By the Book: Catching Fire Predictions for Chapter 7
It’s time for our Chapter 7 installment of By the Book, where the Mockingjay.net staff predicts what parts of ‘Catching Fire’ will make it from the book and into the film, what scenes we’re afraid might get cut, and what quotes we hope to hear included in the script.
By the Book contains spoilers for Catching Fire, so if you haven’t read the book and don’t want to ruin any surprises, stop reading right now!
After returning from the Victory Tour and seeing the uprising in District 8 on the mayor’s TV, Katniss meets Gale by the lake in the woods. She tells him about President Snow’s threats and asks him to run away with her. Gale agrees and tells Katniss that he loves her. When she replies with ʺI knowʺ and reveals that she wants to take Haymitch and Peeta with them when they escape, Gale becomes angry. But when Katniss mentions seeing the uprising, Gale decides that he has to stay and help form an uprising in District 12. On her way home, Katniss meets Peeta. He agrees to run away with her, but tells her that he doesn’t believe that she’ll actually leave. They hear a strange sound coming from the square and find a large group of people watching something. Peeta tries to make her go home, but Katniss forces her way through the crowd and finds an unconscious Gale bound to a post and being whipped by an unknown Head Peacekeeper.
Camille
Since Madge wasn’t in the first movie, I think the part about Katniss and Madge talking is not going to be in Catching Fire. I hope the scene between Katniss and Gale will be in the movie, because the fact that Gale learns about the rebellion and tells Katniss that he loves her are both important. Later, I hope we will see how Peeta is willing to give up everything and follow Katniss into the woods, and that he tried to protect her by telling her to go home so she doesn’t see the whipping. I loved Peeta in this scene so I hope it will be in the movie.
Lines I Hope Make It
Gale: “I love you.”
Peeta: “Sure, Katniss, I’ll go.”
Peeta: “Go home, Katniss! I’ll be there in a minute, I swear!”
Crystal
I’ve been waiting for us to get to this chapter because I’ve actually come to think that this will be their best chance to write Madge back in. I was never one of the people that thought she was super important to the story in THG, but I’ve become quite convinced that she will be back as a nod towards fans. I predict that after Katniss sees the rebellion on the tv, she’ll try to leave and then the mayor will run into her with Madge and introduce the two of them and thus introducing her to audiences that haven’t read the books. I don’t think she’ll have any ties to the pin, though. She’ll simply be introduced as the mayor’s daughter and have a scene long enough where we’ll remember her a bit better in the next chapter.
I think for the most part we’ll get all of Gale and Katniss’ argument at the cabin, though I don’t think it’ll necessarily be at the lake cabin. They’ll probably also cement the love triangle with Gale’s love declaration. I do want them to keep the part where he leaves and throws the gloves back at her. Since the casting calls seem to indicate Bonnie & Twill, I’ll go ahead and say that they’ll be filmed, but I don’t know if they’ll make it into the final cut. Francis might want to keep District 13 a secret until the end. As for the whipping, I’m predicting it definitely makes it in.
Lines I Hope Make It
Gale: “You could do so much.”
Gale: “I changed my mind. I don’t want anything they made in the Capitol.”
Erin
I’m really hoping that the little house by the lake makes it in to the movie. Even if they don’t want to explain why it’s a special place for Katniss, I want her conversation with Gale to take happen there. While I have always been a Katniss-and-Peeta-Together-Forever fan, Gale is still one of my favorite characters, and I don’t want a single line to be cut from this scene. When Katniss asks him to run away with her, I want to *feel* his excitement just by seeing the expression on his face. And when he picks her up, swings her around, rests his forehead against hers and tells her ʺI love youʺ, I want that moment to be so perfect that we can’t help but feel all of Gale’s pain, disappointment, and anger that follows. I want to be exhausted by the emotions in this scene.
