New York Magazine's Interview with Francis Lawrence

New York Magazine published an article on the recent surge in popularity of the Young Adult genre. In addition to several others, Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence was included in those being interviewed - and of course, there are a couple bits about the upcoming film.

A few popular YA books have struggled recently as film adaptations, like Mortal Instruments and Beautiful Creatures. Why does Hunger Games work?
Author Suzanne Collins was raised in a military family, so she grew up learning about the consequences of war. Even though it’s sort of an alternate world, it’s still relatable.

You have all these pedigree actors coming in, from Philip Seymour Hoffman in Catching Fire to Julianne Moore in Mockingjay. You could have had no-name actors, and the fans would have accepted that.
If you can have Philip Seymour Hoffman, get Philip Seymour Hoffman! And he loved the books, so he signed on. Same with Jeffrey Wright. Same with Julianne. If you can just get those amazing actors, then that’s 80 percent of my job.

The first film skimped a little on showing us the strategy behind the Katniss-Peeta love story. 
I felt the same. I felt the love story in general was, um, a bit buried in the first one. I wanted to bring the love story to the surface. And when I say love story, I mean the triangle.

Jennifer Lawrence in Bazaar UK - The Full Interview

Jennifer Lawrence is Harper's Bazaar UK's November covergirl. Until you can get your hands on a copy, we've got the full, perfectly Jen-tastic article for you here:

My one worry, in advance of meeting Jennifer Lawrence, is that someone has told her to clean up her act. Sure, it was OK for the young ingénue to go on the Late Show with David Letterman and compare herself to a cat peeing on the red carpet. It was endearing when, upon ascending the podium to collect her Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, she tripped over her dress, recovering with point-blank honesty - ‘You guys are only standing up because I fell and you feel bad’ - and then gave everyone in the press room the finger. But it felt too good to last. Somehow, the forces of PR-regulated piety would have descended on the poor girl and drummed all that out of her.

Indeed, in preparation for The Hunger Games, she was given media training — how to make more eye contact, regulate the volume of her voice and rein in the nervous laughter — and during the Oscars someone (she won’t say who) told her to tone it down. “Other people are getting up and owning the stage and you sound like a stuttering idiot. Pull it together.” And I said, “I’m not doing it on purpose, I’m uncomfortable and when people get uncomfortable they resort to their shit. I make awkward jokes and stutter.”’ She winces a little. ‘That was actually a moment when I really wanted it to be special. That was not the time I wanted to be the Down-Home Girl. I wanted to be graceful.’

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New 'Catching Fire' Stills

Some brand spankin' new Catching Fire stills showed up today on the facebook page of The Hunger Games Peru! Check them out!

 Thanks to Real or Not Real News for the tip!

Bruno Gunn on The Cast & Bringing a "Bigger, More Physical Brutus" to 'Catching Fire'

One of our favorite Catching Fire cast members, Bruno Gunn talked with his hometown paper, The Canton Repository, about his upcoming turn as Brutus in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Image by Julie Vennitti/CantonRep

“It should be interesting to say the least, having someone come up and say, ‘Gosh, you’re Brutus!’ when I’m pumping gas,” Gunn said, during a recent interview at Bender’s Tavern.

Clearly, Gunn is hoping The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will take him to the next level. “Faith it till you make it” is his longtime mantra.

While unable to divulge any specifics about his action-heavy scenes in Catching Fire — filmed last year in Atlanta and the Hawaiian jungle — Gunn spoke in reverent tones about his fellow cast members.

“You get to the set and look around and it’s just one great actor after another,” he said. “The first night there I was having dinner with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer (Lawrence), Josh (Hutcherson), Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer. Not just great actors but good human beings.

“I’d be in makeup talking art with Woody Harrelson,” Gunn recalled. “Watching Stanley Tucci act was like a master class in acting. That goes for Jennifer and Josh, too. I’d hang back, watch and learn as much as possible.”

