edmonton entertainment: 'Catching Fire' Will 'Look And Feel' Different From 'Hunger Games'

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

'Catching Fire' Will 'Look And Feel' Different From 'Hunger Games'

Director Gary Ross has some 'not fully baked' ideas about how to change things up for sequel.
By Jocelyn Vena

Jennifer Lawrence in "The Hunger Games"
Photo: Lionsgate

"The Hunger Games" owned the box office over the weekend, proving that fans of Suzanne Collins' best-selling series were excited to see how director Gary Ross and his A-list cast would turn her work into an eye-catching big-screen sensation.

With so much enthusiasm for part one of the trilogy, MTV News got some scoop about the next film in the franchise, "Catching Fire," which picks up where "THG" left off.

"The training was never, like, tough. It was intense, but it was fun. So I'm looking forward to the next bout of training," Jennifer Lawrence told MTV News about part two, adding that she will even have a very different look for it. She joked, "For the second one, I will have a beard."

(Warning: Minor spoilers ahead!)

With the latest round of the Hunger Games over and Katniss and her pal Peeta standing victorious, there's rebellion under way against the Capitol. But that's not the only upheaval. There's a special edition of the Hunger Games announced that will raise the stakes once again for the two friends and everyone they know.

Ross has some idea of what the next Games will look like. "The arena in the second book is tropical and the arena in [the first] book is forests, so that in and of itself will make for a different wardrobe on the part of the crew," he explained.

"In terms of the cinematic differences in the way I might shoot the movie, I shot this in a very specific way that's very different than most franchises are shot, obviously, and that had a lot to do with the urgency of what's going on and Katniss' point of view," he continued. "I have some ideas about how to do 'Catching Fire' slightly differently, but I don't want to share them yet. Not because I'm being evasive, but just because they're not fully baked. But yes, I think it will look and feel slightly different from the first."

What will certainly get amped up is Katniss' relationship with her escort, the elaborately costumed Effie Trinket. "You know, everything that I loved about Effie in the first place, which is that her stakes are completely tied up with Katniss' stakes, everything she does reflects on me, and unfortunately everything she does reflects very badly on me," Elizabeth Banks said of her relationship with her rebellious tribute. "So the relationship between Katniss and Effie just gets more frazzled, and I'm really excited to see how that plays out."

Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games."

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