By the Book: Catching Fire Chapter 4
Today we bring you Part 4 of our special By the Book feature, where the Mockingjay.net staff analyzes ‘Catching Fire’ chapter by chapter. We share what scenes from each chapter we believe will make it into the movie, what our favorite lines are, and what we’re afraid might be cut from the film.
By the Book will contain SPOILERS for Catching Fire, so if you haven’t read the book and don’t want to know the story, stop reading right now!
In Chapter Four, Katniss spends a miserable morning with her prep team, yells at Effie during lunch, and then goes for a walk while the train is stopped. Peeta follows her and asks if they can be friends, then takes her back into the train and shows her the pictures he’s painted. They arrive District 11, the first stop on their Victory Tour, and have a ceremony outside the Justice Building. Peeta gives a speech, offering to give a portion of their winnings to Thresh and Rue’s familes, and then Katniss rushes forward and gives her own spur-of-the-moment speech. After she’s done, an old man whistles Rue’s four-note call and the crowd gives her the three-finger salutes. As Katniss and Peeta are going back into the building, the Peacekeepers pull the man who whistled onto the stage and shoot him in the head.
Erin
I think most of the Victory Tour will be a short montage of Katniss and Peeta in different districts, coupled with shots of the train traveling through different terrains. I’d like to see her get to spend time with the prep team, yell at Effie, and have that short conversation with Peeta about trying to be friends, but I don’t hold out much hope for them. And as much as I want to see Peeta’s paintings, I don’t believe anything about the Victor’s talents will make it into the script. Hopefully they’ll find some way to show Peeta’s paintings, but I won’t hold my breath. The only thing from this chapter that I think will actually make it into the movie is the scene in District 11, where Peeta gives his speech. I want him to offer a portion of his winnings to Rue and Thresh’s families, to see Rue’s little sisters, and for Katniss to rush forward and give her thanks. I love the line ʺAnd thank you for the breadʺ but unfortunately, since District 11 didn’t send her bread in the first movie, she won’t get to thank them for it here. I hope the old man still whistles Rue’s tune, and I want to see the horror on Katniss’ face as the whole District saluts her and she realizes that she’s only causing more trouble. When the Peacekeepers pull the old man on to the stage and shoot him, I want to see the confusion and disbelief in Peeta’s eyes and the guilt and terror in Katniss’. I think this is such an important scene, and I really hope they don’t just gloss over their stop in District 11.
Line Predictions
Katniss: ʺThank you for your children.ʺ
Tash
Chapter 4 is a monster in terms of what’s included, Katniss and Peeta start to mend their relationship, the Victory Tour begins, we get our first real glimpses of another district and then of course there is the shooting in the District 11 square. Like Erin though I don’t hold out a lot of hope for all of these events making it to the big screen, particularly Peeta’s paintings as we discussed when we covered Chapter 3. I’d really like to see Katniss yell at Effie, as that showed the pressures on her, then have Peeta come and sit with Katniss beside the train tracks. That would be a great moment to give Peeta some good dialogue and show how strong he is as well, as the character really deserves this. I believe that the film makers can probably show most of what happens in District 11 and then gloss over the rest of the Victory Tour just as the book does, as its in District 11 where we see the heightened levels of unrest and that they really are on the verge of a rebellion. No doubt the speeches will be severely cut down, particularly Peeta’s, but I do hope that just as in the book Katniss will cry ʺwait!ʺ and say something about Rue and Thresh, then of course the pivotal line ʺthank you for your childrenʺ. I can imagine this moment being a real tear jerker, especially as then we see the old man whistle, the crowd saluting and the Peacekeepers grabbing their weapons, so I’m making an early call to pack the tissues!
Line Predictions
Peeta: ʺThere’s nothing for you to be sorry about. You were just keeping us alive.ʺ
Katniss: ʺThank you for your children.ʺ
Crystal
Like Erin, I think the Victory Tour will mostly consist of a montage with them doing scenes only in District 11 because of the background they did in the first movie, though I’m still a bit unsure on how much violence they’ll show this time around since technically this will no longer be about a group of kids being killed, but more about adults in the Arena and the start of a revolution. In order to do this I do think Peeta needs to make his gift, though the idea of the gift might shift to Katniss. I definitely think they’ll include the salute. As for the man being killed, they might simply make it so that we see what happens, but Katniss doesn’t. It’s possible Peeta’s paintings will make it in, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they scrapped it or focused on it back in Victor’s Village briefly rather than on the train.
