The world will be watching…

Jennifer as: Katniss Everdeen
Directed by: Gary Ross
Written by: Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray, Suzanne Collins (novel)
Selected Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks
Release Date: March 12th, 2012 (Los Angeles Premiere)
Genre: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
Film Rating: PG-13

Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match.

Useful links: Official Site • IMDb •  Amazon • Photo Gallery

• View more production stills in our gallery! •

• Other actresses that were considered to play Katniss included: Chloë Grace Moretz, Mary Mouser, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Lyndsy Fonseca,Jodelle Ferland, Saoirse Ronan, Emma Roberts, Kaya Scodelario, Emily Browning and Shailene Woodley.

• Jennifer was initially cast as the lead in Savages, but dropped out to do this film instead.

• The name of the main character, Katniss, is derived from the name of a group of edible plant species, genus “Sagittaria”, commonly known as “arrowhead”. This is a reference to the character’s archery skills.

• This is not the first time actors Jennifer Lawrence and Paula Malcomson (Katniss and Mrs Everdeen) have worked together playing mother and daughter. The previous time was inCold Case: A Dollar, a Dream in which Malcomson plays a homeless mother struggling to support her two children.

• This is not the first time actors Jennifer Lawrence and Paula Malcomson (Katniss and Mrs Everdeen) have worked together playing mother and daughter. The previous time was inCold Case: A Dollar, a Dream in which Malcomson plays a homeless mother struggling to support her two children.

• While horsing around on the set, Jennifer Lawrence accidentally kicked Josh Hutchersonin the head, knocking him out and resulting in a concussion.

• The four-note melody that Katniss uses as her signal with Rue (and that plays at the end of most trailers) is G-Bb-A-D.

• Jennifer Lawrence was paid what was, for her, the high fee of $500,000. It took her three days before she accepted the role because she was unsure how the role would clearly affect her career, since her background was largely on the indie film circuit. ForThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire, she was paid $10 million, 20 times more than the initial offer.

Katniss Everdeen: May the odds be ever in your favor.

Katniss Everdeen: So you’re here to make me look pretty.
Cinna: I’m here to help you make an impression.

Katniss Everdeen: Wanna see what I got you today? It’s a mockingjay pin. Unless you have it, nothing bad will happen to you, okay? I promise.

Katniss Everdeen: I volunteer! No! I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!
Effie Trinket: Well, I do believe we have a volunteer.

Primrose Everdeen: Wish I looked like you.
Katniss Everdeen: I wish I looked like you, little duck

Peeta Mellark: I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don’t own me. If I’m gonna die, I wanna still be me. Does it make any sense?
Katniss Everdeen: Yeah. I just can’t afford to think like that.

Peeta Mellark: She saved my life.
Katniss Everdeen: We saved each other.

Caesar Flickerman: And what did you say to her in the end?
Katniss Everdeen: I told her that I would try to win. That I would try to win for her.
Caesar Flickerman: Of course you did. And try you will.

“Josh Hutcherson was the biggest prankster on set. He took this dummy of a swollen and deformed dead tribute and put it in the bathroom of my trailer. So, I went to open the bathroom door, and it went falling toward me. It scared me to death! It wasn’t until after I calmed down that I realized it was holding toilet paper in his hand, which made it even funnier.”

Entertainment Weekly: ”This ‘Hunger Games’ is a muscular, honorable, unflinching translation of Collins’ vision. It’s brutal where it needs to be, particularly when children fight and bleed. It conveys both the miseries of the oppressed, represented by the poorly fed and clothed citizens of Panem’s 12 suffering districts, and the rotted values of the oppressors, evident in the gaudy decadence of those who live in the Capitol. Best of all, the movie effectively showcases the allure of the story’s remarkable, kick-ass 16-year-old heroine, Katniss Everdeen.”

Associated Press: ”‘The Hunger Games’ runs nearly two and a half hours in length but is the rare film that never drags and doesn’t overstay its welcome. It could keep running as long as Katniss does, and we’d want to be right there every heart-pounding step of the way.”