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Gary Ross Releases Deleted Scenes in One-Year Anniversary Edition DVD

4/1/2013DVD/Blu-ray, Gary RossAldrin

UPDATE! Real or Not Real? It’s a real bummer to say this, but NOT REAL! Maybe someday….

As much as we love our Hunger Games DVDs, one thing many fans were upset about was the fact that Gary Ross felt that deleted scenes were not necessary to include in any home video release. In a past interview with the New York Times, Ross explained his reasoning.

“The movie I put out is the movie that I want, and I wouldn’t add anything to the running time. Equally, I would never make a movie too short just for sake of running time. I think a director should stand behind the cut of their film. I won’t be putting “additional” scenes on the DVD for the same reason.”

Now, it seems Ross might be changing his mind. In a move nobody was expecting, the first Hunger Games Director has approved a special One-Year Anniversary Edition of The Hunger Games on Blu-ray and DVD, which will include never-before-seen footage from the filming of the movie. Some scenes rumored to be featured in this special release includes scenes shot to more closely resemble the book, in addition to a “shocking” ending that was cut from the theatrical release last minute.

Some DWTC staffers were fortunate enough to head into Lionsgate HQ in California to preview the upcoming footage. While we can’t say much about it, fans will certainly be pleased and even surprised at what they were missing out on.

While this special edition release commerates the one-year anniversary of The Hunger Games being released in theaters, complications have delayed copies showing up in stores. As soon as we hear anything, we’ll be sure to let you know!

Would you buy a new copy of The Hunger Games just to see these special features? Let us know in the comments below!

Hollywood Has Nothing But Praise for Jennifer Lawrence

3/26/2013Jennifer LawrenceTheresa

Entertainment Weekly recently published a fantastic article featuring Jennifer Lawrence. In it they speak with several of the lucky people who have gotten the chance to work with her over the last several years, including Hunger Games Director, Gary Ross. Each of them share their thoughts on Jennifer’s career and what’s to come for her.

At only 22, with an Oscar and central roles in The Hunger Games and X-Men, Lawrence appears to be the right actress in the right movies at the right time. “Everyone wants to work with her, whether it’s another actor or actress or a director or a studio,” says David Glasser, COO of The Weinstein Company, which distributed Silver Linings. “I think everybody right now wants to find that great Jennifer Lawrence Project.”

“After auditioning and losing the role of Twilight’s Bella to Kristen Stewart, the first great Jennifer Lawrence Project was Winter’s Bone, the gritty 2010 indie in which Lawrence played a tough Ozark teen looking after her poverty-stricken younger siblings, no thanks to her MIA dad and mentally ill mom. Appearing in virtually every scene, she dazzled critics and was nominated for her first Oscar. “There was something about her [audition] and the way she was able to convey having the burden of this family on her shoulders. It’s not even something that you can really act,” says Paul Schnee, who along with Kerry Barden, cast that Sundance film. “Knowing the demands of the role, I was [like], ‘This is the girl! This is the girl!’”

Most everyone who has ever worked with Lawrence seems to have a version of that “This is the girl!” moment. When Lionsgate announced plans to adapt Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, Lawrence was an immediate contender for its starring role, in part due to Katniss Everdeen’s similarities to her independent, backwoods character from Winter’s Bone. But Gary Ross (Seabiscuit), who landed the plum assignment to script and direct The Hunger Games, hadn’t yet seen her in that movie. His epiphany came when he spent three days writing voiceover for Jodie Foster’s movie The Beaver, in which Lawrence played Anton Yelchin’s girlfriend.

“Just looking at the film over and over again, I just kept saying, ‘Who’s this actress?’ I just couldn’t believe the talent,” says Ross, who’s called casting Lawrence as Katniss the easiest movie decision he ever made. “It wasn’t even like a casting quote choice. I honestly felt lucky that an actress this good existed at that moment for that film. That’s how I felt. I remember saying to Lionsgate when we were casting, ‘Look, this comes along once every 10 years.’ Someone walks in the door with that kind of massive talent, it knocks you back in your chair.”

…For anyone’s who’s chuckled through one of Lawrence’s freewheeling, b.s.-free interviews where she jokes about her breasts, pretends to fart, or playfully jousts with Jack Nicholson, such a tale is hardly difficult to imagine. “I don’t think Jennifer is intimidated by anything or anybody,” says Ross. “I’d be amazed if she ever had been. She’s one of the more confident people I’ve ever met in my life, but it’s earned. She has the talent to back it up.”

Last April, Fox pushed back its start date for Days of Future Past, sidestepping a scheduling conflict with Catching Fire, which filmed last fall and just wrapped reshoots. Days of Future Past finally gets underway April 14 in Montreal, and Lawrence’s character is expected to play a larger role in the sequel, though Singer says that was always the plan and nothing has been changed plotwise to showcase her presence.