After receiving the news that he’d been cast as Brutus, Gunn first made an ecstatic phone call to his fiancée. But as fate would have it, he was flying to Italy that very day to visit with friends and family, and decided to wait until he arrived to tell them.

“Here I am with this life-changing news and I’m stuck on a plane for nine hours,” he said. To his amusement, the majority of his fellow passengers were watching the first “Hunger Games” as the in-flight movie.

To prepare for his Catching Fire role as Brutus, a strong and brutal returning Hunger Games victor, Gunn worked out intensively three to four hours daily with trainer Drew Logan, doing a lot of weights, a lot of cardio and 500 situps every night.” “I was in good shape when I got the role, but I wanted to bring a stronger, bigger, more physical Brutus.”

Apparently, Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins was pleased with Gunn’s casting as Brutus.

“When I met her,” he said, “she dove in and gave me a big bear hug.”

Read more at CantonRep.com

HQ Scans From EW's 'Catching Fire' Issue

We've got the high quality scans from EW's Oct 11th Catching Fire Special issue! Hooray for the tablet edition. Check out the entire article and all of the pics including a new and totally adorable pic of Finnick and Mags!! We've updated our GALLERY page with all the HQ covers as well.

See all the HQ scans HERE

Josh Hutcherson on why he identifies with Peeta

Yahoo has published an excerpt of Josh Hutcherson's interview with Glamour magazine, from the November 2013 issue:

He's acted in almost 40 films, but before last year you probably only knew Josh Hutcherson, 20, from his role as the son of a lesbian couple in 2010's The Kids Are All Right. It wasn't until getting cast as Peeta Mellark in The HungerGames--one third of the Katniss-Gale-Peeta love triangle--that he became paparazzi-stalked and face-on-a-T-shirt famous. As he and the rest of the world gear up for November's release of the trilogy's second film, Catching Fire, the Kentucky native (who is, honestly, the nicest) talked to Glamour about costars, chemistry, and dating in Hollywood. 

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Sam Claflin interview in Elle Magazine

Courtesy of Sam Claflin FansThere is an incredibly charming interview with Sam Claflin (okay, I'm biased - MC) in the latest issue of Elle UK. In it, he speaks about his newfound fame, wife Laura Haddock, and, of course, playing Finnick in Catching Fire.


An excerpt:

In the book, Katniss describes Finnick thus: 'An amazing physical specimen. One of the most stunning, sensuous people on the planet.' Sam Calflin wiggles awkwardly in his chair. 'Ha, yeah, miscast!' he grins. This was the complaint from certaint sectors of the Hunger Games' fans, who took issue with Claflin's casting; he wasn't manly enough, muscular enough, bronzed enough. 'I saw people's reactions and some were harsh. Not to the point where I'm going to kill myself but I thought "I'm sorry I'm not YOUR Finnick. Trust me, when I read the book, I didn't see me as Finnick either!"' he smiles.

But looks aren't everything and Claflin aced it. 'He's a very complex character and you have to be able to portray the vulnerabilities as well as the charm and charisma. There was something I did with the acting part of it that they liked,' he says, with a shrug. 

You can read the rest over here, courtesy of Sam Claflin Fans. 

 Courtesy of Sam Claflin Fans

Jena on Johanna from EW

When we first meet Johanna Mason, a ferocious, ax-wielding victor from District 7, it's on an elevator with Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta. She stares down the trio and proceeds to strip naked. "It's one of the best introductions to a character ever," says 28-year-old actress Jena Malone (Donnie Darko). "I had to learn how to do a striptease in four seconds."

For Malone, Johanna defies expectations for women in genre films. "She's not just another badass sexy female," she says. "Her sexuality is a weapon. Her humor is a weapon. They're part of her process of coping with the fact that she killed all her friends in her own Hunger Games." Malone can't shake one particular scene in which her entire body is drenched in blood. "I felt like this gladiator," she says. "The cameras would cut and I would still have this crazy energy surging through me. Johanna took over."


From EW's October 11 "Catching Fire" special issue.