Once Katniss is back in town, talking to Peeta, I want us to really see the difference between the two boys, and how he’s so gentle in his response and is willing to go with her without question. And then they come across the crowd in the square. I hope they keep the camera close to Katniss as Peeta tries to push her back and tells her to go home, and that it stays with her while she pushes her way through the crowd. I know it’s PG-13, and I don’t want it to be overly gross, but I want Gale’s whipping to be brutal. The sound of the whip, the sight of his blood– but I want Gale to be awake when they get instead of unconscious. I want their eyes to meet right before the whip hits his back again, and I want to see his pain reflected in Katniss’ eyes.
Lines I Hope Make It
Gale: ʺI love you.ʺ
Gale: ʺIt can’t be about just saving us anymore. Not if the rebellion’s begun!ʺ
Tash
In the book Chapter 7 gives readers a slight breather from the action before the conversation with Gale heats up, and I see no reason the film will be any different. I’m going to stick with my prediction from last chapter that Madge won’t make an appearance (sorry Madge fans), leaving Katniss to slip into the woods to meet Gale as soon as the victory tour concludes. Whilst the whole conversation will of course no doubt be truncated and changed, I believe the key elements will remain; Katniss revealing all, including her pretenses with Peeta, Katniss wanting to run, Gale telling Katniss he loves her and Katniss revealing the uprising. It’s also very important that Gale flies into a rage after Katniss’ reaction to a rebellion, it’s as much a display of enormous hurt after Katniss does not return his ʺI love youʺ as it is his burning desire for change. It also, of course, leads to later events causing Katniss to realise the extent of her feelings.
Peeta also gets a look in toward the end of the chapter and I hope he does bump into Katniss afterwards as well, in the book I think it served as a contrast between the boys, and as the pair walk closer to the square, we’re shown that Peeta is continuing to protect Katniss. The square, of course, puts us right back in the action and brings back the barbarism of the Capitol, and has already been a subject of conjecture – will we meet Romulus Thread? I think he will be cast, but not named, so only book readers will understand who he is. I don’t think that will change the effect of Gale’s whipping, and I think the audience will put the pieces together just as Katniss does, the whistling sound and the sound of impact, then moving closer we see a whip coming down and probably cutting back to Katniss’ face (as I think showing the full effect may be too much to get past the censors for the PG-13 rating) as she realises what is happening.
Lines I Hope Make It
Gale: ʺI love you.ʺ
Katniss: ʺI know.ʺ
Gale: ʺYou could do so much.ʺ
Gale: ʺI don’t want anything they made in the Capitol.ʺ
What parts of Chapter 7 do you hope make it into the movie?
Really enjoyed your predictions!
I am excited about seeing Gale’s whipping, and Katniss’ answer to Gale’s “I love you”: “I know”. Haha.
You forgot to add a summary about the chapter itself at the start of the post, though (just a paragraph of what happens, where it starts and where it ends), like on the other articles, so I felt a bit lost at the start
Even thought Madge isn’t in it I think it would be a key factor that they show the rebellion so the audience that haunt read the books know that this is more than the hunger games. And I certainly hope that they show how cruel they treat the districts with gales whipping and that they show how much Katniss cares about gale to show the love triangle.
This is one of the chapters I’m most looking forward to. It’s such a big moment for Gale and it’s the first time we really get to see what’s going on inside his head instead of just getting Katniss’s version. It’s where we learn who he is – that he’s in love with Katniss but he’s not going to just follow her blindly. He’s determined to fight for a better world for everybody, not just himself.
When I imagine how this will play out on screen, I think they might show Gale being caught and arrested by Thread. I have this idea where Thread recognises Gale as the ‘handsome cousin’ to reinforce the idea that Snow has a personal grudge against Katniss and this is his way of punishing her for failing to quash the rebellion (especially as she will have just seen the scenes from 8, and then revealing the punishment as they did in the book.
I think Thread will be a named character, as he’s the face of the Capitol and will be overseeing the crackdown on district 12. I don’t think that Madge will make it in. It would make no sense to have her show up now, deliver the medicine and then disappear for the rest of the series.