Line Predictions
It wasn’t a line technically, but I’d love to hear Katniss make a comment about her prep team and how they never get up before noon unless it’s a national emergency, ʺlike my leg hairʺ. That part seriously kills me!
That whole District 11 scene needs to make it in for sure, its pivotal to the direction this movie series is heading and def Peeta and Katniss making nice to show Katniss did indeed fake her feelings and they were on rocky terms when Peeta realized this. That was not clear to everyone at the end of Hunger Games.
Whether Peeta reaching out to Katniss will make it to the movie really depends on how they handle the whole “it was all for the Games, how you acted” issue that they glossed over in the first movie. If they continue to ignore it, then I can see the reconciliation being left out as well, especially considering that Peeta flips out at Katniss and Haymitch in Chapter 5, they may think that having the relationship go through so many ups and downs in a few movie minutes would be over the top. Hopefully, they will establish the icyness between the two very early in the movie, so that the reconciliation scene does still make it. As for Peeta’s paintings, they may omit the Victor talent concept, but still include his painting as a hobby he took up after the Games.
As for D11, hopefully the speeches will be included, though likely in truncated form, and I can see a brief flashback of Rue slipping in there. Peeta promising to give Rue and Thresh’s family a portion of the Victor winnings may or may not make it; it certainly shows Peeta’s good character, but I think the major concepts, that Peeta and Katniss reach out to Rue and Thresh’s families, the D11 residents salute, and get punished for it, can be shown without that detail. But I wonder, will the movie makers think all that would be repetitive in light of what they showed of the D11 riot in the first HG? So I can see them changing it up a lot from the books, though I’m not sure how. Also, I can see P and K being hustled back onto the train, and not into the Justice Building, as violence breaks out. That saves them the expense/time of building a “D11 Justice building” set, especially considering Peeta’s supposed to trash it in the next chapter…
I think the extent to which they depict the K/P convo will depend upon how their relationship stands at that point in the film. Things seemed to end in the first film less clearly strained than in the book, although it’s still safe to assume that their relationship would be awkward once they resumed life back home. I doubt we will get the scene with him showing her his paintings in the rail car, but I do hope, at some point, they touch upon the fact that he paints out his nightmares. I very much hope that they will include Peeta’s gift to the families and if, as Crystal suggests, they credit this to Katniss, I’ll not be pleased. (Although, also, not surprised.) First of all, I want to see Katniss’s psychological journey and in some ways, she just seemed almost too wholly formed already in the first film. Secondly, this is an act that defines Peeta’s character and makes him a worthy partner for Katniss. I mean, leave something for her to be interested in and intrigued by.
As for Katniss getting mad at Effie and leaving the train, leading to the conversation with Peeta where they “start mending their relationship”, I honestly think it’s important but I honestly don’t know if they’ll include that. Since Francis Lawrence wants to keep the movie close to the book, I believe he will include this part.
As for their talents, I bet they’ll probably cut that out since it honestly doesn’t add that much to the story. However, everything that concerns to District 11 they must include. I believe its terribly important to show how “brutal” District 11′s peacekeepers are and particularly the part where they kill the old man who whistled. This is PG-13, so we probably won’t see him getting shot in the head, but I hope they make it pretty clear. One way I see it happening is with Katniss returning to the stage (because she forgot the flowers, right?) and witnessing the man being dragged from the croud and forced on the ground while a peacekeeper points a gun at his head. Then, the peacekeepers block Katniss’ View and we hear (not see) the shot, super loud and clear. This scene is important, because that’s when she realizes that she is not helping her situation with president Snow and they decide to play it nice and follow the script without any more personal notes.
Regards
They could also film it so that Katniss sees up until the gun is raised to the man’s head, then cut back to her face as the gun goes off.
