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Entries in The Hunger Games (234)

Tuesday
Mar032015

New Josh Hutcherson Interview - ‘Anyone ever tell you you look a lot like that guy from The Hunger Games?’ 

Josh Hutcherson is gearing up for his new gig with Ron Howard and Canon, Project Imagination, which revolves around a consumer-created-trailer contest (see photos of Josh filming for the project here). He spoke with Vanity Fair about the project, what he dislikes most about fan interactions (hint: say something interesting to the guy!) and what he'll miss about his Hunger Games buds. 

“It’s sad,” [Josh Hutcherson] says of the end of The Hunger Games. Dressed in a white T-shirt, scruff creeping around his jawline and partway down his neck. “It’s been the most incredible experience making these movies. I’ve made friends that I’m going to have forever. Nothing is as bonding or as close an experience as filming a movie with someone. I’m going to miss that closeness, for sure.” He explains that the group involved in making the films—including co-stars Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth—has made a pact to re-unite at least every two years for a “group vacation [lasting] four to eight days.” They had initially decided to aim for an annual sojourn, but that seemed “a little unrealistic.” 

Hutcherson—who tweets and Instagrams on rare occasion—says that he, himself, doesn’t record very much in his daily life. “I don’t like to document my life in any way,” he says. “My life of work is documenting, when I’m filming. But when I’m in my own life, I want it to be undocumented . . . I like to live my own life and live in the moment. I think so many times you miss out on the real moments that are happening because you’re trying to capture it to save it for later.” What would he submit a trailer about, if he were going to enter the contest? Without flinching or pausing, he answers, “The process of an actor getting prepared and going to an audition. It’s such a normal thing that [actors] do all the time, and it’s such a horrible gut-wrenching experience. . . . It’s kind of cool to tell a story that’s normal for you but might not be normal for somebody else.” This interest in the behind-the-scenes aspect of filmmaking extends to his career ambitions, as well. Hutcherson is producing and starring in the Project Imagination film (“producing next to Ron Howard is definitely a great crash course in how to produce”), and says he wants to be a director, down the road, and is “starting to tip-toe in that direction.” When I ask what would happen if a trailer about a puppy wins, he jokes, “I can play anything. I’m very versatile.”

Hutcherson seems to be somewhat wary of the attention that his work in front of the camera has brought about. He says “the thing [he] dislikes the most’” is when fans approach him in public and ask, “‘Can I have a selfie?’ Click. ‘Thanks,’” and then walk away without saying anything to him. “You didn’t actually meet me,” he says. “All you did was get a photo. You could have Photoshopped me into that and it would have been the same experience for you.” He says, with a sly smile, that most people who approach him on the street can’t quite place him.

“My favorite thing is when they’re like, ‘Where’d you go to school? What’s your name? God, you look so familiar.’ . . . Sometimes people are like, ‘Anyone ever tell you you look a lot like that guy from The Hunger Games?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, they tell me that a lot.’”

One person who Hutcherson was very happy approached him, though: Ethan Hawke. At the Oscars last week, Hawke walked over to Hutcherson to say hello, to his great delight. “I’ve admired [Hawke] for so long,” he says. “And he actually introduced himself to me. And I was like, ‘Whaaaat? What are you saying hi to me for?!’ It was really cool.”

Tuesday
Feb242015

Josh Hutcherson on the Crazy 'Hunger Games' Experience

Josh Hutcherson recently spoke with Yahoo Movies (here's where your twitter questions probably came in), and he had quite a bit to say about The Hunger Games experience! 

Any experience from making The Hunger Games that would make a good movie?

There’s a lot of stories from shooting that would make cool movies, but maybe the press tour. The press tour is such a crazy experience, it’s really hard to explain to someone what that feels like, to hit a different city every day and have to do an entire press junket and premiere, every single day in different languages.


I see them for maybe one day, at a junket. I can’t imagine what the entire tour is like.

