Interview
Elizabeth Banks on Fashion and Twitter
May 1st
Elizabeth Banks sat down for a quick interview with Lucky Magazine, where she sometimes guest 
blogs. She began with what she was wearing (for she has a fashion sense that even Effie would envy!)
On her glittering plum dress: ”This is Matthew Williamson Fall collection. It has wings. And slits, so it’s edgy. See that? I’m edgy.”
On the awesomeness of Twitter: ”I love Twitter and the interaction with fans, but there’s also not the expectation that I HAVE to interact with them.”
On growing up in Western Massachusetts: ”I got zero fashion inspiration. I grew up in a very small town—we didn’t have a mall until I was a teenager. It was only one story, and it was not a place you went on a Friday night. We had a JC Penney, Sears, and TJ Maxx. So if you looked in Vogue and tried to approximate something you’d see in Vogue, you’d go to TJ Maxx and spend five hours looking through the racks.”
The sign of a true fashionista: resourcefulness! Check out the rest of the interview here, and let us know what you think of her answers in the comments!
Leven Rambin’s Pre-Games Workout Regimen
May 1st
We all know that it took incredible dedication on the cast members’ parts to get themselves into 
shape for ‘The Hunger Games’– but what exactly does one do to get into Career-mode? Leven Rambin, who played Glimmer from District 1, talked to the L.A. Times about her fitness routine that got her ready for the film.
I had about two months to prepare for the fight sequences and physically train. I did lots of spinning, probably an hour and a half a day. I also did boot-camp-style exercises — rolling kettle bells and balls that weighed 30 pounds across the room, using ropes, and rolling tires around, military style.
Every other day, on the days that we weren’t training, I would go hiking or running around Los Angeles, by myself or with my friends. I also did some sprinting — I was pushing myself. Dieting was also a big part of it, so no dairy and no carbohydrates whatsoever.
And that’s only the tip of the iceberg! Leven goes on to explain how she had to work specific muscles for the fighting sequences, especially with swords and other weapons. The interview also delves into how varied terrains affected Leven’s workout and fitness– training in a studio is far different from running outside in North Carolina!
For more on Leven’s fitness regimen and training, check out the article here. How many of you think you could last two months as a full-fledged Career? Let us know!
Ian Nelson: from an Acting Workshop to ‘The Hunger Games’
Apr 27th
Out of the unnamed tributes in the 74th Hunger Games, the boy from District 3 must be under the most
debate and scrutiny with fans. Ian Nelson, who played the tribute able to re-wire the mines from the Cornucopia into a trap for the Careers, sat down with the Winston-Salem Journal to talk about how he snagged a role in the blockbuster hit.
[Nelson] got the part in “The Hunger Games” after drawing the attention of a casting director during an acting workshop. He recorded an audition tape that was sent to California and eventually seen by Gary Ross, the director of the film.
Though not the typical route followed by actors aspiring to be in movies, Nelson’s hard work surely paid off! He will next be seen in “Alone Yet Not Alone,” which is currently in post-production.
Gary Ross Wanted Viewers to Feel Like They Were in The Games
Apr 5th
Screen Rant recently sat down for an interview with Gary Ross to talk about voiceover narration in the film, designing the final muttations, and pressures bringing this movie to life.
Screenrant: This was a tough nut to crack, obviously. The book is so Katniss-centric and relies on her particular understanding of how to play this game. Was there ever a point that you thought about voiceover narration to give us a sense of her internal dialouge?
Gary Ross: “No, never. Because I never wanted you to feel like you were in a movie. I wanted you to feel like you were in the games. I wanted you to feel like you were in her world. I wanted you to feel like you were in the Capitol. And the minute I engage in voiceover, I shatter that and I tell you that you’re in a movie and I create a distance I don’t want. I want engagement not distance. And I felt that I could convey everything, especially with an actress like Jen (Lawrence). I mean, I don’t need to articulate in text what Jen is more than capable of doing in subtext, you know?”