I have a feeling Katniss yelling at Effie may not turn out to be as powerful as it felt reading it. But the chat between Katniss and Peeta needs to happen. Even if it doesn’t happen sitting on the train tracks.
Being able to see a glimpse of Thresh and Rue’s familys will be a scene everybody will be waiting for. The speeches made by Katniss and Peeta are crucial, and must be put together well. “Thank you for your children”, I predict, will make its way into the movie. Lawrence will want to follow the book as close as he can, so I imagine the three finger salute from the crowd, the man whistling, and the shooting all will occur. But considering it will be rated PG-13, we most likely won’t be seeing the man getting shot. We’ll be hearing it from Katniss’ perspective, hearing the shot, the gasps, and everything fall silent, even the birds.
i hope that katniss yells at effie and then peeta and her talk and start to be friends again.i think that there will be in d11 and i think peeta will give the gift and katniss run up to go talk.
but when it comes to the the shooting i think katniss and peeta will be in the bluiding and hear the shot but we won’t see it like the 2 and 3 shots in the book.i hope to see peeta panting if we are lucky we will but dont get your hopes you to see them.
lines:haymitch “you could do a lot worse, you know”katniss”no one cares,effie”peeta and katniss
‘i am not in the mood for a lecture’”i’ll try to make this brief”"i thought you were haymitch”no,he is still working on that muffin”"bad day huh?”its noting”"look,katniss i’ve been wanting to talk to you about the way i acted on the train.i mean the last train.the one that brought us home.i knew you had somthing with gale.i was jealous of him before i even offically met you.and it wasnt fair of me to hold you to anything that happened in the games.i’m sorry”"i’m sorry too”"there’s noting for you to be sorry about.you were just keeping us alive.but i don’t want to keep going on like this,ignoring each other in real life and then falling into the snow every time theres a camera around.so i thought if i stopped being so you know wounded,we chould take a shot at being freinds”"okay”
i really want them to keep peeta’s and katniss’s conversation for a few reasons. the first one is that their conversation was so sweet and made me cry. the second is that THEY ABSOLUTLY NEED, i mean NEED to keep the thing about Katniss having nightmares and peeta climbing into bed with her. if they don’t have this conversation, then it wouldnt alot of sense with the nightmares.
The problem with just lifting that entire dialogue from CF, is that Peeta apologizing for “the way I acted on the train” does not fit the movie version of what happened on the train. There is a very brief scene where Peeta seems disappointed that Katniss wants to forget the Games, but I think someone who’d just watched the movie would think “Huh? What’s he apologizing for?” Also, I don’t know if the movie will include the “falling into the snow” part, if not, obviously the dialogue won’t either. I can see Peeta’s words being tweaked a bit, perhaps focusing more on the “I knew you had something with Gale” and apologizing for his jealousy towards Gale.
Also, note that while Lawrence stated he wanted to stick to the book, he’s not involved with the script, which has to make sense in terms of movie continuity. So, I don’t think the exact book dialogue will make it in there, though I do hope some version of that scene will be included.
As to the “Peeta climbing into bed with Katniss after she had a nightmare”; that actually happens later in the book, not this chapter, and I can also see them toning that down, because otherwise I can see people who didn’t read the book being confused and thinking they did more than just sleep. (I think this might be one reason the THG cave scene did not include having K and P sleep together in the sleeping bag.) Though I can see a scene where K falls asleep on a couch, wakes up screaming after a nightmare, and P comforts here there.
@Satsuma- yeah, i get what you mean about peeta’s line: “the way I acted on the train”. the only way they could really keep that part of their conversation would be to have katniss have a flashback to “it was all for the games” cause that scene didnt appear in THG movie. i just hope they keep that conversation. also, i do get what you’re saying about the nightmares scenes and what people who havent read the books might think happened. but i do think they’re are ways to make it clear that they did not…. have… never mind!
i mean, for katniss to have a flashback to that when she sees peeta in the beginning of the movie.
Some very good points here again
I also agree that the shooting will most likely be a fade to black kind of scenario, in that we just hear the shots instead of seeing it happening.
