This past Friday Lionsgate held a press day for the highly anticipated second film in the HUNGER GAMES trilogy, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE, and WAMG was there.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (played by Josh Hutcherson). Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is directed by Francis Lawrence, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the second in a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins that has more than 65 million copies in print in the U.S. alone.
While at the press day, director Francis Lawrence, producer Nina Jacobson, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, and Donald Sutherland answered questions about the film in a press conference. We’ve included the entire press conference transcript below so that all you HUNGER GAMES fans don’t miss a thing! Check it out:
Fans have found these stories, for a variety of reasons, whether it’s personal relationships or political allegory or just enjoying the action. Would any member of the cast or crew like to say succinctly what they most enjoy about the series of stories and films?
Jennifer: I would love to tell you what I love about these movies. I was personally very excited when I first started reading these books just that there was such a big series that young adults would be reading, and something that was actually very important. I think it’s a wonderful message to show how powerful one voice can be. It’s very easy as a society for us to just kind of follow the feet in front of us and history does kind of repeat itself. And I think it’s an important message for our younger generation to see how important they are in shaping our society and our future.
Donald: Can I just say one thing? For me, it was essential, for me personally, that I somehow find my way to be a part of this because it more clearly represents the dangers of an oligarchy of the privileged than anything I’ve seen for a long, long time.
Jennifer: Also, a bad ass female protagonist.
Josh: And not so bad ass Peeta.
I have a question for Francis last year we all met Gary Ross, who directed first HUNGER GAMES. You took over for this film and also signed on for the next two. So what consistencies are we going to notice in CATCHING FIRE and the MOCKINGJAY movies?
Francis: Well, I think one of the things that I wanted to make sure of was that there was still an aesthetic unity to all of the movies. And I thought Gary had done an amazing job with the world building in the Hunger Games. So we worked with the same production designer to make sure that the Capitol was still built from the architecture, that District 12 still had the same, almost 1930s Appalachian feel. And we’re going to do the same with MOCKINGJAY and the funny thing about MOCKINGJAY though is that we actually get to see the a bunch of districts. We’ll actually get to see the Capitol in a very new way. We’ll actually go down to the middle of the streets in the Capitol which will be fantastic. But we worked with the production design team to make sure that there was an aesthetic unity all the way through.
This question goes to Nina and Francis. Nina, we talked at great length about the tonal bandwidth in creating the world of the Hunger Games, and finding the collaborative tone between the visual and the emotional aspects of the film. You have new voices with Simon Beaufoy as new screenwriter and Francis as a director. So what were some of the considerations to maintain continuity bandwidth of the emotion and the visuals while allowing these new voices to spring forward?
Nina: Well, I think the heart of these movies is Katniss’ point of view and as long as it remains firmly in her shoes, I think that’s what will always be the consistency throughout because as a character, she’s a complex character. She changes, but she sort of grounds us, I think, throughout the series. But I think this movie opened up a lot of new opportunities for us because we spend so much more time at the Capitol and arena which is itself, the opponent, as opposed to the characters being each other’s opponent at times. So with Francis, he was able to expand the world enormously while still staying very true to what was that character-based, emotionally honest approach that the first movie took.
This is for Jeffrey and Lenny. Will you both talk about the attraction of doing this movie and now you’re a part of this franchise. Talk about your impression of the first movie, about the books, and describe what you like about your characters and what you don’t like about your characters.
Jeffrey: Wow. Lenny, do you want to take it?
Lenny: Where do we begin? What was the first question? Well, first of all, the story, it’s great story telling. You can have all of these great actors and actresses and directors and people, but at the end of the day, it was a really well-written story with really good characters. I didn’t know anything about Hunger Games before I got the call from Gary Ross. I didn’t know about it. I was in the Bahamas with my music, in the jungle somewhere. I got this phone call about Hunger Games. I had to download it and read it. And once I read it, I was hooked. I read the whole book in one night, and my character, Cinna, he works for the Capitol, obviously. He’s quiet. He does his job, but he has an instant attraction to Katniss. He understands who she is. He believes in her, in her abilities, and he wants to be there for her. They begin this friendship. In this film, he’s even more quiet, but he’s at the point now where he’s ready to make a statement, to really show who he is and what side he’s on. And he does that very strongly when he presents the wedding dress that President Snow wants Katniss to wear. We’ve all seen it. The dress turns into the Mockingjay, and he has to face some grave consequences for that.But I like that he speaks through his art.Jeffrey?
