Late last week, we told you that Jennifer Lawrence had officially signed on to portray Katniss Everdeen in the Lionsgate adaptation of The Hunger Games. The actress’ deal reportedly included possible sequels, as the studio plans to adapt Suzanne Collins‘ entire trilogy, which would include The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
Fan reaction to Lawrence’s casting has been fairly mixed, but has leaned towards confusion and contempt by a lot of the book series’ die hard fans. To that end, director Gary Ross and author/creator Suzanne Collins have both made public statements to the fans about Lawrence’s casting.
Ross told EW,
“First of all, I talked to Suzanne extensively about this. Suzanne saw every single audition. And not only did Suzanne not have an issue with Jen’s age, she felt you need someone of a certain maturity and power to be Katniss. This is a girl who needs to incite a revolution. We can’t have an insubstantial person play her, and we can’t have someone who’s too young to play this. Suzanne was incredibly adamant about this. Far from being too old, she was very concerned that we would cast someone who was too young. In Suzanne’s mind, and in mine, Katniss is not a young girl. It’s important for her to be a young woman. She’s a maternal figure in her family. She’s had to take care of Prim, and in many ways her mother, since her father’s death. She’s had to grow up pretty quickly.”
Ross also spoke about the fact that some people are upset about Lawrence’s appearance not being that of the olive-skinned, dark haired and possibly bi-racial Katniss Everdeen in the novel.
“Suzanne and I talked about that as well. There are certain things that are very clear in the book. Rue is African-American. Thresh is African-American. Suzanne had no issues with Jen playing the role. And she thought there was a tremendous amount of flexibility. It wasn’t doctrine to her. Jen will have dark hair in the role, but that’s something movies can easily achieve. [Laughs] I promise all the avid fans of The Hunger Games that we can easily deal with Jennifer’s hair color.”
EW was also sent this letter from the author of The Hunger Games herself, directed to her readers.
Dear Readers,
We have found Katniss.
As the author, I went into the casting process with a certain degree of trepidation. Believing your heroine can make the leap from the relative safety of the page to the flesh and bones reality of the screen is something of a creative act of faith. But after watching dozens of auditions by a group of very fine young actresses, I felt there was only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book. And I’m thrilled to say that Jennifer Lawrence has accepted the role.
In her remarkable audition piece, I watched Jennifer embody every essential quality necessary to play Katniss. I saw a girl who has the potential rage to send an arrow into the Gamemakers and the protectiveness to make Rue her ally. Who has conquered both Peeta and Gale’s hearts even though she’s done her best to wall herself off emotionally from anything that would lead to romance. Most of all, I believed that this was a girl who could hold out that handful of berries and incite the beaten down districts of Panem to rebel. I think that was the essential question for me. Could she believably inspire a rebellion? Did she project the strength, defiance and intellect you would need to follow her into certain war? For me, she did.
Jennifer’s just an incredible actress. So powerful, vulnerable, beautiful, unforgiving and brave. I never thought we’d find somebody this amazing for the role. And I can’t wait for everyone to see her play it.
Thank you all for sharing in this journey and may the odds be ever in your favor!
Love,
Suzanne Collins
Lawrence herself recently spoke with People and had this to say about her role in the film:
“I have a huge responsibility to the fans of this incredible book, and I don’t take it lightly. “I will give everything I have to these movies and to this role to make it worthy of Suzanne Collins’ masterpiece.”
The Hunger Games is slated to hit theaters on March 23rd, 2012.
