Another special effects challenge was building — and then destroying — the pyramid of Career Tributes’ supplies.
McLaughlin remembers that he didn’t discuss the pyramid in great depth with Gary Ross before he began setting it up. “
We put something together to show him. What we thought was fairly good in size. And Gary said, ‘I want it four times
bigger.’ So our eyes lit up, and we went back to the drawing board and we came up with something for him. He absolutely
loved it.”
When the pyramid’s size increased, the size of the eventual explosion increased, too. Location manager Christensen
hoped that wasn’t going to be a problem. “The pyramid was built at North Fork in the same meadow as the Cornucopia.
That’s a watershed, and they don’t want anything going into the water. We had to not only have that pyramid in a
particular place, but also far enough away from the water, and blowing up away from the water. But it kept getting
bigger! When I told the conservancy that our plans had changed — that the explosion would be larger — they were great.
They just said, ‘I wish we could be there to see it.’ But they were busy doing other things.”
The crew prepares to shoot the fireball sequence in the arena.
Some scenes were too large or too complex to film in real places or with real actors, but these scenes could be extended
with computer imaging. “When I’m choosing locations,” production designer Phil Messina says, “I’m often thinking
about which parts get set-extended, and where the extensions could start. You have to think of the entire frame, and
some of it is virtual. For the Avenue of the Tributes, it was just kind of a no-brainer that it was going to have to be
a virtual environment. So I created the chariots and I designed the space — about a mile, from one end to the other,
ending with the president’s box. We just picked out the pieces we really needed to build — that’s what made the most
sense.”
Jennifer Lawrence prepares to shoot the fireball scene.
Visual effects like the rest of the Avenue, or the hologram in the Games Center, would be added after the movie was
finished filming (and are being added as this book is being written). They will add texture and depth to many scenes,
and create parts of the scenes that would be impossible to film.
One final dimension to the film, of course, is the music. The movie’s haunting and memorable score was composed by
musical legend James Newton Howard. Just like the production design, the music hits two particular notes: the past and
the future.
Ross describes James Newton Howard as “One of the greatest composers in movies. Somebody who’s written some of the
greatest scores. I think he’s worked on over a hundred movies — his body of work speaks for itself.”
Katniss’s lullaby sprang to life when T-Bone Burnett read the lyrics in Suzanne Collins’s book, says Gary Ross.
“Suzanne’s lyrics were iconic within the story already. Katniss sings the lullaby to Prim in the beginning and to Rue
later in the movie. T-Bone went away one night and called me the next morning, saying, ‘You’re not going to believe
this.’ He was so thrilled. And then when I heard it, what was remarkable was it felt like it had always been there. It
felt like something that came out of Appalachia that mothers had been singing to their kids for generations.”
With months of filming, and many additional layers of postproduction work, the movie was finally ready to show to the
larger world.
In The Hunger Games there’s something for everyone.
A gripping adventure.
A political commentary.
A love story.
A cautionary tale.
Some call it science fiction, some call it potential reality.
Some say it’s for teenagers, some say it’s for adults.
The book — and now the film — captures themes and concerns that seem timely.
But its real strength, in the end, is that it’s timeless. It speaks to us today and it will still speak — even more
powerfully — tomorrow.
Director Gary Ross says, “The Hunger Games gets people invested in a contest. People are rooting for their favorites,
rooting for their survival. And suddenly, unwittingly, the people being oppressed are actually engaged in this form of
entertainment. That’s one of the things Suzanne did that was so brilliant. She understood the ultimate extension of
something like this. The way you get to control people is to make them participate, not just subjugate them. If there’s
one survivor, one victor, we get them participating in our system.”
It’s one of the tricky questions about making The Hunger Games into a movie, of course. In a New York Times interview,
Suzanne Collins wondered about this herself. “When you go to see the movie, you’ll be a part of the audience in the
theater, but will you feel like part of the Hunger Games audience as well? Will you actively be rooting for certain
tributes to live or die? Or will you distance yourself from the experience? How much will you be caught up in the
Capitol’s Game? I can’t even answer that question for myself yet, but I’m really intrigued by it.”
Katniss and Prim embrace the morning of the reaping.
It’s not every movie that makes you question the experience of watching it in the first place, but that is a part of
the genius of the series. From the very start, it was willing to grapple with serious subjects within the framework of a
compelling story. Collins deliberately constructed Panem with echoes of the world we live in, and these echoes
reverberate in every moment of the film.
As Collins told the New York Times, “It’s crucial that young readers are considering scenarios about humanity’s
future, because the challenges are about to land in their laps. I hope they question how elements of the books might be
relevant in their own lives. About global warming, about our mistreatment of the environment, but also questions like:
How do you feel about the fact that some people take their next meal for granted when so many other people are starving
in the world? What do you think about choices your government, past and present, or other governments around the world
make? What’s your relationship to reality TV versus your relationship to the news? Was there anything in the book that
disturbed you because it reflected aspects of your own life, and if there was, what can you do about it? Because you
know what? Even if they’re not of your making, these issues and how to deal with them will become your responsibility.
”
Like the next books in the series, the next films will show what happens when Katniss tackles some of these questions in
her own life and begins to face the consequences.
As Gary Ross sees it, “Katniss begins the Games as someone who only fights for her own survival. But she ends the Games
as someone who’s willing to give her own life for something bigger.”
What else would she die for? Jennifer Lawrence smiles, saying, “You have to remember — this is a girl who starts a
revolution. This is a girl who changes the world!”
President Snow has been worried all along, Ross points out. From the moment Katniss shot the apple out of the pig’s
mouth, he’s known Katniss was trouble. Anyone capable of defying authority like that was capable of defying him. Now
the worst has happened. The Hunger Games — meant to keep the districts and their people in line — have been turned
against him.
Ross says, “Snow realizes this girl is a huge threat. He can’t kill her, he can’t get rid of her — and yet at the
same time he can’t live with her. That’s why the second book begins with their relationship ratcheted up to such a
great degree.”
The next films in the series promise graver danger for Katniss.
Rebellion.
Revenge.
Tragic loss.
True love.
But the heart of the story remains the same. “Her ultimate strength is her strength of character,” Ross points out.
In future films, this mockingjay will soar.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the cast and crew of The Hunger Games for giving their time and sharing their memories so generously.
Thank you to Gary Ross, Nina Jacobson, and Jon Kilik for truly taking readers behind the scenes with their stories.
Thank you to Yon Elvira and Amanda Maes — this book would not have been possible without your help. And to the rest of
the amazing team at Lionsgate: Tim Palen, Alli Shearmur, Joe Drake, Julie Fontaine, Kate Hubin Piliero, Rob McEntegart,
David Nonaka, Douglas Lloyd, Michael Farmer, and Tanya Wolkoff.
Thank you to the miracle workers at Scholastic: David Levithan, Lindsay Walter, Rick DeMonico, Paul Banks, Sheila Marie
Everett, and especially the ever-patient Emily Seife.
And thank you to Suzanne Collins, whose genius infuses every page of this book.
— K.E.