SR: Another thing that struck me as sort of a delicate balance is how far into the fantastical you go in the design of the worldand the interpretation of the various pieces of science fiction and fantasy that are described in the book. For example I noticed that the “mutts” who appear at the conclusion of the games didn’t have the faces of the defeated (murdered) tributes as they do in the novel.
GR: “We made the decision that they not be specific tributes, because if we did it, we would have been a massive digression at a moment in the movie where I didn’t think it could have afforded that. You’re hurdling toward the end and that would have taken a tremendous amount of room at a time when we didn’t have it. However, I will say that all the mutts, if you really look at them, they’re really half-human and half-dog. If you put a mutt’s face next to a dog’s face, and next to a human face, you really will see that they’re a hybrid of the two. And so we were specific about that. The important thing about the mutts to me was, not specifically that they were tributes, but that they were a creation of the Capitol designed for this particular instrument at this particular moment in the games. And because we had the games and were actually able to show their creation, we were actually able to show them being birthed in that game center and then revealed in the games. We had the ability to do something by cutting away that a novel isn’t when it’s constantly maintaining Katniss’s point of view.”
SR: One of the things Donald Sutherland (President Snow) said that was so interesting was that in the Capitol if you fail, you die. Seneca failed, so Seneca dies. And he said that’s what this business is like right now. And I thought ‘well if this business, in general, is like that, then what does that mean for this movie?’ Did you feel the pressure of the scope and the enormity of the undertaking?
GR: “No. You can’t possibly feel more pressure than I put on myself in every movie anyway, and I love them all the same. And I’m really satisfied and proud of the movie, so I just feel excited.”
For the rest of the interview, be sure to head over to Screen Rant. There’s a District 2 reference in the interview. Let us know in the comments if you found it!
Liam Hemsworth Dishes on his Hunger Games Diet
Apr 3rd
Many cast members have revealed that they had to go on an intense training schedule to prepare for The Hunger Games, which included revamped eating habits. Liam Hemsworth spoke with Men’s Health, discussing various topics such as his past roles before Hunger Games, and how he lost weight to play Gale.
Men’s Health: Your first couple of years in Hollywood, your life was almost like the hunger games–being hungry, literally, duking it out for good roles. Now, it’s a smorgasbord.
Liam Hemsworth: I had a bunch of films one year, four or five, that were supposed to happen that never ended up happening. It’s kind of the nature of the business. It’s sometimes very hard to get movies made, and I was lucky enough to have four or five of them that didn’t get made all at once. (Laughs) I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am now. I’m able to meet so many great people and filmmakers in this industry now. I can be really selective and find projects I’m really passionate about.Men’s Health: To promote The Hunger Games, you and your castmates have done a mall tour that’s had a touch of Beatlemania to it.
Liam Hemsworth: Yeah, it’s, uh, pretty exciting having so many passionate fans turning out, yeah.Men’s Health: To prepare for the film’s extraordinary combat sequences, a lot of the film’s cast engaged in rigorous training. Tell me what that was like for you?
Liam Hemsworth: My brother Chris (Hemsworth, the big-screen’s Thor) texted me about a month before shooting and said, “Remember, it’s called Hunger Games, not Eating Games.” I lost quite a bit of weight for the role. My character lives in (the dystopian, impoverished) District 12 in the film, which is basically like living in the Depression. He’s hunting for his food everyday and trying to provide for himself and his family. He’s not eating a lot. He doesn’t have a lot of money to buy food. I wanted to get a good sense of what it’s like to be hungry. I was training five or six days a week, and eating a lot less. When we started shooting, I wasn’t training as much, but I was eating only very minimally. (Check out how Liam’s brother Chris Hemsworth became Thor strong.)Men’s Health: I believe there’s actually a Hunger Games cookbook just published.
