The
Hunger Games
Movie Trivia:
'May the odds be ever in your favor.'
(Total Trivia Entries: 60)
The Hunger Games is based on the popular novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. To find out which actresses were considered for the lead female protagonist role of Katniss before Jennifer Lawrence won it, keep reading The Hunger Games movie trivia for all the details.
Directed by: Gary Ross
Written by:
Gary Ross (screenplay)
Billy Ray (screenplay)
Suzanne Collins (screenplay & novel)
Starring:
Jennifer Lawrence - Katniss Everdeen
Josh Hutcherson - Peeta Mellark
Liam Hemsworth - Gale Hawthorne
Woody Harrelson - Haymitch Abernathy
Elizabeth Banks - Effie Trinket
Lenny Kravitz - Cinna
Stanley Tucci - Caesar Flickerman
Donald Sutherland - President Coriolanus Snow
Wes Bentley - Seneca Crane
Toby Jones - Claudius Templesmith
Alexander Ludwig - Cato
Isabelle Fuhrman - Clove
Amandla Stenberg - Rue
Paula Malcomson - Mrs. Everdeen
Willow Shields - Primrose Everdeen
Jacqueline Emerson - Foxface
Dayo Okeniyi - Thresh
Jack Quaid - Marvel
Leven Rambin - Glimmer
Casting:
On March 2011, Lionsgate confirmed that the part of Katniss was the first to be cast, with Jennifer Lawrence finally winning the role after about 30 female actresses were considered, which included the following young Hollywood actresses:
- Chloë Grace Moretz
- Emma Roberts
- Hailee Steinfeld
- Abigail Breslin
- Saoirse Ronan
- Lyndsy Fonseca
- Emily Browning
- Jodelle Ferland
- Shailene Woodley
- Kaya Scodelario
- Mary Mouser
Jennifer Lawrence dropped out of playing the female lead in Savages (2012) to do this movie instead.
Apparently Lawrence, who is a fan of the books, was initially intimidated by what it would mean for her fame if she took on a movie of this magnitude and she took three days to accept the role.
Author Suzanne Collins had stated that she preferred that the actress who plays Katniss to have 'a certain maturity and power' and that she would rather the actress be older. Once Lawrence was cast Collins stated; 'Lawrence was the only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book and that she had every essential quality to play Katniss.'
Other than dying her brown for her role, Lawrence also underwent extensive training to get in shape, including archery, combat, running, rock and tree climbing, parkour and yoga.
Archer and Olympic bronze medalist, Khatuna Lorig, was hired by Lionsgate to teach Lawrence how to shoot.
Lawrence experienced an accident on the last day of her six week training phase, in which she hit a wall while running at full speed, but was not seriously injured.
This is the second movie in two years, after Winter's Bone (2010), in which Jennifer Lawrence plays a character who feeds her destitute family and herself partly by catching and killing squirrels.
Before
Josh Hutcherson was cast, the following actors were considered
for the role of Peeta Mellark:- Alexander Ludwig - who was instead cast as Cato
- Alex Pettyfer
- Hunter Parrish
- Lucas Till
- Evan Peters
- Nico Tortorella
While playing round on the set, apparently Jennifer Lawrence accidentally kicked Josh Hutcherson in the head, knocking him out and resulting in a concussion.
For
the role of Gale, before Liam Hemsworth was cast, the following
actors were considered:- Chris Massoglia
- David Henrie
- Robbie Amell
- Drew Roy
Apparently Liam Hemsworth asked his brother Chris Hemsworth (Thor) to help him with the auditions practice. Chris would play Katniss during their practice.
Both Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence who are natural blonds dyed their hair brown for their roles while Josh Hutcherson, who is naturally dark-haired, dyed his hair blond for his role.
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, have all stated that if the next books are converted they will come back to reprise their roles. In February 2012, The Hollywood Reporter indicated that all three actors have all signed on to the whole franchise.
As Jennifer Lawrence is under contract with 20th Century Fox for a sequel to X-Men: First Class (2011), it was later confirmed that Catching Fire will begin production in the fall of 2012, with the First Class sequel shooting in January 2013, allowing Lawrence to appear in both films.