During the press tour for Catching Fire, we were in Europe and we did five cities or six days. Every day, you woke up and did press for six hours, with the round tables and the same questions a thousand times in a row and you try to make it sound interesting. But it’s painful. And then after that you go and get changed for the premiere, you do this crazy, super-high energy tiring thing where you see all the fans and the press on the red carpet. Then you hop on a plane, fly to the next city, go to sleep, and wake up and do it all again. So it’s a weird Groundhog Day type of thing, but in slightly different hotels with slightly different languages.

What are the questions you get the most?

Every press tour has had a different most-asked question. At the beginning, it was like, “So did you read the books?” And I was like, “Yeah, I definitely read the books.” Everyone always wants to hear a funny story from the filming process. The question I get the most is “Tell us something that no one else knows.” And you’re like, “I’m doing press, everybody knows these things!”

In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, we mostly see you delivering messages from the Capitol, and you’re increasingly insane and gaunt… and then you choke Katniss. What was it like for you to watch that on screen?

It’s always crazy to see something that you’ve acted in actually on the screen and having other people see it. It’s not gotten any less weird for me. Especially when I’m losing my mind — to see it in that extreme of a state. It really added a lot to the scene, I think, to have the physicality. I wasn’t that gaunt in real life, thank God. I didn’t have to go on a crazy diet. 

You can read the rest of the interview at YahooMovies.com.

Thursday
Feb122015

Jena Malone Talks the End of 'The Hunger Games'

Jena Malone discusses the end of The Hunger Games franchise at the Berlin Film Festival saying, 'You form language, in a way, and of course I'll miss the language… It'll be sad, but it'll be nice to let it become something else.' 

Thursday
Jan152015

Josh Hutcherson on 'The Hunger Games' and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Josh Hutcherson has been doing some press promoting his upcoming Escobar: Paradise Lost (opens on Friday) and he was asked about The Hunger Games, of course. He spoke with NOW Toronto recently, and had a bit to say about how all-consuming the promotion can be and how the cast coped with the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman. And there's a funny anecdote about selling spray tans. Listen to the audio below:

From NOW Toronto:

Josh Hutcherson will give you tips on kissing, but he'll probably be grinding his teeth throughout the lesson. The 22-year-old Hunger Games star, who you may only know as Peeta, is already a veteran at soldiering through inquisitions about kissing, sexting and everything else that would accompany his photo in Seventeen and its ilk.

"Honestly, all those magazines where they ask you who is your celebrity crush, or what's the best way to kiss someone - I'm just like, 'It's not my field of expertise,'" Hutcherson says, laughing off the silly headline-making answers he can't avoid giving.

"The hardest thing about those interviews is they talk about things I just don't care about. You feel like you have to fake an interest, and then all of a sudden you're not being yourself. But if I were being myself, I would be like, 'I don't want to answer that.' And then I'd be like an asshole. So it's awkward."

I refrain from questions about kissing J-Law while Hutcherson leans forward with concentration and regularly smiles, which is nice since his resting face looks like a sulk. We're in a hotel room overlooking the downtown skyline during the Toronto Film Festival, discussing Hutcherson's latest effort outside the long Hunger Games shadow.

In the crime thriller Escobar: Paradise Lost, Hutcherson plays Nick, a fictional Canadian surfer taken under the wing of the titular real-world drug lord. Nick was originally written to be Irish, but the actor wasn't up for tackling such a challenging accent, so he made the decision to be a Canuck.

"We wanted him to be very genuine and not American," Hutcherson recalls. "Americans come with the baggage of overconfidence - not that Canadians aren't confident."

Following its premiere, the cast had to defend the film against accusations that it romanticizes Escobar, who's played charismatically by Benicio Del Toro before the facade is peeled away to reveal the kingpin's monstrous nature.

"The thing that was scary about Escobar was that he wasn't obviously menacing," Hutcherson says. "He seemed like a family guy and did many good things for the poor community. Honestly, up until this movie, I didn't know all the horrendous things he did. I had this idea of him as a Robin Hood. As I did more research, I saw all the horrific things."

