Jennifer Lawrence Carries Pet Dog Through Gotham, Told To 'Be Yourself' By Shirley MacLaine

Jennifer Lawrence was seen carrying her pet dog Pippi through the mean streets of Gotham on Monday.

The 25-year-old actress "showcased her Pilates-toned legs in a boho-patterned mini-dress beneath a black blazer, and sensible ballet flats," according to the Daily Mail, which has photos of the outing. "'The Hunger Games' actress and her cute canine are so inseparable, she lets the privileged dog pick out her costumes."

Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine revealed recently that, prior to Lawrence's rise to fame, she told the "Hunger Games" actress: "Always be yourself."

"Never basically leave Kentucky," MacLaine recalled telling Lawrence. "Know who you are above all others."

These days, on movie sets, Lawrence is "an authority," according to David O. Russell, who has directed Lawrence in three films: "Silver Linings Playbook" (2013), "American Hustle" (2014) and "Joy" (2015).

"She's more of an equal partner, meaning she wants to say more about the story, and she wants to say more about how we're doing it," Russell told Den of Geek. "She's learning to become a filmmaker and a writer herself. That also would be fitting to the role though."

Russell said Lawrence "helped set the tone on the set" of "Joy," explaining, "We had to decide what the hours would be, and had to negotiate that with each guild -- there's like six or seven guilds on [the shoot]. We decided we wanted to do something that's called 'French hours', where you don't have lunch. We thought that would be easier, because the days were getting longer and longer, and we were getting exhausted, and she said, 'Once we get going David, let's just not stop.' And we kind of each got off on that, we just go. We'd rather do that than stop. So she had to make that case to all the unions, and she was a leader in that regard, and everybody did it out of respect for her."