Jeffrey: I was using that to collect my thoughts, had to buy some time. So thank you for that assistance. One of the things aside from the thematics of the storytelling that attracted me to this was that there had already been this extraordinary work done by many of the folks that are assembled here. So I had an opportunity then to kind of piggyback [laughs] on their efforts. Like Lenny, I was maybe in a jungle in West Africa somewhere in Sierra Leone so I missed out on a lot of the fanfare around the first one. But when I was called in my case by Francis to be a part of this, I dug in and I realized that there was something very interesting happening here particularly, as Jennifer said, for younger audiences because this is epic moviemaking of a scale that we see a lot of now. But at the same time, there are these poignant, relative ideas that are being presented to young developing minds that I think are really essential. They’re not specific but they’re just presented in an intelligent way that allows each reader or each audience member to place themselves within the world and make these considerations that are relevant to their lives outside of the theater. For me, it just seems to make sense that you entertain but at the same time, you provide in some ways a kind of escapism but a kind of relevant escapism that doesn’t discount the complexities of who we are and what our world is undergoing now.
Elizabeth and Jennifer, can you talk about how good it is to have strong female characters?
Elizabeth: Well, Jennifer is an amazing actress who gets amazing roles and I wish that she gets them always and forever for the rest of her life. I’ve been doing it a little longer and I know there’s a lot of girlfriend roles out there, and a lot of wives and a lot of supporting roles that are less interesting than Katniss. And I hope for her that she gets to play Katniss-level roles forever and ever. They’re rare. I think this movie and “Gravity,” I’m so excited to be seeing such amazing, strong female role models in movies for the 50 percent of moviegoers who are ladies.
Sam and Jena, you’re both new to the franchise, what do you love most about your characters?
Jena: I think that I loved every single thing about Johanna Mason. When I read the novel in 48 hours because I had my wisdom teeth out and I just laid in bed and ate a lot of ice cream and just poured through them and was just sobbing at the end and was just so emotionally invested. I think for me beyond just the seed of the novels and the amazing cast and an incredible director, the fact that this kind of book was so well received in a young audience was that they were hungry for it and that it’s sort of a symbiotic relationship. You can’t create a good idea without someone wanting to receive that good idea. And I feel like it’s a really incredible thing to know that this new generation is hungry for a different type of sense of identity. They’re looking for something else in stories that are being sold to them. They don’t want it sugar-coated anymore. What I thought was so amazing about Johanna Mason is that she kind of represented a lot of that in the sense that she doesn’t sugar coat and she is hardcore and truthful and violent and angry. And all of those things are not just cool aspects of her. I don’t really think that that’s a badass thing. It’s actually a survival technique. And I think that’s a really interesting thing to talk about for young women to understand that they can take on tools and personality traits that may not be their own, but they can use them in forms of survival to be able to elevate themselves in the world which I think is pretty cool.
Sam: I have to say I was slightly intimidated entering into this world that had been created very strongly by my fellow cast mates, especially approaching a character like Finnick that is described as some kind of god, I suppose. To approach a character like that, it was quite tough to say the very least. I had to go through some huge physical transformations, a shaven chest [laughs]. It was very intimidating but I kind of embraced the challenge and worked as hard as I could. That’s all you can do. As much as there was a fair bit of negativity when I was cast initially, I think now a few people have been turned. My goal is to obviously turn the world [laughs] and that’s what Finnick’s goal is as well. So I guess I have that in common with him.
Jeffrey: I didn’t answer the multi-part question about what I liked about my character. I like that Beetee is an idea man who’s resistant to the status quo.
Josh and Jennifer, what kind of moral lessons do you think young boys and girls can learn from your characters? And do you feel that’s an important thing for young adult fiction?
Jennifer: I think that we have this society that we unfortunately experience in our lives where people feel entitled to certain things. I think that we’ve been completely desensitized in our shock factor and the media continues to feed you what you want. This is kind of an example of what happens when you keep allowing that to happen, when you keep feeling entitled to things that you’re just simply not. I think that at the end of the first movie with us and the berries with, “No, they don’t, they don’t need a victor. We don’t need to play in this game,” is a wonderful example for young adults that you don’t have to follow the feet in front of you. Even though you can seem like the only one, even just one voice standing up for something that’s wrong can keep us from going into a totalitarian government.
Josh: Yeah, I think today with our generation and my younger brother’s generation coming up too, they are surrounded by so much in your face truth from around the world and they are also told all the time about how they are supposed to be by the media. What type of people they are supposed to be or look and dress. I think this movie shows that you can go against the flow of things and that is the most important thing. That is what I did when I was a kid. I went against the flow of things and did what I wanted to do in life and I’m here now talking to you guys. So its pretty cool I think.
For Jennifer, Josh and Liam, we see the way Katniss is able to reach people with her celebrity in the film, what do you hope that you can accomplish with the platform that you have been given with these films?
Jennifer: It kind of changes some times. There are so many wonderful things that can come from this. Saying the right things. And a simple one is that it is so easy to raise money for charity. It takes me ten minutes to sign a hundred posters that can raise thousands of dollars for charity. Also… wait, I had a really good answer and I forgot it. God … what were you saying?