Liam Hemsworth: What, like cooked squirrel, things like that?Men’s Health: They probably fed you better, right?
Liam Hemsworth: I wasn’t eating squirrel. That I know of. For the month leading up to shooting, it was very clean, healthy food. When we started shooting, I would have one meal a day. It wasn’t that it was even very healthy. It was whatever I could get, and not a lot of it.
For the rest of the interview, be sure to head over to Men’s Health.
Jackie Emerson Will Be Attending Stanford University
Apr 3rd
Jackie Emerson spoke with The Emory Wheel about playing Foxface in The Hunger Games. Despite the success of the film, Emerson stated that she’s nowhere near the spotlight, and has loved playing Foxface because it got her to work with some of her favorite actors, including Stanley Tucci.
“I actually had a scene with [Tucci] and I just about died when he got cast. I can’t believe I am going to be in a scene, documented forever, with one of my favorite actors of all time, who is such a big inspiration to me.”
Emerson also told The Wheel that she will be going to college, and has accepted a spot over at Stanford University. Remaining ever so humble, she will take a year working on her acting career before starting up with college academics.
“Right now, this is what’s happening and in a month, that may not be what’s happening at all. I may not be going to any events and I may just be hanging with my school friends and that’s totally fine with me as well.”
For the rest of the article, head on over to The Emory Wheel! Do you think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Jackie on the big screen? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Amandla Stenberg Speaks With Justine Magazine
Apr 3rd
Justine Magazine sat down with Amandla Stenberg for a quick interview to get to know the actress a little better. Topics discussed include Amandla’s age, experiences with other cast members, and how the actress would describe herself.
Amandla Stenberg
Age: 13
HG Character: Rue
Fun Fact: She plays the violin, guitar and drumsIn one word, how would you describe your character?
Sweet.Was there anyone you were star-struck about meeting before you started filming?
I was nervous to meet the entire cast really. But once I met them, I was like, “these are all normal people,” so I never really thought about it after that.Katniss and Rue form a special relationship during the Games. What was your relationship with Jennifer Lawrence like off camera?
She is hilarious. We were always cracking up. I really bonded with her so I think that helps with the acting as well.
For the rest of the interview, head over to Justine Magazine!
Video: Gary Ross Talks Hunger Games Filming Experiences
Apr 3rd
Amazon recently sat down with Gary Ross for an exclusive interview on his experiences while shooting The Hunger Games. In the video, Ross discusses his thoughts on designing The Capitol, the process of choosing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, as well the challenges he had during filming.
If the YouTube version gets taken down you can check it out over at Amazon. What do you think of the interview? Let us know in the comments below!
Mark Tonderai Discusses Jennifer Lawrence in House at the End of the Street
Mar 30th
While the excitement is still going strong for The Hunger Games, fans are looking forward to future projects of the cast. Fans of the horror genre will be excited to learn that both Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson have movies coming up (House at the End of the Street and Detention). Director of House at the End of the Street, Mark Tonderai, recently spoke with Shock Till You Drop about the upcoming film, most notably the performance of Jennifer Lawrence.
Shock: What qualities did Jennifer Lawrence embody that made her right for your final girl? Presuming she lives to be your final girl…
Tonderai: I had seen Winter’s Bone and loved that. She’s got this strength about her. She’s beautiful, but not that classic beauty look. When you cast a film, you’re looking for your equivalent on screen, which is weird to say. But you want someone who is going to take the material as serious as you. When I made this film, I got into it. I have this 170-page bible that details everything about this film, from history to the pictures on the walls, and I kind of want people to get into it the same way I do. Jennifer had that. When I met her, she was amazing. We got on really well, not in that flirty-flirty way, it was just geniune. I had to work hard to get her attracted to the material and she came on. We did a lot of work. She learned to sing, play the guitar… I saw something online that someone read about how she did this “cheapish horror film” before The Hunger Games and it reallys f**ks me off. No, no, she’s not an idiot and we’re not a cheap horror film. She did this because she wanted to. It was a ridiculous accusation. It belittles her, belittles the film, I know I shouldn’t have read that shit online.