I also really hope that the scene with Peeta and the whipping is in the movie, too. It made me fall in love with peeta all over again.
I love all these thoughts! I agree with Tash about how this is going to be a great contrast between Peeta and Gale, and I can already see it playing out in my mind with Liam and Josh. I have a good feeling they’re going to nail this scene. I think it’s really important to have Gale express his feelings for Katniss. I will ship Everlark till the day I die, so that last sentence was hard for me to write
Seriously though, we need that Gale scene, especially after the lack of screentime he had in the first film. Without that scene, to non-reader audiences it’s going to look like he’s just the guy she goes to the woods with, who is a friend, but the clear difference between the two boys and Katniss’ difficult choice is not going to be as evident. I guess what I’m saying is without this scene, Gale as an actual option for Katniss isn’t going to be believable.
As always, I LOVE any scene that involves Peeta in any way, and I can’t wait to see him protect Katniss, even though it’s about Gale. I also love the depth of him when he agrees to run away with Katniss. Maybe I’m the only one who thought this, but his ready reply and lack of conversation about his family to me hints at his abusive home life, and that’s an aspect of Peeta I think they failed to express fully in the first film. I think it’s an important part of who he is. Which is not to say that’s the only reason he agrees to go with Katniss, but I think it played a role.
First, to the admins: Great to see this feature again, but could you PLEASE bring back the chapter summaries? I’m sure I’m not the only person who doesn’t have perfect recall of what exactly happened in a particular chapter, and doen’t always have access to the book to refer to.
Anyway, that being said. I agree that Gale and Katniss talking about running away is important, it also ties back to their convo about this in THG. However, considering time constraints, I doubt the whole scene will be left in. Also not sure about the “Love you”/”I know” exchange, considering LG would be stepping on GL’s turf a little if they use that verbatim.
Also, to toot my “do Peeta justice” horn, it seems that so far, everyone has ignored how Peeta, though willing to run away with Katniss, also states that he doesn’t think she’d actually do it. So it’s not as simple as Gale having a mind of his own while Peeta follows Katniss’s lead, no questions asked. Otherwise, he would have let her go to the Feast without protesting in the first book; yeah, this was omitted from the movie, but if we really want to show Peeta’s strength of character, we can’t make him into a pushover.
I am SURE the whipping scene will be kept in, whether they focus on Thread or not. It’s such a vital part of the Katniss-Gale relationship arc, and it also showcases how not just Peeta, but Haymitch jump in to protect them as well. (Though I can see Haymitch’s part being cut.) Will they show Katniss taking a lash for Gale? I hope they do as well. One way they could and still keep it PG-13, is to focus on Peeta watching in horror as we hear the whip crack, then switch to showing Katniss’s face.
Also, unfortunately for Madge fans, I think the ship has sailed on that one because her role in CF really isn’t anymore essential than THG. Re finding out about D8, I’ve always imagined the movie version of the D8 rebellion occuring while K and P are visiting, and for them to be quickly whisked away to the train. That adds more action to the first half of CF without changing the plot much (it just rearranges the timeline a little, but they did that with D11 rebelling too). As for the morphling, I don’t think it’d be much of stretch to have Mrs. E already have it, I can certainly see Katniss helping her to stock up on more medical supplies, paying for them with her Games winnings.
I added the summary in, thanks for pointing it out!
@satsuma- you make a good point about Peeta not thinking Katniss would actually do it. I’m curious, do you (or anyone) think he would’ve still agreed if he believed she would do it? I believe he would, because like I stated in my earlier comment I think there was more going on than just wanting to go along with Katniss, but I’m curious about everyone’s opinions.
