The Hunger Games Thread

[loladonna]

I have a horrible sinking feeling that this movie will not live up to expectations. On a purely visual level, something about the production design seems very.... cutesy. I mean, I know the Capitol is supposed to be kind of that way (Effie and her pink obsession, etc.) but reading about things in the book I always imagined the capitol fashions being cutesy but in an almost distrubing way. And District 12 doesn't look as ghastly as I think it should (talk about a pathetic fence enclosure..... it should be way more threatening). I also don't like the costumes in general. They seem far too current. I think they should have hired Colleen Atwood to do the costumes. And the casting/styling of the characters looks too cleaned-up as well. Cato and Gale are the most striking examples. They just look like your average "hot" High School (well, maybe college haha) kids. I just wish this looked like it had more edge.... like it was exactly true to the books. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.


That said, I will be there opening day with my $10 in hand hoping for the best, even if I'm kind of expecting the worst.

I agree with this. As usual the girls are all pretty and the guys cute. It's Hollywood's idea of the Hunger Games. I would expect some homely tributes in the bunch. They really missed the opportunity to have more of an impact by providing an unflinching look at Panem.

 

[nieska]

I just completed the series and it was AMAZING! the cast looks spot on, except perhaps Gale..but I'm thrilled that Jennifer Lawrence will be Katniss. Jennifer even acts like Katniss i real life in a way. In her interviews she is Katniss in so many ways. I also love the casting of Peeta. Ahhhh I'm so excited, I think about Hunger Games every day!

 

[Dora]

New ‘Hunger Games’ Stills of Rue and Glimmer in Teen Vogue

One of our Twitter followers, @hutchers0n, sent us this scan of a Hunger Games special in the March 2012 issue of Teen Vogue.

Though low quality, the article includes two new movie stills of Amandla Stenberg as Rue and Leven Rambin as Glimmer on stage during Tribute interviews. (The other images included of the Tributes and Prim/Gale appear to be similar to what we saw in the trailer.) How adorable does Amandla look as Rue in that blue dress!?

thehob.org

 

[pixiedust1603]

A new interview with Gary and Jennifer. I love Jennifer but I don't think she will be getting her second Oscar nomination for THG even though I know she'll give a brilliant performance. The second film might be shooting in Hawaii in July.

With less than two months to go before the March 23 premiere of The Hunger Games, the first installment of Suzanne Collins’ breathlessly addicting trilogy, director Gary Ross is already predicting the possibility of another nomination for his 21-year-old star Jennifer Lawrence come next year’s Oscars. “The range in this performance, the emotional terrain that she investigates, the demands of what this role are,” he raves of Lawrence’s portrayal of series heroine Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old forced alongside other children into a televised fight-to-the-death. “It’s such an intensely physical role and an emotional one. She carries the entire movie. To be able to do that at that age is so kind of incredible that I was in a little bit of awe. Do I think she should be nominated? Absolutely.”
Ross and Lawrence bonded hard on the 83-day shoot, weathering the sweltering North Carolina heat and afternoon storms together. “We were all a family,” says Lawrence. “Everything that I love about the movie, and everything that got me to say yes to this movie, was Gary.” On set, however, she says Ross liked to float the possibility of him leaving everyone in the hands of a new director. “He wanted me to worry about it, because he enjoys my anxiety,” she says with a laugh. “That was a huge, huge thing that he used to lure over my head. Like a bastard!” Lawrence says that because of the tremendous rapport enjoyed by the cast and crew, she always assumed Ross would sign on again for Catching Fire, but it was still a hand-wringer. “I still don’t know for sure,” she says. “Is he definitely doing it?” she asks EW. Indeed!
Ross shared with EW his love for the meaty material that soon awaits them. SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! “I love the title Catching Fire because from the moment Katniss was willing to eat the berries,” he says, “the moment she was willing to give her life for something larger than herself, she set off a chain reaction that was at once bigger than her and also because of her. That’s a very exciting movie to make because you’re seeing the emergence of a leader. It’s the birth of a revolution so it has context that’s larger than just the Games themselves.”
There’s a risk when signing onto a franchise, especially one as beloved and anticipated as The Hunger Games, that the weight of an iconic role will leave the star herself feeling crushed. Lawrence herself sounds surprised herself by how ready she is to shoulder Katniss’ burdens once more. “Signing onto the movies I was like, ‘Well, I’ll probably love the first one and then I’ll just want to get the rest of them out of the way,’” she says. “But I can’t wait to start training. As soon as they were like ‘We need to start training in July,’ I was like ‘Woohoo!’ I can’t wait to get back.” She pauses to laugh. “Though I don’t know if that’s because I think we might shoot in Hawaii.” The tropical location would make sense, as much of Catching Fire‘s pivotal action takes place on a Capitol-constructed beach. Just yet another reason for Lawrence to look forward to the shoot.

source ew.com

 

[Aqua Tofana]

Shooting in Hawaii? That sounds perfect
Up until today I have trouble imagining how exactly 75th arena looked like.

