fashionable Moments

More Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Photos from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Watch 'Silver Linings Playbook' Featurette -- The Cast:



Follow me on Twitter (@meriahonfiah)