Even though I forever and always will be a 100% “katniss-and-peeta-together-forever-” type of girl, I still really really really want them to keep the scene with Gale at the lake. This is the scene where it becomes apparent that Gale really is in love with Katniss, and you really see that there is a love triangle. I also definatly want them to have Katniss and Peeta bump into eachother in town, so you can see the differnce between the two boys, and that Peeta will do anything and everything to protect Katniss.
Just one more reason to be Team Peeta!
Lines I Hope Make It:
Gale: “I love you”
Katniss: “I know”
Gale: “I changed my mind, I don’t want anything they made in the capitol”
Peeta: “Sure, Katniss, I’ll go.”
Sorry about the no summary. I had one written up and then didn’t put it in. I’ll go edit this and then make sure to include them in future posts.
@satsuma Really stupid question, but what is GL?
@Emily414 – You raise a really interesting point there about Peeta’s abuse, I hadn’t really thought of that before. We may get a hint of his home life during the beach scene in Catching Fire, but I don’t think they will really touch on it too much. For me in that moment in the book it just really stood out to me how much Peeta was willing to do for Katniss, and that it also hinted at what would happen with Gale i.e. how caught up he would get with the rebellion.
@satsuma – Completely agree that Peeta shouldn’t be shown as a pushover, there are lots of opportunities throughout the book to give him some really strong dialogue and I think this is one of them.
I really like your idea about the rebellion in D8 happening during their tour, rather than after, that would certainly make things interesting!
I’ve always found it incredibly sad that even after he wins, Peeta still lives in his new house all by himself.
Thanks Erin and Crystal for adding the summary!
Savanah: Re my comment “LG would be stepping on GL’s turf a little if they use that”, GL = George Lucas. I was referring to the fact that the exchange “I love you”/”I know” takes place between two characters in The Empire Strikes Back.
As for whether Peeta would have agreed to run if he thought Katniss was serious, I think he very well might have, but he probably would have discussed the plan more. I bet J-Hutch would certainly carry off the existing dialogue very well, though.
As for Peeta’s family, I agree with Crystal, that it is telling that unlike Katniss, he lives in his new house all by himself. While I agree that SC likely meant for his mother to be both physically and emotionally abusive, considering the subtle way the THG movie addressed Katniss’s own family background, I’m not sure they’ll go into detail in the CF movie about Peeta, either.
Also, while Peeta doesn’t live with his family, he does still have dinner with them at times, and he states that he himself has family and friends to protect when he confronts Katniss and Haymitch in D11. So I don’t think he’d have just run off, if he thought they’d suffer for it.
I’ve always thought that chapter in the book also illustrates how much Katniss has changed, and how in fact that Gale does not know her as well as he used to. He is totally taken by surprise when Katniss mentions Peeta and Haymitch. Also, he really believes she will go. And when she bumps into Peeta and she tells him her plan, based on how he says she’ll never go, he just agrees to go to humor her. And in the end Peeta is right, she does not go.
This also highlights the difference in Katniss, Gale and Peeta. Katniss and Gale are fly by the seat of the pants kind of people, acting before thinking. Peeta is that exact opposite of that, he is a meticulous planner. I think things like this show how perfectly Peeta and Katniss compliment each other.
Excellent analysis from the staff. I agree with pretty much everything that was said. I actually think that Romolus Thread will not be mentioned by name in the movie but his name will be in the credits list (just like Venia, Flavius, and Octavia in the first movie). In regards to the whipping scene, the audience does need to be reminded just how brutal and ruthless the Capitol is, but not make it into a gory scene (think more along the lines of Will Turner’s whipping in Pirates of the Caribbean 2). We also need to see both the contrasts and the similarities between Gale and Peeta. They both love her, but Peeta is obviously more gentle and protective of Katniss, him having been in the Games with her.
All Peeta and Katniss scences
This is one of the chapters I’m most looking forard to seeing onscreen. I’m particularly eager to see what they’ve done with Gale and Katniss’ talk, because it’s through their conversation that we see and learn so much about them as characters and their relationship.
