David O. Russell is trying to say that Jennifer Lawrence deserves a break from the Hunger Games, but the words he used may be a bit inappropriate.

During the Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards in West Hollywood on Friday, the "American Hustle" director recently talked about Lawrence's recent workaholic tendencies, saying that she definitely deserves a break after working on the "Hunger Games" franchise.

"I'll tell you what it is about that girl - talk about 12 years of slavery, that's what the franchise is. And I'm going to get in so much trouble for saying that," Russell says.

The director also says that the franchise has put Lawrence in a hamster wheel, and that she takes her vacation in the form of more artistic movies in the likes of "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle."

But hours after the report has been published in various websites, Russell retracted his previous statement with an apologetic statement published on Tuesday.

"Clearly, I used a stupid analogy in a poor attempt at humor. I realized it the minute I said it and I am truly sorry," Russell said to Mail Online.

For her part, Lawrence was never heard of complaining on her work schedule. However, she often laments on being on the spotlight every so often.

"You feel like a zoo animal or something," Lawrence tells Barbara Walters. "I don't know what it is. It's something in somebody's eyes. It's like not connecting, not making eye contact sometimes. And now I'm surrounded by people all the time, and I can be so lonely when everyone goes. But I have to remind myself it's just being alone, it's not lonely."

Besides shooting for the two-part final installment of the "Hunger Games" franchise, Lawrence is set to appear in two more movies this year -- "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" alongside her real-life boyfriend Nicholas Hoult and the Depression-era film "Serena" opposite Bradley Cooper. She is also set to collaborate again with Russell in "The Ends of The Earth," as well as the film adaptation of the best-selling memoir The Glass Castle.