Mockingjay.net Staff on Jena Malone’s Casting as Johanna Mason
With Jena Malone finally officially cast as Johanna Mason in 2013′s ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, the staff of Mockingjay.net has a lot to say about the matter! And remember, it’s not official until it’s on CatchingFireCasting.com!
Ciara
Ever since Entertainment Weekly mentioned her name I couldn’t picture anyone else as Johanna. She has exactly the right voice, look and demeanour and I’ve really liked her ever since ‘Donnie Darko.’ She encompasses everything we know about Johanna – she looks, on the surface, to be someone you would overlook in the arena but we know from some of the roles she’s played before (‘Sucker Punch’ for one) that there’s a ferocity underneath! I’m so excited by Jena and I know her comedic timing is pretty good too, for me Johanna has to be cuttingly funny. Another perfect casting choice!
Crystal
It feels a little weird giving a reaction now because I feel like her offer got reported by THR and we therefore all took it pretty seriously. Back when that first came out I felt like she was too old since I thought Johanna could have been as young as 18 or 19, but people pointed out to me that Jena looks much younger and even though I didn’t LOVE Sucker Punch, there’s no denying that she was fit, kicked some serious butt, and Rocket was pretty similar to what Johanna is. I can definitely see her owning the role and giving Johanna some new dimension that we’ve never thought of, so I’m very excited to see what happens. I’ve never really liked the scene in the elevator, so I’m hoping it translates to screen in a fantastic new fashion.
Erin
It’s been almost one month since we first heard the rumor that Jena Malone was in the running to play Johanna Mason. Since that day, there’s been no one else for me. I’ve loved Jena since I first saw her in ‘Stepmom’ back in 1998. She was an incredible child actress, and she’s only gotten better. She was absolutely amazing in ‘Saved!’ and her characters in ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ were incredibly well done. (I haven’t seen ‘Suckerpunch’ or ‘Hatfields and McCoys’, but I’ve heard good things about her characters.) She’s played so many diverse and emotionally-charged roles that I believe she will have no problem molding herself into the most perfect Johanna Mason any of us could ever ask for!
Gina
I love that there’s been so much talk about who would play Johanna Mason, with plenty of big names tossed around, and a total sleeper pick ended up nabbing the role. Jena is terrific – she has the look, the acting chops, and I like that she’s older than Jennifer Lawrence. The casting crew is making me so excited to see the new movie!! Major kudos 
Tash
Like my fellow staffers I have to agree that since Jena was first rumoured as having the role, I completely locked her in. I can only remember her in ‘Donnie Darko’, which I absolutely adore, but I will definitely be watching ‘Suckerpunch’ and ‘Hatfield and McCoys’ to see what she has been up to recently. A lot of the comments I have read have been very positive in regards to her acting ability, and with the number of actresses who auditioned for the part, Jena clearly had the talent to stand out and own the role. The picture we featured with Jena rocking a mohawk absolutely sold it for me, there was so much of Johanna in that photo, the arrogant air of confidence, the spunk. Then there was that photo she shared on instagram showing off her guns when she was working on ‘Suckerpunch’ – now I absolutely cannot wait to see her throw an axe 
3/3 for me so far!
Best of luck to her playing Johanna.
Interesting to read your opinions of this casting.
So excited to have her as our Johanna! I think she will blow it out of the water! Can’t wait for more casting news!
@Hayley – Cheers, even though we’re all happy with the news, it’s funny how different our styles of language etc are!
Extremely excited for for her , they made a right choice !
I don’t know what scene I’m most excited to see her pull off. Either:
A)The scene in the elevator
B)Wrestling in the training center
C)Being plunged into the water by Finnick while yelling insults at Katniss
Great choice, brainless.
yeah, i’d definitely recommend those of you who haven’t watched it yet, to get a hold of hatfields & mccoys. sucker punch is good to watch because it shows you how badass jena can be, but it’s not the best movie ever apart from the badassery. hatfields & mccoys has jena in a role that has definite shades of johanna, and on top of that it’s a pretty darn good series, too. 16 emmy nominations and all. i’d say get a hold of it if you can.
Ever since the mohawk picture, I’ve been sold! I couldn’t imagine anyone else to play Johanna! And when i woke up and found out the news, i was really excited! Now all i want is Finnick to be casted!
I could never picture anyone as Johanna, but once they pickked, her she is exactly what we needed A+++++++++ Perfect choice, I have no doubt they will choose the right Finnick as well
@Phoebe YES!!!! I can’t for those scenes if they make the cut
*WAIT* DAMN IT
I’ll probably watch Hatfields and McCoys just to her outside of that stupid Sucker Punch movie. I’m really trying to give her a chance but I’m not a big fan of this casting.
Good luck Jena! I think she’ll do GREAT!
I think Jenna is a great choice to play Johanna. As for scenes we are all looking forward to, I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but remember the studio must try to keep this movie PG so it’s my belief they’ll have to translate Johanna’s irreverence into something very different from the books. Not that nudity is bad but we all know how the movie ratings work.
I’ve refrained from comment on this because I feel I really don’t know enough about Jena Malone to say if she can play Johanna well or not, and I do tend to trust the casting people, they haven’t failed me so far. I did see her as Lydia in Pride and Prejudice, but she was much younger, and that’s a very different movie. Sucker Punch really isn’t the kind of movie I’d usually watch and I don’t feel like watching it just to see her perform.
Re the nudity issue, the movie will actually be PG-13 so that gives producers more leeway than PG. That being said, I don’t think anyone is expecting to see Jena’s naughty bits. (Though I read a rumor somewhere that the last Twilight film, also likely PG-13, will show Taylor Lautner almost completely naked…)
But the infamous elevator scene can be shot in a way that the PG-13 is preserved, but we know what she’s doing anyway; likely a shot of her bare shoulders from the back, a quick cut to a shot of her constume pooled on the floor, then cuts to Katniss and Peeta’s reactions to her; Katniss probably being scandalized and Peeta likely suppressing a laugh. Then some dialogue that makes it clear what she did! Another way to shoot it is to tone down the scene a little so that Johanna strips down only to her underwear, which I think Katniss would still have been scandalized by.
@satsuma – I like all of those suggestions for “that” elevator scene, it would be quite easy to convey what Johanna is doing as you’ve said. Plus, a wicked grin from Johanna would also help set the tone
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