And I really hope they do the whipping scene justice. THG had moments like Rue’s funeral/D11 riot, and the nightlock scene. I don’t think Gales whipping will be comparable, but it could be a very strong moment, if done correctly.
I do think that they will include the whipping scene. It is too important to not include it. I am not sure if they will include Katniss being hit by the whip but if they do I don’t think it will be as bad as its described in the book. They will probably down play it to like a whelp on the cheek or just a red mark nothing too bad.
Also agree that I don’t think Madge is going to be included in this movie either. I feel like if her character was that important to the story line then she would have been in the first one. Without her I do wonder how they are going to explain Katniss knowing about the uprising in D8.
I hope they find a way to leave in the explanation about the mockingjays and the jabberjays. One of my favorite parts of the book is: A mockingjay is a creature the Capital never intended to exist. They hadn’t counted on the highly controlled jabberjay having the brains to adapt to the wild, to pass on its genetic code, to thrive in a new form. They hadn’t anticipated its will to live. – (Just like Katniss!!) I think that paragraph says SO much.
The thing that I am wondering about is: I understand them not including the part where Peeta looses his leg (mostly because of all the action that is coming up in the series) but what about her ear? In the book that is the way Katniss “hears the force field” are they just going to write that whole part out? How are they going to explain how she knows where the force field is without her giving away her secret about the “chink in the armor”?
I’m late to the party. It seems that everyone is forgetting something else that’s important about the Peeta/Katniss conversation. It’s not just that Peeta says he will go but that he doesn’t think she will; he also adds that they had to talk with Haymitch first and make sure that they wouldn’t be making things worse for everyone. This is one of the big differences between him and Gale – Gale is all about the big picture and rebellion but Peeta is thinking about people getting hurt (just like Katniss was in her conversation with Gale, which is one of the things they argued about). There’s also the fact that Peeta immediately realized that Katniss wasn’t thinking of just him and her running away and that she was trying to protect her family and others.
I hope they keep most of the conversations intact. Gale is both sympathetic and irritating in that scene; you feel sorry for him when his romantic hopes are lifted then dashed, but he is also possessive and allows his jealousy to overshadow the more important issue of Katniss trying to keep people alive. We see that he really is passionate about the rebellion, but he also shows prejudice (he assumes that Peeta’s family would inform on them, presumably because they are from the merchant class) and it’s ambiguous how much his anger is because of the rebellion and how much it is out of jealousy and disappointment (which Katniss almost accuses him of). The fundamental differences in attitude between him and Katniss, which will be so important in Mockingjay, come to the surface here for the first time: he has big political ideas but Katniss is more worried about people getting killed in the case of rebellion. His angry parting words also show his black and white view.
Peeta’s comment about Gale (he asks if Gale is going, and when Katniss replies “He might have other plans” he comments to himself “Yes, I’m sure he does”) shows that he’s jealous of Gale just as Gale is of him, but acts completely differently about it: while Gale angrily demands from Katniss to make it clear how much each of them mean to her, Peeta is already resigned to thinking that Katniss loves Gale rather than him, which will get solidified after Gale’s whipping, but he’s still doing everything to help Katniss. He seems to have jumped to the conclusion that Katniss is asking him to run away with her because Gale wouldn’t, already casting himself as a “second choice” in his head – while, ironically, when Gale pressed her for answer, Katniss had realized she couldn’t bear leaving Peeta behind with the danger of him being tortured, but didn’t make the same kind of promise to Gale when he pressed her to answer what she would do if *he* refused to go. There’s so much going on in those scenes in regards both to the differences between the boys and with hints to Katniss’ feelings for them.
As for the Gale/Katniss scene, I think they would do best to leave out the “I know” line (which would remind people too much of Star Wars, even though it means something completely different here, and we don’t have Katniss’ internal thoughts about how awful she realizes it was to say that) and instead have her just stare at him speechless for a moment, then awkwardly start to tell him how much he means to her, with Gale looking disappointed.