Are there agendas you would like to pursue to use your celebrity to help people?
Jennifer: Honestly, because sometimes it surprises me. When you are an actor you never think, my job is very important, what I do is important for the world and people. I just love doing it. I remember being on the first movie and meeting an extra that was covered in scars because she had been burned. I remember her coming up to me and saying, she didn’t like going to school and then when she read The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and then she was proud of her scars and her friends called her the girl on fire. I just cried and remember calling my mom and saying I get it. I read the third book where she goes to the hospital and some times it seems pointless because you are covered in make-up and your hair is in curlers but sometimes there are lives that you can touch. So I don’t really have any plans but sometimes it comes up and bites you in the ass and its great. I like doing it that way.
Liam: I think we have a unique opportunity to have a voice and spread awareness to an issue that might be important regardless if people want to listen to us or not. We are given a platform to talk on. I think who we are if we use that platform then there is a little bit of good that we can do to spread awareness to important things and it is a unique opportunity to have.
Liam and Josh, can you talk about the personality progress of your characters through this film and if you got any of that from the source material.
Josh: Yeah, I think there is a lot of that in the source material. It’s nice when you have a whole book and then you have to whittle it down into a movie because as an actor you have a lot more information about your character I think. For me I think that Peeta is angrier in this movie. In the first movie he was a vacant painting and in this one he has more edge to him. He is angry about having to go back into the games. He is angry about how Katniss has been with him and the feeling that he has been led on. Up until they are training together and have that moment of coming together as friends he feels really disappointed with the whole situation obviously. I think this movie really expands on all the different relationships. I think you see a lot more of the dynamic of Katniss and Peeta, how they are affected by the games and by the whole world they live in and the relationship between those two (Katniss and Gale).
Liam: I think when Katniss comes back from the games Gale obviously sees the post traumatic stress that she is dealing with and has obviously seen her fall in love with someone else and cares deeply about it. As angry and frustrated as Gale is watching her going back into these games I think he understands that at the end of the day Peeta is trying to protect her as well and is one of her best chances at survival. I think he does appreciate that as hard as it is for him to watch all of this to unfold between them. (To Josh) Do you want to fight?
Josh: No, I’m good.
Liam: We love each other.
Jennifer: Deep, deep man love.
This is for Jennifer, Josh, Liam and especially Woody, 75-percent of the people in America feel the country is on the right track. Who do you admire enough that you think they should become a symbol for revolutionary change?
Jennifer: Ryan Seacrest. [laughter] That’s all.
Woody Harrelson: Bill Maher.
Jennifer, for you and any of the returning cast members, can you talk about the changes of playing a characters’ arc over multiple films as opposed to one, two-hour movie?
Liam: Lots of character development happens.
Jennifer: Yeah, lots.
Josh: You can do much more than with a two-hour block of movie.
Jennifer: You get to play a character, who really isn’t the same character. That is nice.
Nina: If I can just add to that. One of the things that Suzanne did in her books and the actors have really been inspired by is that we really ask ourselves, “What would you do if that really did happen to you?” What if there is a dystopic future and even though it is a popcorn movie, based on a book that a lot of people love, we try to ask ourselves, “How would you be affected by these events if they happened to you.” Not if they happened in a book or in a movie, but what if they happened to you. I think all of these actors, in this subsequent movie, you see the affects on them as human beings — the way humans are affected by these things.
This movie has a lot of really intense scenes, and I was reading in Entertainment Weekly how much fun you all had making this serious movie.
Liam: I was strangely happy getting whipped.
Jennifer: Liam was getting really hurt. Getting whipped was something that might be fun maybe once or twice.
Liam: Yeah, but after a few days of doing it, it starts to ruin you.
Jennifer: Ah, that’s every scene!
Liam: Yeah, one or two takes is good. After that, you hate it!
Jennifer, you won the Academy Award, you’re reuniting with David O. Russell this December, can you talk about that and was there a bring your Oscar to work day?
Jennifer Lawrence: Absolutely! I brought it to work and put it right on video village and said, “Things are going to be very different” [laughter]. I saw everyone the next day and everybody was like, “Hey nice to see you.” “That happened? Yeah, OK.” Actually it made me a target for somebody… Woody! Every time I messed up my line, he’d say, “Better give that Oscar back.” I just wish that everybody in this cast did not know about it. It would have made life a lot easier. But yeah, getting back together with David is a no brainer. The script and the character are amazing, and unlike anything I had ever done.
Is it important to keep changing since you are going to be identified with Katniss; did you want to play women that are totally opposite of this?