@satsuma – you make a great point about the conversation between Katniss and Peeta, because there wasn’t much setting it up in the first film. I think if in the beginning segment you see a rather frosty reception between them then it could be left until the train until they start to sort things out, so I am hopeful they will include some of that sequence.
I dont think much of katniss getting ready with her prep team will make it in. in THG movie, the prep team appeared for about 30 seconds, and i dont think they’ll appear any longer in CF.
I do hope they keep katniss yelling at effie during lunch, just to show all of the pressure on Katniss. then katniss storming out, peeta folloing her, then they’re conversation. i dont think they’ll mention peeta’s paintings or the thing about the victors talents at all, as that is not important to the story.
A montage of the tribute’s families from Katniss’ point of view would make a powerful and time-effective image of the tour, if it were to be mostly skimmed over as per the book and/or time constraints of the movie. Facing up to the families, from memory, was one of the things Katniss dreaded most, especially for Districts 1 and 2.
PLZ READ THIS!
I wonder how Katniss and Peeta’s relationship will go. Because in the first movie, they didn’t leave their relationship in pieces. They were still together-Peeta thinkink Katniss is in love with him, and Katniss not loving Peeta.
If they want that conversation outside of the train, then Katniss and Peeta should have some reason to not want to be around each other. And in the beggining of Catching Fire, Katniss feels lonely. Like she has no one to talk to. But in the first book, Katniss learned that she could share her thoughts with Peeta. And that brings me right back to: The first movie kept them as a couple. So I’m just wondering how they will develop Katniss and Peeta’s relationship. Will there be a flashback of Katniss saying she didn’t love him. Will they just start the movie PRETENDING their relationship ended? You might have talked about this already, but I might have missed that conversation.
And in the book, I REALLY wanted to hear about the descriptions of the other districts (though from their *products* I could get the basic gist of what they looked like). But still….would be interesting. And yes, Erin. I think that is what they will do. A montauge. (You already discussed this). Back in District 12, I hope they kind of summarize it (because they already introduced us to it in the first movie). There is A LOT of action in the capital and games I would like to see. In the first movie, they kind of summarized it, but I think themade it longer. Because they were just introducing it.
Oh. One more thing. I hope they show Katniss and Peeta watching the tapes, but I REALLY hope they show Haymitch’s year.
Since fans know what THEY want, someone should interview fans about what they think should be in the movie. That is the stuff they should make sure to include in the movie.
Like in the first movie, I was really looking forwards to the romance. But NOOOO they wanted to develop Katniss and Prim’s relationship. But I was REALLY looking forwards to the cave scene.
joey graceffa should play Finnick and whitney milam should play annie in catching fire
I think the film would suffer if it left out the nights together. It should be possible to make it clear that they’re sleeping together for comfort and not for sex (but incidentally, they develop physical intimacy as a by product).
I don’t know how explicit they’re going to make it that Katniss decides internally that she’s going to sacrific herself for Peeta, but I hope they make it clear WHY he’s someone she wants to die to keep alive.
The nights together, and the way that Peeta can comfort her in ways no one else can, would (to me) be a perfect way of doing this.
I actually think the movie did try to convey that they are not “still together” and that Peeta realizes that Katniss does not feel the same way as he does. There is a screenshot floating around of Peeta’s reaction when he says “I don’t want to forget” in response to Katniss’s “I guess we forget” comment, and he looks quite disappointed, even heartbroken. There’s also a brief shot of Peeta looking at Katniss longingly in the final scene, that I think was meant to imply that the smiling and waving they are both doing is not quite sincere. So, I don’t think the movie meant to keep them as a couple, but it seems this was so subtle that many, if not most, viewers who hadn’t read the books didn’t realize what was going on.
Which is why the CF movie will really have to establish the icyness between Katniss and Peeta early on, so that their reconciliation makes sense. I am a little worried that they may skip over a lot of this, and have Katniss and Peeta be friendly until the D11 scene where Peeta blows up at Katniss and Haymitch for keeping him in the dark, and have him confront Katniss then with the “it was all for the Games, how you acted” line.
