Fans of Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel The Hunger Games have proved virtually uproarious about Gary Ross’ in development film adaptation – especially when it comes to casting. Like Harry Potter and Twilight before it, devotees of the YA book series feel possessive of Collins’ characters, and so have raged on every web forum available in hopes that casting directors would listen. When news broke back in March that Oscar-nominated ingénue Jennifer Lawrence had beat out early favorites Hailee Steinfeld and Chloe Moretz, many fans cried foul, declaring Lawrence (at 20) was too old, too curvaceous, too blonde and too pretty to play the Katniss they’d pictured while reading the wildly popular trilogy. Well, in hopes of assuaging fan fears, Lionsgate has given Entertainment Weekly a first look at Lawrence in costume.
She’s brunette, with olive skin, and a gaunt look meant to reflect her malnourished diet. She’s carrying the bow and wearing the book’s iconic emblem, the mockingjay pin. So – what say you fans?
For my part, I get the gauntness but worry these shed pounds make Lawrence read older. Still, she was my pick back in January, and I’m standing by her. I’ve talked to a number of HG fans who’ve sneered at the casting of Lawrence, writing her off as just another pretty blonde starlet being churned into Hollywood stardom. However, many of these folk have not seen Lawrence’s Oscar-nominated turn in the gritty indie Winter’s Bone, in which she played a teen girl who is left the grim task of providing her family (including hunting/cleaning/cooking squirrel) all on her own as her drug-cooking father’s gone missing. When she discovers her father’s latest bail-jump has put her family’s home at risk, she has to delve into the cruel back hills of the Ozarks to find him. The results are grisly. This is not the role of a lightweight. Lawrence has grit and a solid confidence that will serve her well as Katniss. Hopefully, this makeover will start to win over fans who think of Lawrence only as the red carpet stunner. For me, Winter’s Bone is practically the ideal audition for this franchise, and her striking award season appearances prove she could handle Katniss’ shining media moments as well.
It was fittingly in the height of award season madness that Lawrence met with Hunger Games’ director Gary Ross. She tells EW:
“He was asking me what the experience was like,” she recalls, “and I just kind of opened up and said, ‘I feel like a rag doll. I have hair and makeup people coming to my house every day and putting me in new, uncomfortable, weird dresses and expensive shoes, and I just shut down and raise my arms up for them to get the dress on, and pout my lips when they need to put the lipstick on.’ And we both started laughing because that’s exactly what it’s like for Katniss in the Capitol. She was a girl who’s all of a sudden being introduced to fame. I know what that feels like to have all this flurry around you and feel like, ‘Oh, no, I don’t belong here.’”
EW’s full interview with Lawrence (complete with more new images) will hit newsstands Friday.
What do you think of this first look?