Tonderai also spoke with Collider about the film, and of course, Lawrence was brought up during that interview too!
Did Jennifer Lawrence audition for this role, or had you been familiar with her previous work?
TONDERAI: I’d seen Winter’s Bone, and then I looked up everything else that she did. No, she came in and she auditioned. It’s probably the last audition she’s ever going to do! She auditioned for me, and I remember it so clearly ‘cause I’ve got quite a funny story about it. I always kneel down when actors come in because you’re there with all these masses of producers and it’s really intimidating and I try to make it as easy as possible. I remember just kneeling in front of her, and she’s got this look that just looks right into you. I think that’s what stardom is. They make you feel like the most important person in the world, just by looking at you. She just read off the page. I realized that she was coming from another meeting and she probably hadn’t even read the sides, so she was reading cold. Yeah, Jen, if you’re reading this, I know that you did that. And remember thinking, “If this girl can do that cold, that’s pretty amazing!” I was like, “Okay, she’s great!,” but I really wanted her to be great.
Anyway, I was desperate for the toilet and I basically left the room and had to run to this guy’s house, around the corner. I had to run out of reception and go down the street, and who was getting in her car but Jennifer Lawrence. I thought, “Well, I don’t want to say anything because that’s a bit uncool.” On my way back, I thought, “Okay, I’m going to say something to her.” I did this thing where I literally jumped in the air and tapped my heels together, and I said, “I wanted you to be great, and you were!,” and she looked at me and said, “And so were you!” And, that was it. I remember thinking, “Oh, my god, did I just do that? Did I just literally jump in the air and click my heels?” I felt like Dick Van Dyke. So, I was out there and she didn’t leave me to hang, and I knew then that we’d be able to get on. She’s a great girl!
To find out more about the movie and read the rest of the interviews, be sure to check them out at Shock Till You Drop and Collider.
Tara Macken Interview: on Filming, Swords, and “Glee”
Mar 27th
Tara Macken, who graced the screen as “The Hunger Games”‘s District Four female tribute, sat down with SciFi Vision to discuss her budding career as an actress and stuntwoman, as well as aspects of working on the film. She shared a few unique experiences in the interview– how many teenage girls can say that they have rappelled 90 feet out of a helicopter surrounded by Navy SEALs? All of her stories and more can be found in the interview! Here are a few highlights:
On filming The Nine Lives of Chloe King:
I was one of the lead stunt doubles on The Nine Lives of Chloe King, so it was cool because I got to work and I got to literally jump over buildings. I got to essentially be a cat and do flips around cars, off buildings; I got to fight people in warehouses. I got to fight somebody with fire.
On what she keeps in her car:
In my car, in my back seat, I have about four swords, punching gloves, roller skates, I have every single climbing equipment and stunt pad in my Hybrid.
On landing the role in The Hunger Games:
I got referred by the stunt coordinator, he knows me and he knows that I’m an actress and a stunt performer. And so he passed along my information and my resume and headshot to Gary Ross (the director), and then Gary selected the people that he wanted to see audition. So I came in for the audition and then I booked it.
And finally, a “Glee” comparison?
For this one [The Hunger Games], literally everyone was so supportive and so happy to be there. It almost felt like summer camp because no one’s complaining, everyone’s ready to go to work and do whatever and play and sing and dance. I felt like I was in a weird version of Glee that involved a lot of fighting
That is a new way to look at The Hunger Games: “a weird version of Glee that involved a lot of fighting.” Somehow, I don’t think that’ll end up in the reviews of the film! For the full interview, check out SciFi Vision.
What did you think of Tara’s role in the film? How impressed were you with the fighting skills and stunt work? Let us know in the comments!
Source: SciFi Vision via HGGirlonFire