I really hope they don’t truncate the K-P relationship like this. I understand why the romance was back-burnered in THG, but that makes it even more important for CF to establish the fact that Katniss does develop real feelings for Peeta. While the Gale side of the love triangle needs to be established as well, I think Gale can be back-burnered a little, since he has such a larger role in MJ. But since MJ is really more about the destruction and reconstruction of the K-P relationship, it wouldn’t make sense without a strong relationship being built in CF.
And BTW…everyone needs to remember that the movies are not being made for just the fans. Or at least, that the target audience for the movies is much larger than just people who have read the books, consider themselves fans, and obsess over them. Many people who watch the movies will never read the books, unfortunately. (The same thing happened with Harry Potter; many people watched the movies, but never read the books, which is a crying shame, of course, but it is what it is.)
Which means that some fidelity to the CF book is going to be sacrificed in order to keep continuity with what the first movie established, such as Peeta NOT losing his leg. Though I find it ironic that many fans rag on the movie for this, when I’ve seen so many pieces of fanart where “artistic license” is used to show Peeta with both legs intact in CF and MJ. And most post-MJ art I’ve seen of Katniss and Peeta do NOT include their scars. Yet I really haven’t seen too much criticism of this kind of “air-brushing” by fans who seem to be unable to reconcile the scarred, damaged K and P of the books with their romantic ideals. Seems a little hypocritical to me to overlook that, but nitpick the movies to oblivion.
@Satsuma I agree with absolutely everything you said. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
And I do actually like your suggestion about the, “It was all for the Games. How you acted.” line. I can see it fitting in there. Plus, it would add extra pressure to Katniss with the whole President Snow and marriage things.
Okay. Everyone has their own oppinions. I was just thinking about how I didn’t really see their breakup. Well….a lot of people I interviewed for the local newspaper (yes im a reporter.) didn’t see the breakup. If thy didn’t see it, then MANY people didn’t see it. So they could make it woek, but I just think that they should make it a little more clear in the movie. And you know…..when president snow comes, it will be obvious because he mentions it of course.
On a side note: Donald Sutherland (President Snow) is getting very up there in his years. The Hunger Games will be made into four movies. I just hope he doesn’t pass away before it is over. Then it would be like Harry Potter with Albus Dumbledore.
Only worse, because Dumbledore had a gigantic beard to hide behind.
@abba I thought the same thing about Donald Sutherland. I felt very terrible thinking it, though, so I never mentioned it. But that is definitely something to consider.
I know! I really hope they don’t have to find a replacement! And yes……..Dumbledore had a beard to hide behind, but President Snow only has a dead bunny. Aaaaaaah! That won’t help!
i thought that the 1st movie lacked romance. the cave scene was so short, and peeta and katniss only had one kiss. in the book, they had alot more. i wish they would have kept it that way. i think the film would suffer if they took out peeta’a and katniss’ conversation and the nightmares. Like 11thHeaven said, it should be COMPLETLY possible to make it clear that they are not having sex, only sleeping together for comfort.i mean, if they showed peeta randomly sneaking into her room, it would look like they were doing that, but if they show katniss screaming and peeta running in, then maybe katniss asking him to hold her or somthing, i don’t see how anyone would think they were having sex.
I do think it would be good to shhow Katniss yelling at effie to show how much pressure she’s under. next of course, to show peeta’s and katniss’ conversation. i don’t think that they’ll give the victor’s talents and peeta’s paintings any attention, cause it’s not very important to the story.
i hope they keep everything that happened in D11. those scenes really showed how sick and twisted the Capitol was. i hope they’ll keep the old man getting murdered, for this reason. The capitol is so afraid of uprisings that they will kill an innocent old man for whistling. that’s pretty twisted.
@ninjaunicorn IKR!!!!!
@zeldabeforelife- Reghan?????
I love unicorns! Aaaaaaaaah! Soory. I just had to say that…….
i think that that part deffinently needs to be in the movie.cause in the first one they cut my fav parts like teh cave scene was so short. and i know they havent said anything about this yet but they cant cut the beach scene in catching fire because its really important
I know! We NEED romance in this one!!!!!