 

[dajrekshn]

From budgets and salaries, to the accident that sent star Jennifer Lawrence to the hospital, the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter features director Gary Ross and never-revealed details about the fast-approaching pop culture phenomenon, in theaters March 23.

The first of four parts in Suzanne Collins' massively popular book series The Hunger Games, about two dozen children randomly chosen to compete for survival, opens March 23 on more than 4,000 screens across the country. The film's reception could determine whether its stars — Jennifer Lawrence, 21; Josh Hutcherson, 19; and Liam Hemsworth, 22 — ascend to Kristen Stewart-Robert Pattinson-Taylor Lautner superstardom and fill the gap opening as Twilight heads toward its final chapter.
For Lionsgate, which has struggled recently at the box office (Abduction, Conan the Barbarian), Games is its first major test since acquiring Summit Entertainment, the studio behind The Twilight Saga franchise, in January — a move that yokes together execs responsible for the most recent youth phenomenon with those hoping to launch the next. Games’ success could impact the future of many at Lionsgate, all eager to claim credit for the Collins adaptation, now that the film division has named Summit’s Robert Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger to run it.
PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of THR's Hunger Games Cover Shoot
“After the trailer launched Nov. 14, we had 8 million views in the first 24 hours,” says Lionsgate Films president Joe Drake. “We were the number one Twitter trend on the planet. Since then, the book sales have jumped 7.5 million copies. That kind of data gives us enormous confidence.”
Hollywood Reporter executive editor, features, Stephen Galloway, was tasked with talking to director Gary Ross and cast on the cusp of their potential superstardom. The Oscar-nominated Ross and others close to the movie revealed many previously unknown secrets surrounding the highly-anticipated film.
PHOTOS: The Hollywood Reporter Cover Stories
Here are some of the never-before-revealed details from THR's cover story:
1. JENNIFER LAWRENCE TOOK THREE DAYS TO SAY YES TO THE ROLE OF KATNISS
Numerous actresses were considered for the lead — among them Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) — but Ross never felt he had the right person. Then he met Lawrence, fresh off an Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone, the 2010 indie release that put her on the map. But Lawrence hesitated, aware this could take her from being respected by her peers to the center of a pop-culture tornado — precisely the fate that had befallen Stewart with Twilight. “It was the middle of the night in England, and I was in bed when I got the call,” she remembers. “And I was so in love with the books and the script, and suddenly it was right in my face — and the size of the decision was terrifying.”
Her mom helped in the decision. "I called my mom and she called me a hypocrite, because when I was doing indie movies and everyone was asking why I didn’t do studio movies, I said, 'The size of the movie doesn’t matter.' And she said, 'Here’s a movie you love and you were thinking of turning it down because of its size.' I thought, 'I don’t want to miss out because I’m scared. Me being scared, I never want that to stop me fromdoing something.' But I knew in my heart that I wanted it — it was about working out all the fears."
PHOTOS: 'The Hunger Games' Cast
2. SO HOW MUCH IS LAWRENCE GETTING PAID?
Lawrence's salary for the first film is a modest $500,000 (about what Stewart received for the first Twilight), plus “escalators,” bonuses based on the movie’s performance.
3. DIRECTOR GARY ROSS AND PRODUCER NINA JACOBSEN HAD STEEP COMPETITION
An Oscar-nominated writer for 1988’s Big and 1993’s Dave, Ross grew up in Hollywood, the son of Arthur A. Ross, writer of Creature From the Black Lagoon. Ross was used to a comfortable life with his wife, producer Allison Thomas (The Tale of Despereaux), writing in the morning, working out in the afternoon and earning several hundred thousand dollars per month as one of Hollywood’s top script doctors. Every film he’d helmed (including 1998’s Pleasantville) had come from his own mind; he’d never had to compete as a director-for-hire — let alone against Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and David Slade (Twilight: Eclipse), who also were salivating after the job. Ross, being paid in the $3-4 million range, fought hard for his right to be behind the camera. "I hadn't seen a piece of material that touched the culture and moved me the same way in a very long time," he explains. "And if you fully commit, you fully commit."
Q&A: 'Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence: A Brand New Superstar
And he wasn't alone in his fight for the right to create the world of Panem. Jacobson, who has produced movies such as One Day and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, obtained the book’s rights against fierce competition from the likes of Ridley Scott.
4. HOW MUCH THE MOVIE COST
Lionsgate operated on a really, really tight budget. True, it was handing Collins hundreds of thousands to option her novels (and will end up paying her millions if the film succeeds), but it was hoping to make Games for $60 million — more than the $35 million Summit had paid for Twilight, but negligible for a tentpole that needed months on location and 1,200 CGI shots. Ross wrote a script that would give the material its due without costing a fortune (the picture eventually came in at slightly over $90 million, reduced to $78 million after subsidies). He drew on his familiarity with such intimidating places as China’s Tiananmen Square and the architectural form known as Brutalism when it came to conceiving the Capitol — the city at the center of Collins’ brave new world of Panem, set hundreds of years in the future.
PHOTOS: New 'Hunger Games' Images Released
5. THE LEAD TRIO IS CONTRACTED FOR ENTIRE FRANCHISE
Ross already is committed to the first sequel, Catching Fire, which he hopes to start shooting in September from a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), and the three young stars all are signed up for the full franchise.
6. LAWRENCE'S ACCIDENT ALMOST HALTED FILMING OF 'HUNGER GAMES'
On the last day of her six-week training phase, in which she’d become an expert at using a bow and arrow, climbing and jumping, Lawrence hit a wall — literally. “I had to do 10 ‘wall runs,’ where you run at the wall as hard as you can to get traction,” she recalls, explaining that her trainer would make her race at a wall with maximum speed to gain the momentum needed to propel her up. “I ran at it and my foot didn’t go up, so I caught the wall with my stomach. My trainer thought I had burst my spleen. I had to get a CAT scan and go into a tube where they put this fiery liquid in your body.” Fortunately, she was in great shape from her previous film. “I was still pretty bulked up from X-Men: First Class,” she says. “So a lot of the training was getting muscle back, heightening the muscles without building them. I loved the archery — well, I have a love-hate relationship with it.” With her trainer holding her hand, Lawrence learned she was badly bruised but nothing was broken — and work could continue.
PHOTOS: 'The Hunger Games' Official Character Posters
7. THE 'HUNGER GAMES' SET HAD 100-DEGREE HEAT AND BEARS
There were bears. Some 300 of them living in the woods, and they would come out at the slightest scent of food. And there was the 100-degree heat and the rain that showered down daily, almost precisely at 4 p.m., at least giving Ross the chance to give his team a break. Between the rain and losing light early behind the trees, “we’d only get to shoot four or five hours a day,” he says. But Jacobson says Ross was never ruffled. Adds Hutcherson, “He always had a smile on his face” — even during the hardest moments.
8. THE 'HUNGER GAMES' CAST HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM YET
Investors have pushed the Lionsgate stock up in the weeks since the Summit deal, partly because they think combining Twilight’s executives with the Games fan base will work magic for this new franchise. But few people — and none of the cast — have yet seen the finished film, despite a worldwide marketing campaign that ranges from action figures to nail polish. Everyone, everywhere, is waiting to see if the movie delivers.
9. LIAM HEMSWORTH'S BROTHER TOLD HIM TO LOSE WEIGHT
"My brother Chris texted me before shooting and told me to lose weight. He said, 'It's called The Hunger Games, not The Eating Games!' "