“You have to be careful not to suddenly lean the movie all towards her just for her rise in popularity,” Singer says. “It has to work for the character. She’d be the first person to argue that. It’s an ensemble movie. It’s definitely not suddenly her movie, but she factors in it significantly. She’s going to be more bad-ass in this movie, which will be nice. A lot more bad-ass than Hunger Games. Which will be fun to see, because she’s very feisty, as you may have noticed in Silver Linings.”

“I think she’s one of those actresses that you’re going to absolutely going to look back on,” says Glasser. “It’s like when you look 30 years back at Meryl Streep, you think of Sophie’s Choice and Kramer vs. Kramer. Thirty years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say Silver Linings and Winter’s Bone. You’ll be having that same conversation about her 30 years from now.””

Head over to EW to read the full article!

Video: Stanley Tucci Discusses the Directing Differences between Francis Lawrence and Gary Ross

3/13/2013Stanley TucciTheresa

Digital Spy recently had the opportunity to chat with Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman) about his time on the set of Catching Fire. During their conversation, Stanley discussed the different styles of Francis Lawrence and The Hunger Games director Gary Ross.

Gary Ross Signing Event in LA for his New Children’s Book

11/12/2012Gary RossEmily

If you live in the Los Angeles area and are free this coming Saturday, you may want to check out a Barnes & Noble signing event Gary Ross will be attending for the release of his new children’s book, Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind. The book releases tomorrow, November 13th and is available for pre-order.

Here are the event details:

Saturday November 17, 2012 2:00 PM

The Grove at Farmers Market
189 The Grove Drive Suite K 30, Los Angeles, CA 90036, 323-525-0270

Head over to Barnes & Noble for full event info.

Thanks to Hunger Games Trilogy for the tip!

Jennifer Lawrence Reveals She Was ‘Devastated’ When Gary Ross Left ‘Catching Fire’

9/16/2012Gary Ross, Jennifer LawrenceAldrin

Since Gary Ross announced he wasn’t going to direct the sequel to The Hunger Games, we’ve seen a few responses from the cast and crew of the film. Many people were looking to Jennifer Lawrence’s reaction to the news, as the pair formed a special bond after Ross specifically picked Lawrence to play Katniss. The Philippine Daily Inquirer recently spoke with Jennifer and revealed how our heroine reacted to the announcement.

“When I first heard the news, I was devastated because I adore Gary,” said Lawrence to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “I didn’t see it coming. I couldn’t understand. I called him and he basically said, ‘I don’t have time to give 100 percent to this movie.’ My devastation was replaced with respect for him for stepping out when he felt that he couldn’t give his all. So, as much as I miss him, I completely respect him for making that decision.”

Respect for Gary has moved onto excitement for Francis Lawrence, who will be directing Catching Fire.

“Francis is absolutely amazing. The actors feel very free; he’s not controlling at all. He knows everything inside and out so you feel supported. I’m really happy.”

We’re excited to hear this, especially amongst all the photos that have been released from the set! Looking forward to hearing more news in the coming months!

Source: Hypable, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Video: Woody Harrelson On The Cast Adjusting to a New Director for Catching Fire

9/13/2012Woody HarrelsonTheresa

While at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hit Fix had the opportunity to chat with Woody Harrelson as he promoted his upcoming film Seven Psychopaths. During their interview talk turned to Catching Fire and most importantly how the cast is dealing with working with a new director for the film.

Woody Harrelson Calls The ‘Catching Fire’ Script Strong & Praises Francis Lawrence

9/12/2012Woody HarrelsonArianna

While promoting his upcoming release Seven Psychopaths at the Toronto International Film Festival, Woody Harrelson chatted with Josh Horowitz from MTV about the Catching Fire script and working with Francis Lawrence!

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“Yeah, I read the script,” Harrelson answered rather incredulously. “I took a gander at the script, sure. … It’s good that you get to do that before they start shooting.”

All sarcasm aside, Harrelson revealed that he’s very pleased with the material, especially given the tight turnaround needed after Lawrence took over directing duties from Gary Ross in May.

“I think that it’s a really good script, a really strong script, so I feel good about that,” he said. “That’s the big question mark, since there was so little time to get that script together.”

As for his preparation process, Harrelson said he took an even deeper dive into Haymitch’s fragile, post-Games psyche.

“Francis had asked me if I had studied PTSD — post-traumatic stress disorder — and I actually did in college. I was a psychology minor. So I met a guy who has PTSD in Maui,” Harrelson said. “You know, I like the way Francis is very thorough, very on top of everything. I really feel great. I loved Gary. I thought Gary did an incredible job with the first one, but I do think Francis is going to do great with this.”

If Harrelson had one (albeit small) complaint about the first installment, it was that Ross didn’t allow him to go the full Haymitch — literally falling-down drunk. He hopes to remedy that in the sequel.

“I talked with Francis about that,” Harrelson said with a chuckle. “I’m going to try to go as far as possible. You know me. I’ll try to take it over the top.”

