Monday, March 19, 2012

Mainstream Monday: The Hunger Games!

“& May the odds be ever in your favor”

Hey, hey mainstream Monday readers! 
As we all know and have been anticipating, The Hunger Games comes out Friday and I thought I would be fun to do a movie post for today.  People are saying this is going to be the next Twilight.  I for one think that it’s going to blow Twilight out of the water because its about more than a stupid love triangle.  (Which I am soooo over.)  But less about the book, more about the movie.  For those of you who haven’t read the book check out today’s review on the first book and stay tuned this week for the reviews on all three.
 
Characters
Fellow Kentuckian Jennifer Lawrance will  be playing our badass heroine, Katniss Everdean aka the girl on fire who steps up as the District 12 female tribute after her sister is drawn oringinally.  Jen’s career took off last year after she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Winter’s Bone.  She also played Mystique in Xmen: First Class. Josh Hutcherson, another fellow Kentuckian, it’s to have people out there showing that yes we do wear shoes when need be, will be playing Peeta, the male tribute from District 12.  He’s been around for a while and you may recognize him for his role in Journey and Journey 2 with Shawn Johnson, better known as The Rock.  The hunky Aussie, Liam Hemsworth, younger brother of Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and dating Miley Cyrus, who was also in The Last Song, will be playing Gale, Kitniss’s best friend and hunting partner (and if we’re picking teams, I’m team Gale).  Woody Harelson, who I am very pumped about, Cheers fan anyone?, will be playing Haymitch, the drunken district 12 champion and Katniss and Peeta’s only hope in winning the games.  Lenny Kravitz will be playing my favorite character from the book, and personally I don’t think they could have picked anyone better, Cinna, Katniss’s stylist and, eventually, friend.  Lenny is mostly known for his booming music career in the 90s, along with his fabulous dreads, and his daughter Zoey, who he had with fellow 90s hippie, Lisa Bonet.   Elizabeth Banks will be playing the beloved Effie, who is also in charge of Katniss and Peeta.   Lastly,  Amandla Stenberg will be playing Rue, who Katniss teams up with in the games because she reminds her of her little sister, Prim.  Amandla also played the younger version of the main character in Columbiana.

In the book, Katniss can run for miles, sneak in and out of her district, shoot a bow and arrow perfectly, throw a knife fairly well, and is the provider for her family.  So what kind of training does it take to be Katniss?   Besides constant running, which apparently, is what the casted tributes did for the whole part of filming in the games, but yoga and being trained by an Olympian in archery, which sounds pretty exciting if I do say so myself.

Speaking of Hunger Games training, there is now a work out based off the movie called “Train Like a Tribute”, which will be opening to the public, or those that live in New York and can Afford it, Friday.  The workout consists of sprints, fake bow and arrows, “grappling of supplies”, climbing TRX bands, and a bit of friendly competition.  You have to keep other “tributes” out of the spot you have claimed in the gym.  The workout consists of high intensity cardio and weight training.
And speaking of games there is also an interactive Facebook game of “The Hunger Games” that if is not available now, I imagine will be before long.  Any Facebook gamers hear about this and have more information?  Let us know!  

When they first casted the roles for the movie, not only was I little skeptical about Jennifer as Katniss (I totally saw Camilla Belle as her, anyone else?) and Josh as Peeta, although since, my thoughts have changed, I also wondered how everyone would get along because there seemed to be a great age difference in a lot of the cast.  But I seemed to have forgotten about all of the other tributes and prim, but apparently everyone on the set got along great.  Obviously, Laim, Jen, and Josh are pretty close now since they are the main roles.  But the girls had girl nights and they all played pranks and checked out Trader Joe’s vegan cookies (yup :]).   So far, no creepy cat fights about so and so is getting more money and attention than me like you hear about all the time in these big book goes movie projects.

The movie was filmed in Ashland, North Carolina, which, according to the cast was a really nice to shoot at because it was a quiet hippie town where people were really nice to them.  I would imagine it was very different from filming in a big city where people have constant access to the set although I doubt it will be as quiet when they film the second movie.    












Are you guys going to see the movie this Friday?   Or Thursday at midnight?  I know I’m going!  How many of you have read the books? What do you all think of the casting?  Let us know and get pumped for March 23!!
 

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