hollywoodreporter.com

 

[pixiedust1603]

Everything seems so promising. The way it's being promoted seems quite up-scale with Jennifer on the cover of the Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair and the trio and Gary being on the cover of the Hollywood Reporter. They clearly want it to be a critical hit too.

 

[dajrekshn]

hollywoodreporter.com

 

[YoninahAliza]

That's a great cover for THR... I really hope to find a copy somewhere because my local B&N doesn't carry this magazine for some reason. The three stars looks great and I like the simplicity of the cover.

 

[pixiedust1603]

Josh looks out of place in that picture. Him as Peeta is one of the few things that worries me.

 

[Dora]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hunger-games-jennifer-lawrence-josh-hutcherson-liam-hemsworth-gary-ross-twilight-285957

 

[Dora]

thevampireclub.wordpress

 

[kokobombon]

I´m glad it premieres by the end of March, that way I won´t have to wait long to see it because of Black March LOL

 

[pixiedust1603]

I'm finding Liam incredibly attractive in these pictures and I never have before. Him and Jennifer look so good.

 

[randhrshipper1]

Those are great pics of the cast and director! Although, I'd like to see what shoes Jennifer had on--I hope it was heels because she's almost taller than all the men which is just WRONG! LOL!

 

[Birkin]

Wait a moment, in the making off Peta is clearly shorter than Jennifer and in the final photo he is taller, what the ...?

 

[kokobombon]

^LOL
weird they didn´t make him stand on a small stool like they do with Taylor Lautner, maybe it was easier to photoshop him taller.

 

[Aqua Tofana]

reddit

 

[Aqua Tofana]

This video won't stay up for long... WATCH IT, WATCH IT WHILE YOU CAN PEOPLE!!!!


Everything looks sooooooooooo perfect. Just so, so perfect. Honestly, I can't find a single thing that would be off (other than the very existence of Gale )

 

[Aqua Tofana]

Here's a link to the same video in HQ
http://party-in-panem.tumblr.com/post/16896611493/uploaded-it-to-tumblr-too