John C. Reilly was considered for the role of Haymitch Abernathy, but in May 2011 Lionsgate announced that Woody Harreslon had been cast for this role.
In November 2011, Woody Harrelson revealed in an interview that he has signed on for four films, suggesting that one of the books may be split into two films.
Elizabeth Banks, who plays Effie Trinket, stated that the worst part of her costume was the lengthy bejeweled nails because she couldn't unbutton herself or even go to the bathroom without assistance.
Elizabeth Banks spent approximately 45 minutes every day having her nails manicured.
Although the character of Effie Trinket appeared in all three books and was featured prominently in the movie, the character's name, Effie Trinket, was never actually mentioned in the movie.
Lenny Kravitz, who plays the role of Cinna, actually knew Jennifer Lawrence before this movie as Lawrence is friends with Kravitz's daughter, Zoe, since they both appeared in X-Men: First Class (2011).
Stanley Tucci, who portrays the character of Caesar Flickerman, wore a bright blue wig, blue eyebrows, fake teeth, spray tan and lots of makeup for his role.
Wes Bentley, who plays the role of Seneca Crane, said in an interview with New York Magazine that the weird looking beard he wore during the movie was styled from his own beard and not from fake hair pieces.
Actress Paula Malcomson, who plays Katniss' mother, has actually worked with Jennifer Lawrence before. She played Lawrence's mother in an episode of Cold Case (2003), where her character was a homeless mother struggling to support her two children after the death of their father, which is very much like her character in The Hunger Games.
Alexander Ludwig, who plays one of the Career Tributes, Cato, worked out for four hours a day with a US Navy Seal to get into shape and gained about 40 pounds for his role.
Jack Quaid, who is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan was cast as Marvel one of the Career Tributes.
Return to top of page
Screenplay & Production:
The Hunger Games is the first part of a Trilogy series of young adult books by Suzanne Collins. The next two in the series are; 'Catching Fire' and 'Mockingjay'.
Author Suzanne Collins apparently came up with the idea for 'The Hunger Grams, after watching footage of the invasion of Iraq and a reality TV show.
Apparently the name of the heroine, Katniss, comes from the name of a group of edible plan species, genus 'Sagittaria', commonly known as 'arrowhead', and this is also a reference to the character's archery skills.
The name of the fictional nation of Panem is derived from 'Panem et Circenses', which means 'Bread and Circuses'. This comes from the concluding days of the Roman Empire where the government would satisfy the people by providing violent and deadly entertainment instead of performing their public services.
In March 2009 Lions Gate Entertainment along with Nina Jacobson's production company Color Force acquired worldwide distribution rights to a movie adaptation of The Hunger Games.
In November 2010 It was announced that Gary Ross will be directing The Hunger Games.
Initially Suzanne Collins adapted the novel for the movie herself, and her script was revised by screenwriter Billy Ray. However, the first draft of the script was then replaced by one written by Collins and director Gary Ross.
As part of the underwriting process Fireman's Fund Insurance Company insisted on a thorough risk analysis of hazards, including wayward arrows, poison ivy, bears, bugs and a chase across fast-running water.
Principal photography began in May 2011 near Brevard in Transylvania County in Western North Carolina with an initial budget of $75 million and concluded in September 2011 with a final budget of between $90 and $100 million but reduced to $78 million after subsidies.
Most of this movie was shot in the woods of North Carolina, especially in and around Charlotte and Asheville.
Steven Soderbergh served as one of the second unit directors.
Due to the tightness of the schedule the movie was shot on film and not digital. Director Ross stated in an interview with The New York Times; 'I didn't want to run the risk of the technical issues that often come with shooting digitally, we simply couldn't afford any delays.'
Director Gary Ross, confirmed that his decision to include the shaky camera scenes was to reflect the urgency of what's happening in the arena during the games and to reflect the protagonist, Katniss' point of view.
