Wedding Congrats To Sam Claflin & Laura Haddock

Sam Claflin and Laura Haddock tied the knot over the weekend. Massive congratulations and best wishes to them both!

Sam Claflin & Jena Malone Featured in Glamour Magazine

Sam Claflin and Jena Malone are featured in a Glamour Magazine fashion spread in the September 2013 issue entitled, "Win The Style Games." Jena and Sam look fantastic! There's also a ridiculously adorable BTS video that goes along with this article. We'll post it very soon! Scroll down for the article.

From Glamour:

She Says:

Jena Malone has been playing "the brave one" in films like Saved! and Stepmom since she was a kid. Today, at 28, she's fearless once again as Catching Fire's axe-wielding badass Johanna Mason.

Glamour: Those are some really major eyelashes in the movie.

Jena: I wish I could rock them in real life! They were like five inches long.

Glamour: You've had some extreme looks in your own life too.

JM: When I was 18, I shaved my head. I was bald. Then I had a mohawk  - For a job that feel through.  

Glamour: Was your part in The Hunger Games tough to get?

JM: I know they saw every single actress from here 'til Tuesday. They wanted to find someone who didn't just physicalize this character but could also scare people. I don't know what I did - I guess I scared the hell out of them.

He Says:

Sam Claflin's career is the stuff of fairy tales. We met the 27 year-old Brit in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (he played a lusty missionary). Now he's flaunting rippling abs and a blond 'do as District 4's lust object, Finnick Odair. 

Glamour: Was getting this role like it's own Hollywood Hunger Games?

Sam: Finnick is supposed to be this godlike creature, I remember sitting in the audition room and this kid walked in. He was seriously one of the most handsome men I've ever seen. And I was just, NAH, this is never going to happen.

Glamour: How did you transform yourself into an Adonis?

SC: I ate chicken and asparagus every day for three months. My girlfriend was quite happy. 

Glamour: Did you take pics?

SC: I sent my mom photos of myself, really buff. [laughs] That sounds so wrong!

VIDEO: Epix Talks to the Cast of 'Catching Fire' at Comic Con

Another video from Comic Con 2013! Epix talks to Jennifer Lawrence, Jena Malone, Francis Lawrence, and Josh Hutcherson about the movie and why it was important to have a presence at Comic Con. 

Katniss Everdeen Among Time's Magazine's 10 Terrific Teen Heroines

Time magazine has compiled a list of their Top 10 Teen Heroines on film and, no surprise to us, Katniss Everdeen was among them. From Time:

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence)

You’d think the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob debate would have given way to Team Bella vs. Team Katniss. After all, the Twilight heroine has now been supplanted in the popular imagination of young readers and moviegoers by the forest gladiator of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy. It’s probably not a fair comparison. Still, Lawrence’s dynamic warrior seems to have a built-in edge over Kristen Stewart’s passive, curiously blank vampire bride.

Katniss is not only a skilled fighter, but she’s also a canny manipulator – of potential beau Peeta, of the bread-and-circuses media, and even of the politicians of Panem. She’s selfless and compassionate, whether she’s taking her kid sister’s place as a draftee or mercy-killing a wounded opponent. Still, she’s only 16 and doesn’t yet know her own heart, which makes her flawed enough to be relatable.

Where did Lawrence get the steely resolve needed to play her? (Her Oscar-nominated performance as a teen protecting her rural family from scary meth dealers in Winter’s Bone offers a clue.) Her Katniss may display a hint of liquid-eyed guilt or remorse at having to take an enemy down, but she’ll still do it, quick as an arrow.

See the entire list at Time.com

Jennifer Lawrence #2 on Forbes Highest Paid Actresses List

Forbes has just published their annual list of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. Jennifer Lawrence comes in at #2, behind only Angelina Jolie. To compile the list, Forbes talked to agents, managers and other in-the-know folks to estimate entertainment-related revenue for each celebrity between June 2012 and June 2013. 

Jennifer Lawrence

$26 million

Hollywood's new It girl walked away from 2012 with an Oscar for Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook and one of the top-grossing movies of the year with The Hunger Games. Lawrence was paid under $1 million for the first Hunger Games movie but Lionsgate was happy to pay more to secure her for the second installment: Catching Fire. As Katniss, Lawrence has shown that action heroes don't always have to be played by men for a film to turn a profit.

New Peeta Portrait & Lionsgate CMO Tim Palen Talks 'Catching Fire' Marketing

Peeta Mellark Photographed by Tim Palen

Check out this very interesting interview with Tim Palen, Chief Marketing Officer for Lionsgate. Tim spoke with RIPPmag's Jaqueline Miro about the marketing for Catching Fire. Palen sounds like a true renaissance man, photographing the marketing campaign HIMSELF and taking a completely hands-on approach to all aspects of the campaign. And yes, he DOES care what you guys think! I love this man. Read on:

By all accounts, Tim Palen is one of the catalysts of Lionsgate’s continuous growth at a critical time when film -- once deemed “spectacle for the masses” -- is becoming increasingly splintered into diverse audiences.