Jennifer: Yes and no. The reason that I signed onto Hunger Games — we already had Harry Potter and we already had Twilight — we were obviously surprised by the success. How could we not be? But, we did know what to expect to a certain extent. And if I was going to be identified for a character for the rest of my life — that is a hard thing to think about. But I love this character and I am proud of her, and I would be proud to be associated with this movie and this character for the rest of my life. That being said, I just think it is important, it has been important to get the little [films]. Not even really for audiences, obviously some for audiences to see that I can also do this since these are so big and overwhelming, but for me. I like going back, I started doing Indies. Sometimes when you find a really great character like Rosalyn in David’s movie, its better than vacation. It’s, I don’t know. It’s exciting.
Elizabeth: It is better than vacation, sometimes
Jennifer: As long as the catering is good.
For the actors. Some of you more than others get to sport some fabulous make-up hair and costumes. Do your characters for you start with what is on the page with the words or the costumes.
Jennifer: Words.
For Jennifer, can you talk a little bit about what was the toughest stunt to do? And also what did the Oscar really mean to you?
Jennifer: I think the hardest stunt to do…the spinning cornucopia was pretty hard. We had a real cornucopia going about thirty miles per hour. And Jena and I both had our morning sickness bracelets on…
Josh: Morning sickness, or motion sickness??
Jennifer: That is going to be…my publicist is going to be like, that is what I am going to be dealing with for the next 24 hours. Motion sickness. So that was hard to just trying to keep the cookies down. Winning the Oscar…something like that is a wonderful gift that I was so grateful for, confused by slightly. But I am okay with that. It is a huge honor and I am still pinching myself and I think I have not fully digested it. And I think maybe I shouldn’t. It is a tremendous honor.
Jennifer, Josh, Liam Donald, you guys had a unique opportunity to play role across multiple films. I am wondering if you are changing anything about your character as you learn more about them, from a portrayal stace know that you are learning more from the director, producers, fans?
Josh: I think it is cool because we are getting new and different input now. We have a new director leading us, so that is a cool change for us. I think that for me the places that Peeta goes natural just based on the story are so exciting for me. I want to follow that. As far as bringing a bunch of things of my own to it…I mean there are parts of Peeta that bring from myself. But for the most part I think it was all really in the original book and the script and the story.
Liam: I always feel like, when I’m shooting something, I often let the character go in different directions because of either the directors influence, or something will work our on set. With something like this, we have four different films to do it over. It’s definitely going to head in directions that you didn’t know, or you didn’t think of, or didn’t expect. It’s part of a collaboration. People are developing a character, and your instincts might go in a different direction because of another actors instinct. Um… I’ve really got to go to the bathroom, so… (laughs)
Jennifer: I knew it! I saw that empty bottle of orange juice… (laughs) I saw that empty orange juice thing and I was like “He has to pee”. (laughs)
(To Francis Lawrence) You had a much more elaborate Hunger Games to put on camera. I was wondering when you were reading the script, or the book, was there one part in particular where you were going “Oh God. This is going to be a nightmare! How am I going to bring this to life?”. Is there any one part that was more complicated?
Francis: No. I mean. that’s kind of the fun for me. Figuring out the puzzle of making a movie is sort of the fun part. I knew, very early on, that the arena in this was going to have to be figured out. It’s a place that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world, so we were going to have to build part of it, and shoot different parts in different locations. We ended up building the island in the cornucopia in Atlanta, and unfortunately in 40 degree water, so the actors had to jump in and out of that. Then we did the jungle in Hawaii. I always take it as a really fun challenge.
The movie is about, in a large part, a very politically charged young generation, and I was just wondering what you hope a young, politically charged generation of today would get out of your movie?
Jeffrey: I’ll take that. I think what’s fascinating about the movie is that, what I’ve found with interacting with fans, and talking to them about why they are so passionate about all of these movies, is that it’s kind of one of those universal spectrums of how anyone can insert themselves into the world and really express their own perspectives and politics within it. Like any good piece, it raises more questions than it answers. At the same time, the politics for the young people in the movie are very simple. There’re politics around home, family, security, love, and all of these very simple, universal themes that we all relate to, and that we can all understand. I guess, yes, young people should be politically engaged, but they should be so from a very considered, principle, and grounded place. Not from a reactive place. Not from a place that has to do with a fad, or that has to do with a knee-jerk, reactive response to something, but something very grounded in principles that are meaningful and effective. I think that’s what they should take away. (Applause)
For Donald. You obviously have such a great understanding of this character, but how much identification, or empathy do you have for this character, and how important is that in bringing him to life?
Donald: I love him. He loves himself… (laughs) and he loves his job. He’s ready to take away $15,000 worth of food stamps. He’s a good guy.
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THE HUNGER GAMES : CATCHING FIRE releases in theaters
November 22