In the scene where it's mentioned that Gale has had his name put in for reaping multiple times, it's never explained in the movie why anyone would want to do this since putting your name into the reaping many times raises the possibility that that person would be selected to compete in the games and may die. The reason for this is given in the novel, which is if a person puts their name in multiple times this actually helps their family get additional portions of supplies such as food and oil, therefore, poor families would put the names of their children in for the reaping more than once in exchange for extra food supplies.
In the scene that Katniss uses a four-note melody as her signal with Rue, the notes are re-fa-mi-do, which is from in solfège.
The famous 'Wilhelm scream' can be heard from one of the victims in the scene when Katniss cuts off a tree branch and make the nest of tracker jackers fall onto some of her opponents.
Apparently the design for the Cornucopia was inspired by the work of architect Frank Gehry.
Costume designer, Judianna Makovsky, made a minimum of 1,800 elaborate costumes for the citizens of the Capitol.
More than 35 full-time makeup artists were needed to work on the main characters and over 500 extras.
Originally composer Danny Elfman and T-bone Burnett were set to score the music for The Hunger Games, with Burnett also acting as executive music producer. However, Elfman was later replaced by James Newton Howard due to scheduling conflict.
The indie rock band, Arcade Fire also contributed to the movie's original score. They composed the ominous Panem national anthem, entitled "Horn of Plenty", which appears throughout the movie. Butler, who co-wrote the song with Chassagne explained; "There's an anthem that runs throughout the books, the national anthem of the fascist Capitol. So as a thought experiment, we tried to write what that might sound like. It's like the Capitol's idea of itself, basically. It's not a pop song or anything. More of an anthem anthem that could be playing at a big sporting event like the Hunger Games. So we did a structure for that, and then James Newton Howard made a movie-score version of it that happens in several places in the film."
The soundtrack for the The Hunger Games contains songs inspired by the film, buy only three actually appear in the movie itself, during the closing credits. The first single released from the film's companion album was "Safe & Sound" by Taylor Swift featuring The Civil Wars. The soundtrack also features songs by The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, The Secret Sisters, Miranda Lambert featuring The Pistol Annies, Neko Case, Kid Cudi, Academy Award winner Glen Hansard, The Low Anthem, Punch Brothers, Birdy, Maroon 5, Jayme Dee, and Carolina Chocolate Drops. Jennifer Lawrence singing "Rue's Lullaby" was not included on the soundtrack.
For the cornucopia scene a rather obscure analog track from the 1970s composed by Laurie Spiegel was featured.
In May 2011, Entertainment Weekly revealed on their cover the first photo of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen.
The first teaser trailer was revealed during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and as Lawrence wasn't able to attend the event due to filming, she presented the teaser through a pre-recorded video. The official trailer was released on November 14, 2011.
Four weeks before The Hunger Games' opening, Lionsgate sold tickets in advance tickets. Not only did the ticket sales break the one-day record originally held by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), but also accounted for 83% of the ticket sales of the day. And the film now holds the record for the fifth-best opening day ever, bringing in $68.3 million.
Despite the books high popularity, Lionsgate admitted that the chances of Catching Fire and Mockingjay being converted into films all depended on the money that The Hunger Games would make. However, in August 2011, while still shooting the film, Lionsgate announced that a film adaptation of the second novel in, Catching Fire, is scheduled to be released on November 22, 2013.
In November 2011, Lionsgate entered negotiations with screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, who wrote Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and 127 Hours (2010), to adapt Catching Fire for screen, as the post-production schedule for The Hunger Games was too crowded for Ross and Collins to adapt the next film as originally planned.
In January 2012 Gary Ross was still expected to return as director for the sequel. However, in April 2012 Ross officially confirmed that he would not be returning to direct Catching Fire. He stated; 'Despite recent speculation in the media, and after difficult but sincere consideration, I have decided not to direct Catching Fire. As a writer and a director, I simply don’t have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.'
Take a look at the part 1 and 2 of interview with director Gary Ross, talking about why he made the movie, about the story and cast:
Interview with Jennifer Lawrence:
Interview with Josh Hutcherson:
Interview with Liam Hemsworth:
Still want more, then you can visit the official movie website.
Source:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/trivia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_(film)
Return to top of page