During his eleven-year tenure, Lionsgate Entertainment has experienced both a redefining of its mission, and a recrudescence in its audience. Lionsgate’s films have earned more than 40 Academy Award nominations and 10 Oscar wins, and Palen’s campaigns have received dozens of Key Art awards and other honors. Tim Palen does not feel comfortable claiming ownership of the title auteur, yet he is one of the most hands-on marketing execs in the business, conceptualizing campaigns, writing copy and even taking the photos that are used in the print campaigns for the movies he markets. The decisive moment of whether a movie works or not depends on the skill and intelligence with which all these elements are put together. And where a director has ninety minutes to tell a story, Tim has two and a half minutes max to flirt and seduce an audience.

From RIPPmag:

JM: HOW CHALLENGING WAS IT TO APPEAL TO A WIDE AUDIENCE IN A MOVIE LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES?

Tim Palen: There were a lot of challenges in marketing a beloved book especially knowing that it was the first of four films in a series. The best decision we made was to take our queues from the book – and we consider the words of Suzanne Collins to be our bible in marketing the film. The Hunger Games is a story about a reluctant hero who is forced into a world of violence and how institutionalized violence (i.e. war) changes everyone. One of the biggest  challenges fundamentally was how to handle the notion of kids killing kids. The books do not glorify violence and Katniss is not a killer. Sensationalizing that aspect of the story would be contrary to the core message of the books and we believed that it would be alienating to a huge part of the audience that love the books and that would love the movie.

JM: WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAMPAIGN YOU SHOT? CAN YOU TALK ABOUT A RECENT SHOOT AND HOW YOUR PROCESS WORKS?

Tim Palen: Most recently I shot the campaign for HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE. Because I also shot the campaign for the first HUNGER GAMES I have gotten to know the talent and there’s a certain level of trust and familiarity that has added a level of magic to the campaigns.

As a general rule, a photographer has a short window of time to connect with an actor and make them feel comfortable and safe and taken care of – most times it’s a matter of hours from the time they show up at the studio for hair/makeup before you have to dive right in. I think that’s one of the advantages of my job – I get to connect with the people I’m working with on a more intimate level than most marketing executives. It’s something I’m grateful for and something I never take for granted.

JM: WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC QUALIFIERS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WITH YOUR NEXT MARKETING CAMPAIGN…YOU JUST RELEASED THE FIRST TEASER FOR CATCHING FIRE(WHICH GOT OVER 28M VIEWS IN A LITTLE OVER A WEEK) BUT I’M SURE THERE WERE MANY CHALLENGES.

Tim Palen: The launch of the teaser trailer for CATCHING FIRE was a hugely pivotal moment in the ongoing HUNGER GAMES campaign. Because we have a franchise across four films, each piece is just part of the larger puzzle, and this step was even more crucial because we had such great success on the first film. At the same time we have a new director (Francis Lawrence), a new editor, a new cinematographer and a new costume designer. So I really needed this first glimpse of the second film to work hard to reassure the fan base that the characters they know and love are back and that the integrity we showed with the first movie is still intact. But almost equally important for me was to show that the stakes are higher, the drama  will be greater and that CATCHING FIRE will be taking the story of our reluctant hero Katniss Everdeen to a whole other level. I’m grateful that Francis Lawrence has delivered a gigantic movie that has so many rich and amazing pieces for me to play with. He’s really made my job a fun and easy one.

Probably the most satisfying thing I saw after the release of the teaser was a fan comment on one of the blogs that posted the trailer. I tend to be overly obsessive about reading and monitoring real fan reaction to the materials. This one comment did the most to reassure me that we had hit the mark with the new teaser trailer: “Shit’s getting real.” It doesn’t get better than that.

Tim Palen, Lionsgate CMO and all around renaissance man. Photo by Jack Pierson

“Tim is amazing. A true artist. The work he does reflects his impeccable taste and a truly singular point of view that only the strongest and surest of artists could present.”
— Francis Lawrence

Special thanks to Josholatras for discovering this article and photo! Follow them on twitter @josholatras

Elizabeth Banks Covers September Women's Health Magazine

Our Effie, Elizabeth Banks, is on the (double) cover of the September 2013 issue of Women's Health Magazine. 

Elizabeth Banks swears a lot. OK, maybe not a lot compared with, say, Chris Rock. But she definitely lets F-bombs fly more than most actresses would during an interview at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont. This is not a complaint, by the way. In fact, her potty mouth is pretty awesome. Equally refreshing? How frank Elizabeth is. She'll tell you exactly what she thinks unless she doesn't want to discuss something. If that's the case, she lets you know straight up instead of offering a canned answer.

Then there's her amazing sense of humor—no surprise, considering she's held her own alongside hilarious costars in everything from 30 Rock and Modern Family to the cult indie comedy Wet Hot American Summer.

Her schedule, however, is no joke. The 39-year-old is the mother of two boys (both under 3), runs a production company with her husband, Max Handelman, and in November will once again play Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. She shows up to lunch fresh from one meeting and afterward heads to another to pitch TV execs a show.

REad more at Women's Health

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Trailer Edit "Stay Alive"

Check out a great an edit of the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer, "Stay Alive." There were reports that this edit is an official TV spot, but it's fan made. It's still a great edit of the trailer. Enjoy!