Video: Casting Featurette from ‘The Hunger Games’ DVD/Blu-ray

9/4/2012Hunger GamesTheresa

In honor or yesterday’s release of The Hunger Games on DVD/Blu-ray in the UK, YahooMoviesUK has released a clip online from the bonus features of the film. In this piece, Director Gary Ross talks about casting Jennifer Lawrence and how her taking on the role was a necessity for the project. The featurette also includes tidbits on how the other actors were chosen for the roles as well.

“There was no second choice for me. If I couldn’t make the movie with Jennifer, then I didn’t want to make it. I just knew there was no one who would come close. There was no one who had her strength, her directness, her integrity, her solidity, her bravery, her power or her nuance for emotional depth.” — Gary Ross on Jennifer Lawrence

Read Donald Sutherland’s Letter on President Snow that Influenced ‘The Hunger Games’ Script

8/20/2012Donald SutherlandTheresa

Fans who have been following the development of The Hunger Games film learned earlier this year how Donald Sutherland’s words to Director Gary Ross on the character of President Snow forever changed the script for the film. Inspired by Donald’s words, Ross wrote new scenes for President Snow which are some of the most powerful clips in the film. One of the most talked about special features on the newly released Hunger Games DVD shows Sutherland reading the letter he wrote to Ross. And now, we have the written piece to share with you as well.

Dear Gary Ross:

Power. That’s what this is about? Yes? Power and the forces that are manipulated by the powerful men and bureaucracies trying to maintain control and possession of that power?

Power perpetrates war and oppression to maintain itself until it finally topples over with the bureaucratic weight of itself and sinks into the pages of history (except in Texas), leaving lessons that need to be learned unlearned.

Power corrupts, and, in many cases, absolute power makes you really horny. Clinton, Chirac, Mao, Mitterrand.

Not so, I think, with Coriolanus Snow. His obsession, his passion, is his rose garden. There’s a rose named Sterling Silver that’s lilac in colour with the most extraordinarily powerful fragrance – incredibly beautiful – I loved it in the seventies when it first appeared. They’ve made a lot of off shoots of it since then.

I didn’t want to write to you until I’d read the trilogy and now I have so: roses are of great importance. And Coriolanus’s [sic] eyes. And his smile. Those three elements are vibrant and vital in Snow. Everything else is, by and large, perfectly still and ruthlessly contained. What delight she [Katniss] gives him. He knows her so perfectly. Nothing, absolutely nothing, surprises him. He sees and understands everything. he was, quite probably, a brilliant man who’s succumbed to the siren song of power.

How will you dramatize the interior narrative running in Katniss’s head that describes and consistently updates her relationship with the President who is ubiquitous in her mind? With omniscient calm he knows her perfectly. She knows he does and she knows that he will go to any necessary end to maintain his power because she knows that he believes that she’s a real threat to his fragile hold on his control of that power. She’s more dangerous than Joan of Arc.

Her interior dialogue/monologue defines Snow. It’s that old theatrical turnip: you can’t ‘play’ a king, you need everybody else on stage saying to each other, and therefore to the audience, stuff like “There goes the King, isn’t he a piece of work, how evil, how lovely, how benevolent, how cruel, how brilliant he is!” The idea of him, the definition of him, the audience’s perception of him, is primarily instilled by the observations of others and once that idea is set, the audience’s view of the character is pretty much unyielding. And in Snow’s case, that definition, of course, comes from Katniss.

Evil looks like our understanding of the history of the men we’re looking at. It’s not what we see: it’s what we’ve been led to believe. Simple as that. Look at the face of Ted Bundy before you knew what he did and after you knew.

Snow doesn’t look evil to the people in Panem’s Capitol. Bundy didn’t look evil to those girls. My wife and I were driving through Colorado when he escaped from jail there. The car radio’s warning was constant. ‘Don’t pick up any young men. The escapee looks like the nicest young man imaginable’. Snow’s evil shows up in the form of the complacently confident threat that’s ever present in his eyes. His resolute stillness. Have you seen a film I did years ago? ‘The Eye of the Needle’. That fellow had some of what I’m looking for.

The woman who lived up the street from us in Brentwood came over to ask my wife a question when my wife was dropping the kids off at school. This woman and her husband had seen that movie the night before and what she wanted to know was how my wife could live with anyone who could play such an evil man. It made for an amusing dinner or two but part of my wife’s still wondering.

I’d love to speak with you whenever you have a chance so I can be on the same page with you.

Eloquent, powerful, and just gives us shivers reading it. He so gets Snow!

Thanks to the Business Insider for the written text and to HG Girl on Fire for the tip!

UPDATED: Liam Hemsworth Honored at the 2012 AIF Awards

6/28/2012Liam HemsworthTheresa

As we told you previously Liam Hemsworth was to be one of the co-recipients of the 2012 Australians in Film Breakthrough Award. The award which honors Aussie actors for their international success was handed out tonight (6/27) at a benefit dinner in LA and Liam was looking quite handsome alongside fiance Miley Cyrus as they attended festivities.

UPDATE: We’ve added more photos to the gallery and have found out that Liam was presented the Breakthrough Award by none other than The Hunger Games Director, Gary Ross.