This Thursday sees the release of the third movie in THE HUNGER GAMES series of movies, which is also, sadly, the penultimate movie to be adapted from Suzanne Collins’ three books. THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 continues the store of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and co, and opens around the world on 20th November.
A couple of days ago, THN caught up with the cast and director of this stunning, four-star rated movie in the series, where they each spoke about the film, and coming to work together for a third time.
Jennifer Lawrence set the scene.
“We’re continuing Katniss’s journey. It’s not really about getting out of the games any more, we’re moving into a real war between District 13 and The Capitol, so things are naturally getting darker story wise, and visually, as we’re underground a lot in District 13. We’re just following her journey. Katniss has been completely stripped down when we find her. At the beginning of this movie she’s suffered from post traumatic stress. She wakes up in a district that she didn’t know existed; she’s lost her home; she’s completely bare and has to rebuild herself.”
British actor Sam Claflin, who we’ve seen in a series of movies this year including the romantic drama LOVE, ROSIE, and the recently released RIOT CLUB. In Mockingjay, he reprises his role of Finnick Odair. “For those familiar with the book, where we pick up Mockingjay Part 1, the characters have been on such a hellish journey through CATCHING FIRE that they’re all kind of broken, and its a matter of piecing them back together and I think as I collective, every character has much more of an emotional punch this time and the stakes are a lot higher. There’s much more to live for and to die for, and I think that it immediately puts more pressure on your shoulders, I think, to approach a character in a different way.”
Liam Hemsworth also returns as Gale Hawthorne, and reflected on what it was like to return for a third time. “It was great coming back to work. It felt like a very different film this time, particularly for me because on the last two I had bits and pieces through them. In this one Gale is much more heavily involved in the whole thing and you get to see w hole different dynamic from him and his relationship with Katniss has changed a lot. You start to see the separation between those two and the conflict that they have about the different outlooks on what’s happening, and it was just great to come to work and be with all of these people again.”
The decision was made to split the third book into two final movies, so differences between the source material and the finished movies are bound to occur, so were the cast worried about changing anything from Collins’ material and face the wrath of the film’s die-hard fans? Jennifer Lawrence continued “Before we make any huge decisions there’s a conversation with Suzanne Collins, and there’s definitely an awareness of our fan base because it is so giant and so important to us.”
An addition to the film is Elizabeth Banks’ character Effie, who somehow manages to find her way into District 13.
“Nina, the producer of the film, called me one day and said; ‘we think we’ve found a way for Effie to be in District 13.’ They just wanted Suzanne’s blessing of course, which I did as well. It was really important to me that Suzanne was on board, and that the fans thought that we weren’t taking too much away from the books. We really want the authenticity of the books always.” She said.
“It meant more sense to me once I re-read Mockingjay, and I essentially took the role of Fulvia, and you know we were already introducing more and more new characters in Mockingjay that I think Nina was right to bring Effie along for the ride.” Banks added.
Undoubtedly, the role of Katniss helped launch the career of the two-time Oscar winner, but does Lawrence draw any comparisons between her and her most iconic character to date?
“Drawing on your own personal experience is tricky for me. [Katniss] is a very different person who handles emotions in a very different way – I would have been crying every single day saying ‘where’s my Mom…’ I remember reading the first books and I was going through my first awards season for WINTER’S BONE and I had never experienced anything like that; just being put in dresses that are uncomfortable and looking not like myself. All of a sudden everyone’s listening to you and I’m like ‘don’t listen to me, I’m twenty.’ I thought there were a few parallels in having people kind of look at you and listen to you at a very young age when you don’t feel ready.”
So was taking such a big role on in the first place a bit daunting for Lawrence?
“Before I saw yes to these movies, we had a feeling [that they would be big] because the books were so popular and do huge.” Lawrence said. “We had a feeling that these were going to big an this character was going to be with me for the rest of my life. It surpassed every expectation we’ve ever had, and that made me nervous for a few days as I’m an actor; I don’t want to be remembered as just one character. It’s a scary idea but I’m so proud of these movies. I love their message, I love this character, I love everything about her and I’m actually honoured to carry this character with me for the rest of my life and to have people remember me as this incredible, courageous, hero – and I hope people mistake it for me.”
Francis Lawrence leads the cast in his second outing on the franchise after taking over helming duties from Gary Ross, who directed the first movie. Liam Hemsworth describes working with the visionary director for a second time.
“We’re lucky to have someone like Francis who you can totally give yourself to and he knows the story back to front and you can always feel really comfortable that he’s going to do it justice.”
A newcomer to the franchise is singer and songwriter Lorde, who contributed heavily to the sound of Mockingjay.
“We started to talk to Lorde about creating a song for the soundtrack and she and I had some conversations and then from that we decided that it would be interesting if she completely curated the soundtrack,” added director Lawrence.
“Part of the deal was; we’re not going to vote on people she wants to be on the album, this is entirely up to her as long as the songs are appropriate for the movie. She gets to choose the songs, the type of music and the artists she wants to work with, and that’s what she did. Those were all her choices, so yes, it’s all from the mind of Lorde,” He added.
Jennifer Lawrence continued, “The first time that I ever heard that Lorde song, I think its ‘Yellow Flicker Beat,’ it just gave me goosebumps because you know, you read a book and you internalise a character, go on set and kind of have conversations with your co-stars and director about how to build something that I’d never really heard. It was so bizarre really when you hear a musical version of what you feel emotionally between action and cut sometimes, but she captured that character so magically that it was a really amazing thing to listen to. I think Katniss would be a huge Lorde fan. And obviously Taylor Swift.”
Another newcomer to the franchise is Julianne Moore (President Alma Coin), who described her time on set. “This was one of the most pleasant, loving, fun groups of people that I’ve ever had the privilege of working with on a huge, huge project like this. Everyone was so welcoming and so lovely, and so talented, and interested. It was a great source material, so for me coming in at the very end, I can only imagine how they feel.”
Natalie Dormer also joins the cast as a shaven-headed Cressida. “I watched the first movie as a complete fan. The first movie blew me away; it was amazing. So, you want me to shave my head? Well, yes, that’s how badly I wanted to be in the movie. That explains….”
“They originally asked whether you’d shave you entire head, and she said yes, and then they settled on just half.” Jennifer Lawrence added.
“And Francis was really lovely, and said ‘yeah, we’ll only make you do half,'” said Dormer. “But she would have done it,” added Lawrence.
Dormer clearly enjoyed her time in District 13, and spoke about why she thinks the books resonates so well with young adults around the world. “The kids [love the material] as the books and the movies don’t talk down. We are so overprotective of our younger people thinking that they can’t handle these timeless, universal, human themes; that’s why the books are as popular as they are because children are so smart and perceptive and they start tuning into all of this so young. By the time they’re at their adolescence and their most sensitive, they are ready to discuss and debate these themes and that’s what these books an the movies do.”
Director Francis Lawrence echoes that entirely. “The stories definitely mirror what is happening in the world now and I think that unfortunately it mirrors what’s been happening in the world for thousands of years. I think when you start dealing with media and propaganda, and battles over the airwaves; I think that’s more of a modern idea, but something we see all of the time. I think you’ll find as the story progresses that the stories themselves are not so black and white and that it’s much more about the idea that when in war it’s always messy, it’s not black and white – it’s much more shades of grey, and it’s never very clean, and there’s always consequence. I think quite honestly that with the stories, that’s the important thing to take from it.”
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 opens in UK cinemas from 20th November, and US cinemas a day later on Friday 21st November, 2014. Read our 4-star review here.