Wednesday
Jan142015

Pre-Order 'Tim Palen: Photographs From The Hunger Games'

Click for larger image

Tributes! You can now PRE-ORDER the deluxe volume of The Hunger Games photos by Tim Palen that celebrates the entire film franchise - including a peek at Mockingjay Part 2! Tim Palen: Photographs From The Hunger Games comes out June 16th, but the pre-orders are now open at Assouline and Amazon . Save your pennies though, it's $75.00 at Assouline, $55.96 at Amazon. But this gorgeous hardcover book is defintiely going to be a must-have for any Hunger Games super fan. We are SO excited about this! 

To refresh your memory, here's a bit about it:

In exclusive collaboration with Lionsgate, Assouline presents Tim Palen: Photographs from The Hunger Games. Compiled in one deluxe volume, Palen’s portraits capture each character with striking intimacy and transform the high-octane adventure of the films into exquisite visual art. Through Palen’s unique lens, characters become icons, immortalized as the beloved characters the world has embraced.

 

Pre-order at Assouline.com or pre-order TIM PALEN: Photographs from The Hunger Games at Amazon

Thursday
Jan082015

Coming Soon! Tim Palen: Photographs From The Hunger Games

Coming soon! A new and sure-to-be stunning book of portrait photographs from The Hunger Games frachise by Lionsgate CMO, Marketing campaign guru and photographer extrordinaire, Tim Palen.

Click for larger sizeMr. Palen posted the teaser above to his instagram yesterday. The copy reads: 

In exclusive collaboration with Lionsgate, Assouline presents Tim Palen: Photographs From The Hunger Games. Compiled in one deluxe volume, Palen's portraits capture each character with striking intimacy and transform the high-octane adventure of the films into exquisite visual art. Through Palen's unique lens, characters become icons, immortalized as the beloved characters the world has embraced.

We'll let you know as soon as there is more information on a release date and where to find the book. This is definitely on our must-have list! 

 

Wednesday
Jan072015

'Mockingjay – Part 1' to Release in China… in 3D!

It is official: Mockingjay – Part 1 is a force to be reckoned with!

Lionsgate released a statement that the film will be shared by a partner company, the Beijing-based Talent International Film Co. Ltd.. Why, you ask? So that the film can be unveiled at over 4,000 theatres across China on February 8th, 2015! That will be the largest welcome for any of the films in the Hunger Games series.

But wait, there’s more. For moviegoers in China, the film will be seen in 3D – making this the only film in the series to be converted to 3D format.

Mockingjay – Part 1 has already decimated its competition in North American box offices by achieving over $121 million in its opening weekend, with all three installments grossing more than $2.2 billion in the global box office.  Based on the excellent reception the film has already received, it is expected that the China release will only solidify Mockingjay’s “rockstar status.”

In their press release, Lionsgate reps stated:

"With the widest Hunger Games opening ever in China and the first Hunger Games film to launch in 3D, Mockingjay is positioned to become a major motion picture event in one of our largest and fastest-growing territories."

It is safe to assume that most Tributes would agree with that statement! Our own Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence, has even recorded a special greeting for fans in China and a new version of the trailer has been released to get Chinese fans pumped for the movie release.

Read the full press release article here

Tuesday
Dec162014

Limited Edition #Everlark Shirts from Panem Propaganda

What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.” 

- Katniss Everdeen, Mockingjay

You will go down with this ‘ship. Show your love for the girl on fire + the boy with the bread by sporting #EVERLARK shirts, available here starting at $15.99: http://bit.ly/EverlarkShirts 

Comes in 4 styles, ladies tri-blend, unisex triblend, super comfy pullover hoodie sweatshirt, and unisex long sleeve. If they don't get it, you can help them. Just wink and direct them to some extra spicy #EVERLARK fan fiction.

Katniss Everdeen + Peeta Mellark = Everlark

Get yours HERE