Collider talks to Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth

Collider talks to Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth at the HG press conference.

"Jennifer:
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: I don’t know. Before I get a script, I’m like, “Does she like the forest? Does she have younger siblings?” I don’t really know what it is. Jodie Foster once told me that, 20 years from now, I would look back at my career and see a patter, and understand what it had to do with my life. Now, I’m just like, “I don’t know.” I’m just as puzzled as everyone else.What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of stepping into the role of Katniss?
LAWRENCE: That she was already in the minds of so many different people. Normally, when you’re coming out with a movie, nobody has really seen the character before. You’re just giving it to them. I’m playing a character that most people have already had in their mind, and heard her speak in their mind and seen her. That’s a scary thing to go into, knowing that so many people already have pictures or an idea of what your character is.Did you have preconceived images and notions of her?
LAWRENCE: Yeah, but that’s just what I do. What I read and how I understood her and my perception and understanding of her is what I portrayed her to be, in the movie.How has it been to do a mall tour and get to see the fans?
LAWRENCE: I felt like Justin Timberlake from NSYNC. It was nuts! One girl almost fainted. But, it’s never for me. I sit in between the two guys, when we’re signing. Liam [Hemsworth] is on one side and Josh [Hutcherson] is on the other. So, they start with Liam, and then he speaks with his Australian accent and somebody passes out. And then, I barely get a chance to put my name on the poster before they slide it over to Josh, and they’re like, “Oh, my god, I loved you in . . .,” and they’re crying again. I’m just like, “It’s okay. Screw me. Who am I?” I practiced my signature for so long, and now I don’t even get to use it. There used to be a heart. I took the heart out. It was stupid.What kind of training did you have to go through for this role?
LAWRENCE: Running, free running, which is for agility, archery, climbing, combat and yoga. But, that’s all.Read the entire Jennifer interview at Collider.
Josh and Liam:
JOSH HUTCHERSON: Physically, for the stunt work, it was pretty similar to what I had done before. What was different was that I had to put on weight for the role. I’d never really done that for a movie. I put on about 15 pounds of muscle, so that was a lot of eating chicken, and a very high protein, low carb diet. I also did a lot of heavy lifting and training with an ex-Navy SEAL guy that wanted to kill me, every time I got with him, in a good way. That really helped out a lot. It was cool to go through that sort of physical transformation.Are both of you looking forward to the possible sequel, Catching Fire?
HUTCHERSON: Oh, yeah!LIAM HEMSWORTH: Absolutely, yeah! If we get to shoot the other ones, that would be awesome.Liam, how is it to play a role where you’re going to have much more to do, if there’s a sequel?
HEMSWORTH: Yeah, at this point, I’m very happy to be a part of something so special. As an actor, I choose scripts that I’m passionate about and that I think are interesting.Did you read all of the books, so that you could have a better sense of the character?
HEMSWORTH: I did, yeah. I read all the books before I met with anyone about the movie, and I became a fan of the books.Josh, what was it like to play a character where you’re not entirely sure how much he’s telling the truth and how much he’s playing to an audience?
HUTCHERSON: It’s interesting because, in the book, you have Katniss’ internal dialogue to help you understand that she’s confused about Peeta, but in the movie, you don’t have that element. You really have to rely on how the scenes are structured, the dialogue and the other performances. When watching the movie, I felt like I was right along with Katniss, the whole time, as a viewer. In my opinion, it came from how it was edited together. It didn’t show a whole lot of Peeta. It only showed the interactions between Katniss and Peeta together, so that’s all you had to go on. So, the moment where you see him with the Tributes, running in the forest, where Peeta is part of the Careers, you’re like, “What the hell is going on? This is not what I thought was going to happen.” For me, it was really done, a lot, with the structure of the film.Was it challenging to strike a balance between making Peeta grounded, but still well motivated?
HUTCHERSON: Yeah, I think that came with his self-deprecating humor. Those that become holier than thou typically don’t try to be funny, and they take themselves too seriously, a lot of the time. Peeta doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s like, “This is what I believe in. That’s just who I am, as a person. I’m comfortable with that, and I can make a joke, here and there.” That’s where it can become too much, in my opinion."

Read Jen's interview here.  Read Josh and Liam's interview here.