Twelve Lessons Future Book Adaptations Can Learn From ‘The Hunger Games’
‘The Hunger Games’ has proved to be a massive box office sensation with fantastic critical acclaim and now has an even bigger fan following than before it’s release: therefore this film has clearly done something right, yes? Check out this list by Nextmovie.com that explores how ‘The Hunger Games’ can serve as a very useful guide to future book adaptations… here are some of our favourites.
1. Initial Casting Reactions Can Be Misleading
Collins told Entertainment Weekly Josh Hutcherson would’ve been the prime selection for Peeta even if he “had been bright purple and had six foot wings,” but some “Hunger Games” fans were skeptical about the choice at first. In fact, a lot of the biggest casting decisions for the film weren’t met with praise at the outset, but now that the film’s out, the attitude has shifted quite a bit. So, when casting a favorite book-based character, there may be some grumbling at first, no matter how right the choice. Stick to talent, and they’ll do all the convincing themselves.
2. It’s Good to Have Some Fans on Staff
Having a few castmates or crewmembers who fancy the book in question can’t hurt.Elizabeth Banks, for instance, was such a huge fan of “The Hunger Games” that she admitted to calling in every connection she had in Hollywood to get an in (lucky for her, she’d already worked with Gary Ross on “Seabiscuit”). It’s easy for fans to root for someone when they share their enthusiasm for a series, and this proved quite clear with Banks as Effie Trinket.
3. Commit to the Costumes
“The Hunger Games” had a lot of talented weapons both in front of and behind the camera, not the least of which were heavily respected costume and make-up designers Judianna Makovsky and Ve Neill. They took the mandate of crazy Capitol looks to the next level, and it paid off. Having the vision to put a crazy swirl beard on Wes Bentley alone is example enough of how inventive costuming can make moments that much more memorable.
4. Go Girls! Strong Female Leads Rock!
Bottom line: Cool girls kicking butt on-screen is a good thing. Do not dismiss it.
So there you have it! ‘The Hunger Games’ has set the standards high for book-to-film adaptations and we hope that the high standards continue with ‘Catching Fire’. Check out the rest of their list too which can be found right here.
the costume designer did great on the capitol looks, not so much on katniss’s interview dress :/
@BellaBells321 – Which interview dress? With Caesar initially, or the one at the end? I can remember Judianna discussing all sorts of problems in creating the red interview dress as described in the book, and why they went with what they did. Apart from the spinning flame being a bit too fake looking (but, CGI overall when it comes to flames still has a long way to go) I thought they did a great job with the dress.
Have to agree with District 14′s points, also the one about not dialling down the drama, the Rue scene and the transition to District 11 was perfect, even right in the middle of the action. There was also a good point about straying from the source material and that it can be done right, so I’m looking forward to seeing if Catching Fire has any of those nice extra additions.
@tash– about the extra scenes they might add outside of katniss’s PoV in catching fire, i’m particularly curious to see what they do with plutarch, particularly. i think they can try to keep the suspense with plutarch, just make his machinations during the games really creepy and machiavellian (like they did with seneca crane) and then boom! big surprise at the end, plutarch’s with the rebels, he isn’t really evil after all. it would be absolutely genius, and i hope the screenwriter, whoever he ends up being, can take cues from the first movie when it comes to that.
They’ve got a point, especially with the 1st one
Regarding #4 – I don’t think Katniss just “kicks butt”. She wasn’t trying to show off and be a glorious female bad-ass when she volunteered to take Prim’s place in the Games. It was just what she felt she had to do. It was her instinct of protecting her family. She really does not seem to care if someone thinks she is tough or not; she is just herself. I think that is a MUCH more important theme than “Hey, watch these girls fight!”
@Carla – That’s a brilliant idea, I would really like to see those workings. Because you’re right, we need to see Plutarch initially as just another game maker. I’d also like to see Haymitch involved again, just like he gave the idea to Seneca about a love story, we could see him orchestrating the rolls sent in to signal the time, or we see him approach Finnick to get him to form the alliance with Katniss.
I think we might also possibly get a reaction shot of Snow while Katniss and Peeta are on the Victory Tour, similar to his glare at the end of the first film, and that could lead into how he plans the reading of the card for the Third Quarter Quell.
There’s definitely plenty of things that could be elaborated on within the story so I’m with you and I hope the screenwriter can work in some more of those moments. Like Suzanne Collins considered the film complementary to the book, hopefully Catching Fire is the same (as well as being another faithful adaptation).
the most important thing, getting the author to collaborate with the scriptwriters, because we get a lot of information that was not really stated in the books, esp. Katniss’s POV, but is really happening outside of her knowledge…and yeah, about the casting, although there are some actors who I’m rooting for to be in CF, I trust the producers to be able to get the right persons who can protray the characters well…
@Carla Oh my goodness, I would love it if they do that in CF.
All of these are so true! Especially #4.