And in the first one, don’t get me wrong, but Katniss and Rue’s relationship was really short too. And when rue got speared, it kinda seemed like Katniss was crying over a girl she barely knew.
YES! we need romance in CF! there’s going to be hardly any in MJ, and the romance in THG was too short!
[@ Anonymous] Yeah, there are myriad ways to do it. E.g. Peeta could comfort her, lay her down on the bed, they could insert the “stay with me” line (killing a few birds with a single stone), Peeta lies down with her.
I kinda like the idea of Effie walking in (probably in some absurd nightgown), looking shocked and scandalised, begin to march out, then in a moment of softness turn around and put a blanket over them or something.
No sexual ambiguity. I mean, if a couple of fans can come up with something like that in 10 minutes, I’m sure the whole production team can manage to make it work.
Just so everyone knows, i was “Anonymous” in the comment above.
@11thHeaven- i like the idea of putting the “stay with me” line in that scene. i’m not sure if they would keep the scene were they actully say that in the book, so i think inserting it somehow into the nightmares is great.
I also like your idea about Effie walking in on them. it would be funny!
[@I am The Girl on Fire] Glad you liked it!
@11thHeaven- i just really want them to keep the nightmare scenes! they’re wasn’t enough romance in THG!
Chapter four opens with the impact of the conversation with Haymitch, Katniss realizing that the fall out of the games has essentially robbed her of her future. She even suggests suicide (again) as a way of escaping her pre-ordained future. This is important as a motivator for her to take on the role of the MJ. This may lead to some adjustments to the conversation with Haymitch at the end of Chapter 3 to clearly spell out the constraints that she is facing. Some explanation is necessary as this leads to her aggression towards Effie later in this chapter as the pressure of being “on message” for the President builds. I think that this interaction will remain in at least some form.
The conversation between Peeta and Katniss will remain as it is necessary to join the arc of their first interactions (whether it will be the snow kiss is another matter) with the dramatic conclusion to this section (D11 shooting). As a number of people have remarked here already, the dialogue will have to be well written to once again reinforce the ambiguity of Katniss’s feelings for Peeta and how totally Peeta has invested in his love for Katniss. I don’t believe that the friendship part of the dialogue will be retained as it would be confusing to have the relationship have different levels so close together. The dialogue here will be built to retain the central/consistent lack of connection between Katniss’s feelings (still ambiguous) and Peeta’s feelings (total love).
I agree that the whole talent thing will not likely make it into the movie but the discussion of nightmares will. It begins (or adds to it if you think there is more to the relationship than I do) to build the bridge of a relationship between the two victors.
I think that the dramatic scene in the square will be kept with a flash back with Rue in it. But, I believe that we will see a more forceful display from Jennifer than in the book. This will continue to build her role as the Mockingjay which still needs some ground work in this part of the book. This is a relatively easy alteration that provides the movie audience with a spring board to her growing importance.
A number of references have been made to the scenes with Peeta and Katniss in bed together but I do not believe that those scenes are in this chapter.
I do not believe much of the book’s dialogue in this chapter will be kept. The script writers will need to start to build the importance of Katniss as the leader or at least the symbol of the revolution or the later part of this story is not going to make any sense at all. We see her meeting with the President in the early part of the book so that starts the discovery that the Capitol is significantly worried about her as a motivator for revolution. The speeches in D11 allow the script writers an easy way of reinforcing this.
can’t wait for the movie….
It’d be great if these could be archived so it would be possible to look back at previous chapters without having to trawl through all the casting theories etc.
i LOVE the part when katniss and peeta decided to start over and be friends and the whole favorite color scene when peeta asks katniss what her fav color is and she says green and then asks peeta his fav color and he says orange like the sunset! even though the whole part of becoming friends will be hard to put in since in the end of THG they were not angry at each ther i still hope they include this scene it is one of my fav scenes!
*other
In this chapter, I do think they will have to have the scene where Peeta comes out from the train and they try to mend their relationship. THe dialogue about their favorite colors comes into play in Mockingjay, and I think they will have to set the stage for that. I don’t think they will show Peeta’s paintings, but they will need to establish his articstic ability somehow. Just my thoughts…