The Mockingjay – Part 1 Marketing Blitz Has Begun, And We Have Information And Pics For You
May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor
We’re smack-dab in the middle of summer movie season, and you know what that means: The marketing machines for this winter’s movies are rumbling into gear. Lionsgate is stepping it up today with the new website TheHungerGamesExclusive.com, which has pictures, interviews, and other… wait for it… exclusive info on the upcoming film. We’ve combed through the lot to bring you some choice morsels, among them a first look at Julianne Moore‘s President Coin, a discussion of Katniss’ PTSD, an Effie-shaped change from book to movie, and how the production adapted to the untimely death of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The Katniss in Mockingjay is described by director Francis Lawrence as “very, very fragile and very, very angry,” partly because she feels betrayed by Haymitch in Plutarch, partly because of her losing Peeta, but also because of the effect participating in two Games had on her psyche. “The opening of Catching Fire is the first time you really start to get a sense of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Katniss’ life,” explains Lawrence. “When you get into Mockingjay, that’s just ratcheted up. She’s panicked, and she can’t sleep. She’s barely able to hold it together.”
That’s very similar to what was in Mockingjay. Not similar, however, is the role of Effie Trinklet (Elizabeth Banks), whose technicolor self mostly faded to the background in the book. “Fulvia basically replaces her” there, Lawrence explains,
“But how can anybody replace Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket in these movies? When Suzanne Collins saw Catching Fire, she called and one of the first things she said was, “There’s no way Effie Trinket cannot be in the Mockingjay films. Effie brings such warmth and fun and levity to these dark stories. She’s the fish out of water in this one and fans will love how she has adapted to the world of District 13.”
Please let her create elaborate costumes out of common household items. I want a dress made out of cafeteria trays. Please, please, please…
As for Philip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away before production was completed, we heard previously that he’ll be digitally added to scenes left unshot at the time of his death. Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson clarify, saying those scenes are ones where he doesn’t have dialogue. (Jacobson: “We had to rewrite the dialogue scenes that he had left… we might give a line of Plutarch’s to Haymitch or Effie, but only in circumstances that we are able to do that without undermining the intent of the scene.”) “We’re only using real footage,” adds Lawrence. “We’re not creating anything digital or a robotic version of him.”
And finally: One of the people fans are more looking forward to is President Alma Coin, played by Julianne Moore. The Hunger Games Exclusive has a great interview with Moore where she talks about her feelings toward the trilogy, Katniss, and her character.
“Coin is very sparingly drawn, because you don’t know who she’s is because she’s only spoken about from Katniss’ point of view, and Katniss immediately distrusts her in the way that sometimes a young person will distrust an older person who’s not familiar to them or who’s in apposition of authority. So Francis and I talked about that a lot, about ‘How do we communicate Coin’s wholeness as a person?’ I think Katniss’ response to her is very well-drawn, but we don’t know who Coin is.”
Yay for well-developed older female characters! Here she is with her stunning gray hair, as well as our first official looks at Haymitch, Plutarch, Beetee, and new character Boggs (played by Mahershala Ali) in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
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