Wednesday, March 21, 2012

hunger games

ack!  you guys, the hunger games movie comes out tomorrow at midnight!  while i'm super-stoked, i am not a midnight-showing kind of girl.  in fact, i usually wait at least a week to see the big releases.  i prefer to let the madness die down a bit.  our plan is to go next sunday - april 1.  matt is taking me to see it at the imax for my birthday, followed by dinner at p.f. chang's.  my mouth is already watering at the thought of the orange chicken.  i get it every time.  it's so good.

yesterday i went to the dentist and while i was sitting in the waiting room, i picked up the entertainment weekly with the hunger games cast on the cover.  inside was an article about the director, gary ross, and his approach to making the movie.  it sounds like he has a great respect for the books and is working really hard to make the movie reflect the story of the book.  he's making it about katniss and all her fierce-ness.  cuz, dude, she is fierce.  am i right?  anyway, a girl came in a few minutes after me and she was reading catching fire.  she saw me reading the article, and we sort of smiled at each other.  it's like we shared some deep dark secret.  we had a moment.

when i first started hearing about the casting for the film, i was kind of apprehensive.  i mean, liam hemsworth (gale)?  really?  to me, he is miley cyrus's boyfriend, and he was ok in the last song.  but i'm willing to give him a chance.  i didn't really know much about josh hutcherson (peeta), so i couldn't really form an opinion.  then i realized he played the son in the kids are alright and i realized he'd probably do well in the role.  i'm looking forward to that.  i also didn't know much about jennifer lawrence, but i know she got rave reviews for her role in winter's bone, so i have a feeling she'll do well.  the article i read said that she took the role really seriously and that she does a lot of her own stunts.

the casting i thought was totally brilliant?  woody harrelson as haymitch.  he will be perfect.  according to the article, he turned it down at first, but once he read the books and realized how much depth he could put into the character, he was hooked.  he said that he had a hard time with not playing haymitch as a total drunk - he had a tendency to want to over-do it, but the director had to keep reigning him in.  and then when i heard they cast lenny kravitz as cinna, i was floored.  i love it.  i think he'll be incredible in this role.  remember how great he was in precious?  i can't wait to see him bring cinna to life.

ross said that he chose to film the games without a lot of gratuitous violence, and i'm glad for that.  there is so much more to the story and the games than straight violence.  he indicates that he shows more of the fear and anxiety than then actual bloodshed.  apparently, it's still too violent for some, but - it's pg-13 - parents should use their own discretion.

i'm also really looking forward to the soundtrack, which i meant to download last night but somehow totally forgot.  the first song released was "safe and sound" by taylor swift, and it is a beautiful song.  but looking at the rest of the listing, i can't wait to get my hands on it.  arcade fire, the decemberists, glen hansard...be still my indie-loving heart!



do you have plans to see the hunger games?  what are your thoughts on the cast?

3 comments:

Jessica said...

I cannot wait to see how Lenny kravitz plays Cinna!!

Why Girls Are Weird said...

I am SO excited for the movie and after reading this I'm even more excited. It sounds like a lot of the key players have a lot of passion for the story and I hope that shines through in the movie.

And I'm with Jessica, I'm psyched to see Lenny Kravitz play Cinna, just from the few clips I've seen I think he's going to be amazing.

C said...

I thought the same thing about the cast. I was worried about the casting of the kids, but loved the adults. I can’t wait to see this! I really like the second Taylor Swift song on the soundtrack too.